in 1969 an brand new house cost $15,500 or $96,151 in todays dollars. Today the average home price is $261k according to WSJ (although median is $217k) Gas in 1969 was .35 cents. In 2012 dollars that $2.17. Today we pay about $4 A new car in 1969 cost $3,270 or $20,284 in 2012 dollars. In 2010 the average new car cost $29,217 (It might be over $30k today, but couldnt find the info) A loaf of wonder bread in 1965 cost 21 cents or $1.52 in todays money. But today wonder bread costs about $4 (sometimes you can find it for $3. So you can see that some things cost less, some things cost more, but remember that about 33% of your income (some people more) goes to your housing on average and maybe another 20-30% on a $30k car payment and fuel. For easy math lets just say 30% of income goes to housing and 20% goes to your car/fuel. So thats 50% of your income, but you are paying more than twice as much for your house which is like paying another 30% of your 1969 income and you are paying about 50% more for a car which is another 50% of your 1969 income, so in essence you have 40% less spendable money today, than you did in 1969 because it all goes to your house/car. Also in 1969 avg income was $8540 which is about $52k in todays money, yet todays avg income is 48k so its almost 10% less than our 1969 counterpart, so really we only have half as much spendable cash as those in 1969.
don't confuse the cost of goods with inflation. Inflation is a Fed term that they use to decide how to manipulate interest rates. The cost of everything can go up (especially due to the price of energy) and still according to the Fed there is no inflation. Inflation has more to do with the money supply. When your trip to the grocery store costs you more than it did the last time, people in the media call it inflation, but that's not the way the fed sees it. same word, different meaning. inflation is a dire economic condition. Bitching about high prices is just an eternal human condition.