Inflation has destroyed the purchasing power of the dollar. If you had 100 dollar bill in 1970 and stuck it in a book and forgot about it, and found it today, You would need $1000 to buy the same amount of goods as in 1970.
I watched an old movie last night. Divorce, American Style(1967) in which Dick Van Dyke goes into a MacDonalds and buys a double meat cheesburger, fries and a coke. Total cost in 1967...57 cents.
$20 for a hamburger, coke, and fries yesterday. The only reason I had itnwas because of a gift card. I received it as a gift. I would rather had cash instead, but a relative gave me a whole bunch of giift cards for Chrisrmas.
Eating out isn’t worth it and I don’t do it.