Visualizing Inflation

At the risk of sounding not that bright, I’ve never truly understood inflation. I mean, yes, I get the idea that the price goes up; therefore, if you have the same amount of money, you can buy less. But, I found a great visualization via Kottke that shows the cost in eight categories over time.

So, let’s pretend your groceries cost $1 in 1999. They would now cost $1.84 today. But groceries never cost $1. Let’s make it a more realistic $189.36. To buy the same bag of groceries today, you would pay $348.42. That is a huge difference, especially because it’s unlikely that your salary will increase by the same percentage.

Only the cost of clothing has remained the same or decreased in price.

Mind blown by this visual explanation of how far your money goes changes over time.