[bhupy]

> Could we not apply your same argument to all goods and services? And if so why have prices consistently risen for all of human history?

Um, yes? But for most goods and services, prices have decreased relative to inflation. The only exceptions to this are housing, college education, and healthcare — but those are policy problems. The price of most goods and services have not only decreased relative to inflation, they have also increased in quality.

White bread, cost per pound (inflation adjusted)[1]:

1977: $0.405

2019: $1.333

Incr: 229.1%

Median personal income (inflation adjusted), age 25-34[2]:

1977: $9,336

2017: $35,455

Incr: 279.8%

So rather than being 6x as expensive(!), bread is now ~15% cheaper relative to income.

Let’s do another one. Roundtrip flight on American Airlines Flight #1 (NY to LA)

1969

Cost: $304.50 (including tax)[3]

Avg wage: $3.31/hour

Hours to buy: 92

2020

Flight: $500-600

Avg wage: $23.87/hour

Hours to buy: 21-25 (!)

Another one:

In 1997, it took 1,768 hours of work at the median wage to purchase a Dodge Caravan. In 2018, it took just 1,396 hours of work, and the quality of the Dodge Caravan has also increased in that time!

[1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/41035/15334_ae...

[2] https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/APU0000702111

[3] https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aa/aa67/aa67-02.jpg

[as300]

Right - so I think we are in agreement: Prices will rise, but purchasing-power of the average citizen will almost certainly increase (that is what I attempted to show by the poorly-written second paragraph).

> In 1997, it took 1,768 hours of work at the median wage to purchase a Dodge Caravan. In 2018, it took just 1,396 hours of work, and the quality of the Dodge Caravan has also increased in that time!

Interesting!

[bhupy]

I’d add that price rises for bread are less to do with the fact that more people have purchasing power, and more to do with the fact that bread today is of higher quality than bread in the 70s.

Ditto cars, appliances, clothes, etc.

[as300]

I don't think this is the case - I think inflation has caused the cost of producing bread to increase thus leading to higher prices. If anything it seems to me that bread is of lower quality these days - more GMO's and usually mass-produced using factory farming methods.