[nicoffeine]

Gas is more expensive because fossil fuels are more difficult to extract, we have some environmental standards instead of none, consumption has skyrocketed, and there's an organization called OPEC that maximizes the price. Pretending that none of that would be true if dimes still had silver in them is ridiculous.

If you had taken those same two 1964 dimes and put them in a DJIA index fund, you'd have $7. That's because storing shiny things in a vault does not contribute to economic activity. It doesn't invent anything, manufacture anything, provide any service, or create any new markets.

No one thinks that their economy would be better off with a huge stockpile of gold instead of a huge stockpile of CPUs. No one thinks that a reduction in mining capacity should restrict the amount of currency available for business loans. Representative currency is a vestigial technology that is no longer useful.

[slowhand09]

Precious metals are not typically considered as drivers of economic activity. They are used as hedges or backstops. Your $7 in an index fund after 57 yrs doesn't sound that productive being only 2x what the value of the silver is.