4 ms·

With nearly 1000% inflation since 1958, that's $125k in today's money.

by futhey 3y ago

GalenErso 3y ago
Cries in Bay Area
- kmonsen 3y ago
  LOL, it is mind boggling that my shitty Sunnyvale house is like 2x the price of the house Warren Buffett live in!
brvsft 3y ago
This is part of why I don't trust CPI data. Take Warren Buffett's house as another example from 1958: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/03/warren-buffett-lives-in-the-same-home-he-bought-in-1958.html https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/03/warren-buffett-lives-in-the-... > The Berkshire Hathaway CEO still resides in the five-bedroom home in central Omaha, Nebraska, he purchased for $31,500 in 1958, which is about $329,505 in today’s dollars. But the house clearly isn't worth only $329,505 in "today's dollars." Sure, it's more modest than a full-blown mansion, but it's still worth a lot more than that, closer to about a million dollars. And that's including if you were to try buying the house with zero knowledge or context that Warren Buffett once lived in it. Of course, these things are all 'worth' what someone will actually pay for them, but unless we believe that that housing market is so screwed that Buffett's house would sell for ~$330k if the housing market crashed down to reality (which would actually imply potential deflation and a CPI that would result in the home being worth much lower, per "real" dollar figures), that house is never selling for less than $330k. Not even less than $660k, in my opinion. The only way these homes would come close to their price in CPI is if something catastrophic happened to the neighborhoods in which they exist.
- switch007 3y ago
  But your car now has bluetooth, digital radio and tire pressure monitors, so it all balances out in the magic basket of goods.
  - jrochkind1 3y ago
    All things I don't want, and can't really buy a car without. But yeah, I think the fact that Americans, at all income levels, have more stuff than they did 40 years ago, is part of understanding the macro picture. More stuff does not always mean more quality of life.
  - brvsft 3y ago
    My car from 2010 will forever have tire pressure alerts because I am not shelling out $1k to replace the broken tire pressure monitors. As an example, they're more of an annoyance to me. I don't use bluetooth or digital radio either, but yes, my car does have bluetooth. Don't see the point in it myself. The only new feature I wish my car had is a nice display that is hooked up to a backup camera, or even better, the ability for the car to automatically park itself, especially parallel parking in tight spots.
  - switch007 3y ago
    I fear my sarcasm was a little too subtle ;)
- lottin 3y ago
  Prices of articles can vary due to changes in the price level and due to other causes (such as obsolescence, changes in consumer preferences, and so on). CPI only informs us about changes in the price level, it doesn't tell us anything about anything else. So the fact that the price of a particular article hasn't changed exactly according to CPI is completely normal, and not a reason to believe that the CPI is "wrong".
  - brvsft 3y ago
    Then the CPI should never be used to say, "This home worth ~$30k in 1958 is worth ~$300k today," when such a statement is so blatantly inaccurate.
    - lottin 3y ago
      You could say "in 1958 this home was worth ~$300k in today's dollars" which is less misleading.
- kmonsen 3y ago
  Redfin has it at $818,954 https://www.redfin.com/NE/Omaha/5202-Underwood-Ave-68132/home/103548997 https://www.redfin.com/NE/Omaha/5202-Underwood-Ave-68132/hom... Not a million, but closer to that than to #329k.

With nearly 1000% inflation since 1958, that's $125k in today's money.

by futhey 3y ago

With nearly 1000% inflation since 1958, that's $125k in today's money.

GalenErso 3y ago

Cries in Bay Area

kmonsen 3y ago
LOL, it is mind boggling that my shitty Sunnyvale house is like 2x the price of the house Warren Buffett live in!

brvsft 3y ago

This is part of why I don't trust CPI data. Take Warren Buffett's house as another example from 1958: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/03/warren-buffett-lives-in-the-same-home-he-bought-in-1958.html https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/03/warren-buffett-lives-in-the-... > The Berkshire Hathaway CEO still resides in the five-bedroom home in central Omaha, Nebraska, he purchased for $31,500 in 1958, which is about $329,505 in today’s dollars. But the house clearly isn't worth only $329,505 in "today's dollars." Sure, it's more modest than a full-blown mansion, but it's still worth a lot more than that, closer to about a million dollars. And that's including if you were to try buying the house with zero knowledge or context that Warren Buffett once lived in it. Of course, these things are all 'worth' what someone will actually pay for them, but unless we believe that that housing market is so screwed that Buffett's house would sell for ~$330k if the housing market crashed down to reality (which would actually imply potential deflation and a CPI that would result in the home being worth much lower, per "real" dollar figures), that house is never selling for less than $330k. Not even less than $660k, in my opinion. The only way these homes would come close to their price in CPI is if something catastrophic happened to the neighborhoods in which they exist.

switch007 3y ago
But your car now has bluetooth, digital radio and tire pressure monitors, so it all balances out in the magic basket of goods.
- jrochkind1 3y ago
  All things I don't want, and can't really buy a car without. But yeah, I think the fact that Americans, at all income levels, have more stuff than they did 40 years ago, is part of understanding the macro picture. More stuff does not always mean more quality of life.
- brvsft 3y ago
  My car from 2010 will forever have tire pressure alerts because I am not shelling out $1k to replace the broken tire pressure monitors. As an example, they're more of an annoyance to me. I don't use bluetooth or digital radio either, but yes, my car does have bluetooth. Don't see the point in it myself. The only new feature I wish my car had is a nice display that is hooked up to a backup camera, or even better, the ability for the car to automatically park itself, especially parallel parking in tight spots.
- switch007 3y ago
  I fear my sarcasm was a little too subtle ;)
lottin 3y ago
Prices of articles can vary due to changes in the price level and due to other causes (such as obsolescence, changes in consumer preferences, and so on). CPI only informs us about changes in the price level, it doesn't tell us anything about anything else. So the fact that the price of a particular article hasn't changed exactly according to CPI is completely normal, and not a reason to believe that the CPI is "wrong".
- brvsft 3y ago
  Then the CPI should never be used to say, "This home worth ~$30k in 1958 is worth ~$300k today," when such a statement is so blatantly inaccurate.
  - lottin 3y ago
    You could say "in 1958 this home was worth ~$300k in today's dollars" which is less misleading.
kmonsen 3y ago
Redfin has it at $818,954 https://www.redfin.com/NE/Omaha/5202-Underwood-Ave-68132/home/103548997 https://www.redfin.com/NE/Omaha/5202-Underwood-Ave-68132/hom... Not a million, but closer to that than to #329k.