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There are a few things that are cheaper but most are more expensive when properly adjusting for quality.Once upon a time people could buy German made workbooks or military boots that lasted for 30 years. Now you buy new workboots practically every year if you work in a manual labour job full time. Planned obsolescence has made things a lot more expensive when you work out the annual cost of durable goods. A the structure of heritage double brick house will last hundreds of years (albeit the interior will need periodic renovations) whereas new kit homes will have to be demolished after 50 years.Back in the day a family would buy a washing machine and use it for a lifetime, these days it tends to last around 10 years if you fork out cash for a decent quality one. The same logic applies to many appliances. If you properly adjust for annual expenditure on a consumer good in most cases its not cheaper now thanks to planned obsolescence. One pair of shoes that costs $400 but lasts for 10 years is much cheaper than a $150 pair of shoes that you have to replace every 12 months. Even clothing, a lot of new shirts these days will start having holes in them within a few years if worn regularly. I have certain shirts that I have worn regularly for more than 20 years that don't have any holes in them. Shirts made today will likely have holes after 2 or 3 years of regular usage.In terms of food quality has gone way downhill. Apples are refrigerated in cold storage for 6 months, many foods are genetically modified, everything is full of chemicals and seed oils, pesticides, hormones, preservatives, etc so you need to adjust for degradation in quality when comparing prices. Once upon a time McDonalds used to fry its french fries in tallow, these days it uses seed oils such as Canola.If you want proper food instead of mass produced garbage sold in supermarkets it costs a fortune. If you do all of your shopping from a local weekend organic market it would cost you $800 - $1500 per week to feed a family of four. If you are trying to tell me that it would have been 10 times more expensive (i.e. the equivalent of $8000 per week back in the day its simply ludicrous). Like I said before if you buy a loaf of bread in Sydney or Melbourne from an artisan bakery in the nicer suburbs it will cost anywhere from $7 - $12 for a loaf. Are trying to tell me it would have cost the equivalent of $70 - $120 back in the day? Organic grass-fed steak costs anywhere from $60 - $120 per kilo depending on the cut, the quality and where you buy it from. Would that have cost the equivalent of $600 back in the day? Also if everything is getting cheaper how come when measured against real money (i.e. gold) our wages have dropped over 75% since 1971? A gold coin is still exactly the same as it was in 1971. You can say whatever nonsense you want but the gold price speaks volumes and you have no response for this.
There are a few things that are cheaper but most are more expensive when properly adjusting for quality.
Once upon a time people could buy German made workbooks or military boots that lasted for 30 years. Now you buy new workboots practically every year if you work in a manual labour job full time. Planned obsolescence has made things a lot more expensive when you work out the annual cost of durable goods. A the structure of heritage double brick house will last hundreds of years (albeit the interior will need periodic renovations) whereas new kit homes will have to be demolished after 50 years.
Back in the day a family would buy a washing machine and use it for a lifetime, these days it tends to last around 10 years if you fork out cash for a decent quality one. The same logic applies to many appliances. If you properly adjust for annual expenditure on a consumer good in most cases its not cheaper now thanks to planned obsolescence. One pair of shoes that costs $400 but lasts for 10 years is much cheaper than a $150 pair of shoes that you have to replace every 12 months. Even clothing, a lot of new shirts these days will start having holes in them within a few years if worn regularly. I have certain shirts that I have worn regularly for more than 20 years that don't have any holes in them. Shirts made today will likely have holes after 2 or 3 years of regular usage.
In terms of food quality has gone way downhill. Apples are refrigerated in cold storage for 6 months, many foods are genetically modified, everything is full of chemicals and seed oils, pesticides, hormones, preservatives, etc so you need to adjust for degradation in quality when comparing prices. Once upon a time McDonalds used to fry its french fries in tallow, these days it uses seed oils such as Canola.
If you want proper food instead of mass produced garbage sold in supermarkets it costs a fortune. If you do all of your shopping from a local weekend organic market it would cost you $800 - $1500 per week to feed a family of four. If you are trying to tell me that it would have been 10 times more expensive (i.e. the equivalent of $8000 per week back in the day its simply ludicrous). Like I said before if you buy a loaf of bread in Sydney or Melbourne from an artisan bakery in the nicer suburbs it will cost anywhere from $7 - $12 for a loaf. Are trying to tell me it would have cost the equivalent of $70 - $120 back in the day? Organic grass-fed steak costs anywhere from $60 - $120 per kilo depending on the cut, the quality and where you buy it from. Would that have cost the equivalent of $600 back in the day?
Also if everything is getting cheaper how come when measured against real money (i.e. gold) our wages have dropped over 75% since 1971? A gold coin is still exactly the same as it was in 1971. You can say whatever nonsense you want but the gold price speaks volumes and you have no response for this.
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