A vacuum costing $35 to $65 in 1952 would cost $262 to $487 today.
One reason quality has gone down is that for many types of products people aren’t willing to pay more for the quality. Low quality drives out high quality unless people are willing to pay a premium for the quality product.
***************************
Inflation?
Free trade with cheap foreign labor operates outside the laws of inflation (and laws of gravity). Free trade is better then sliced bread, more pure then the wind driven snow. A religion. A godly standard to live up to.
Its suppose to deflate the cost of goods by 1,000%.
I do know you can buy a quite functional vacuum cleaner for about $100, which is considerably less than you would have had to pay for an equivalent in 1952.
BTW, I haven’t bought a vacuum in many years. I just pick up discarded ones at the curb and check them over. About half the time the only thing wrong is a clog (usually as from sucking up things like pennies or hair pins), a jammed brush or a belt needing replacement. If people can’t operate a piece of equipment, quality isn’t going to do them much good.