Wow, OK. Your point seems to be "If you discount economic growth, then inflation has been high". Well... OK. Granted. But let's game that out: It's true, t

Wow, OK. Your point seems to be "If you discount economic growth, then inflation has been high". Well... OK. Granted. But let's game that out: It's true, that if you correct for all the inventions and economies that have made its production possible, the relative "cost" of, say, a nice new five-burner induction range is indeed extremely high in comparison to, say, the bow drill your ancestors would have used. Probably in the billions or so, if not higher. But that's not telling you anything! In point of fact the "cost" measured in hours of labor[1] of collecting fuel and starting fires over the course of a decade or so[2] is VASTLY higher for the paleolithic toolkit. And it's not even remotely close, which is why no one chooses to cook with an open fire and a bow drill except as an amusement. Basically: you're bending yourself around and measuring the wrong thing to try to make a point about inflation in an area that has nothing to do with it. [1] Which is, at the end of the day, all we really care about optimizing. We live one life and we want to live it well doing as little work as possible. Frankly this is sort of "postulate zero" of the whole field of economics. [2] Just assume the range will last for a decade. I don't know what the real average is but it's in that range.