I know you were only trying to help...but stop it. You’re depressing me.
I just saw today that a 3-day Disney World pass is $199. *sigh*
I can understand that. According to the numbers we were a hell of a lot better off in many ways 40 years ago.
Median income 1971 - $9,000
Median income 2011 - $45,000 to $50,000
(hard to find an exact number that hasn't been "adjusted" by the government)
So individual median income has increased by a factor of 5 while most consumer goods have increased by a factor of 10 or more.
And a huge part of that is because of big increases in the tax burden on individual items, on manufacturers and on businesses.