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In 1888 a pair of Levis cost &1.80.

Seventy four years later, (1961) a pair of Levis cost $2.60.

Today, 51 years later a pair of Levis cost $35 dollars.

It first took 74 years for them to double in price.
It took 51 years for them to cost over a thousand times more.

Your innumeracy is troubling. The price increase from 1961 (2.60) to 2012 (35) is not 1000 times. It is about 13 and a half times (35/2.6 = 13.46).

Also, you're not looking at the prices in terms of constant dollars.

$1.61 in 1913 (the farthest back I could go) was equal in purchasing power in 1961 to $4.83. So by 1961, the cost in dollars increased, but the actual price in constant dollars fell. $2.60 in 1961 was equal in purchasing power in 2011 to $19.56. So between 1961 and 2011, the cost in constant dollars increased by about 79%. So a pair of Levis in 2011 at $35 has increased in constant dollars by about three quarters over their price in 1961 at $2.60.

***So a pair of Levis in 2011 at $35 has increased in constant dollars by about three quarters over their price in 1961 at $2.60. ***

Maybe that is because the “Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price” is much higher than the $35.00, around $50.00.

My calculator must be giving me the wrong numbers. I put in $2.6 X 1350% and it gives me $35.00.

Using the numbers in my original post, it still took 73 years for the price of jeans to double. ($1.80 X 150%=$2.7) Yet it only took 51 years to reach what it is now, $35 to $50 dollars.

If the inflation rate had been what it was between the 1880s and the 1960s, the price of jeans should only be around $5 or $6 dollars and not what they are today.

In 1956 a bottle of soda pop was 10 cents, if you took the bottle with you. Today that same size soda is $1.35 cents.

In 1956 all dollar bills had the words “Pay to the bearer on demand ONE DOLLAR in silver”.

Today all it says is “This note is legal tender for all debts public and private.”