Sure, the stock market headlines are buzzing about the Dow hitting $49,462 for the first time. But here's what nobody talks about—the real purchasing power story. Gold just crossed $4,490, which means today's Dow close buys you roughly 11 ounces of gold. Rewind to September 1999? The Dow could grab you over 43 ounces of the same gold. That's a 74% drop in relative value across 26 years. So while index records look pretty in the press release, the currency underneath has been quietly bleeding out. Numbers don't lie.