Some problems with this line of thinking: for much of US history (as demonstrated by the graphic), the value of the US dollar did not steadily decrease, but osc

Some problems with this line of thinking: for much of US history (as demonstrated by the graphic), the value of the US dollar did not steadily decrease, but oscillated around the value of gold, and during many periods increased. So most of that inflation occurred in the last half century, dramatically increasing the inflation rate. Granted, Manhattan had no buildings or relative importance in the economy when it was purchased either, so a better example might be some comparable tracts of farmland using their 1970 value (during Bretton Woods) and current value, and calculating from there. EDIT: Doing so with this data [0] does indeed yield an inflation rate much higher than reported CPI, at 5.7% average over the last 50 years. You can see a similar higher rate by looking at the Big Mac Index [1]. Conclusion: Real inflation is higher than CPI. [0] https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/charts/55910/farmrealestatevalue2020_d.html?v=2093.2 https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/charts/55910/farmrealestate... [1] https://capstoneinvest.com/inflation-cpi-and-the-big-mac-taking-a-bite-of-reality/#:~:text=By%20graphing%20the%20trend%20of,the%20Bureau%20of%20Labor%20Statistics.&text=Since%201986%2C%20the%20price%20of,its%20current%20price%20of%20%244.93 https://capstoneinvest.com/inflation-cpi-and-the-big-mac-tak....