CPI and the Great Depression
2023-06-23 17:47:05.240671+02 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Eeenteresting. Maybe I'll dive into the numbers a bit, see if I can find a breakdown of where most of the differential comes from, I'm guessing it's in housing. RT 𝐿𝒶𝓃𝒶 :verifiedtrans: @LadyDragonfly@universeodon.com
The Great Depression (1929-1941) is widely considered to be the worst economic period in American history. And the very worst year during that time period was 1930. Now, what I'm about to show you, I'm not doing to hurt anyone. I just need people to understand that we are being gaslit.
In 1930, the average annual income for 1 person was: $4,887.
So let's plug that into an inflation calculator and just see what that Great Depression salary - the "worst" in American history - translates to in 2023 dollars.
I'll just let you sit with this for a moment.
Using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator I have not come up with exactly those numbers, but depending on when in 1930 I choose as a baseline I can bracket them. So, yeah, order of magnitude this checks out.
Obviously we have nicer goods now, though we're clearly spending more on housing, probably spending more, normalized to what kind of food, on food, and healthcare is worlds different now than then, but life expectancy in the US has dropped almost to below that of two decades ago after peaking in 2014.