I have never really seen a credible and verifiable source for that assertion. Anyway, what one would want from their money is for the price of other goods and services to decrease relative to it. This would indicate greater productivity in the economy.
After all, if society is now using tractors and semi-trucks instead of plows and horses then you would hope to have an increased standard of living. Sure, there is the Golden Constant to deal with, from Professor Jastram, but that should be the general trend.
And that is largely what humanity has seen since around 1800 the average person in the most developed countries earned about $2.00 per day in today's value.