You are assuming that the value of the dollar remains the same. $1.00 in 1950 had the same buying power as $9.29 in 2011.
No, not assuming the dollar did anything but lose power...jobs were/are being outsourced to keep up with the competition (?) the EPA has sent most manufacturing to other countries where a little dirt in the air keeps food on tables at lower wages....unions continue with demands as if there were no EPA etc. so more jobs go over seas - Longshoremen are analogous to the housing market - way over paid, keeping costs artificially high Cars, boats, ships, subs, military equip, kitchen equip, clothes, etc. are made with 85% of foreign if not 100% parts from OTTUS - (other-than-the-US)....no matter what ‘it’ might cost, the United States dollar buys you less and less while the people demand more and more.....