I call bullshit on all the items that have supposedly dropped in price/become more affordable since 1998. Wireless phone service is outrageously high now, paid for software is also crazy high and toys just keep getting more expensive by the day. Only TVs may be more affordable in some cases, but not by much. New cars, home furnishings and apparel are also not realistic. New cars are massively overpriced and home furnishings are laughably expensive considering their quality is complete shit. Apparel is the only potential bargain in that list since you can get cheaply made, low quality clothes for relatively little money, but it doesn't last very long.

The future is stupid and expensive. Clown World needs to be hunted down and murdered brutally.

interesting, but too bad it stops in 2018, before the fed manufactured inflection point.

Can you spell o b a m a?

In as much as we can trust this data...

It would help explain why "young people these days" can afford computers/cell phones but not school/child care. It's not that they prioritize the former over the latter, but that they simple CAN afford one and CAN'T afford the other...which has been my personal experience the entire time.

Medical care - heavily subsidized and regulated by government. College - heavily subsidized and regulated by govrnment. Child care - not as heavily subsidized or regulated but promoted by jewy feminists so women can be wage slaves too. Average hourly earnings definitely did not go up that fast, see EPI's graph of worker pay vs productivity, then compare it to when jews ran the Fed. Food - moderately subsidized by government to push the least healthy options on us. Cars - moderately subsidized and regulated by government. Clothing - aside from some cotton subsidies, not very subsidized or regulated by government. Phones - barely subsidized, moderately regulated by government. Computer software - barely subsidized or regulated except for a handful of big tech platforms that are free for users. Toys - not subsidized and barely regulated by government. TVs - not subsidized and only the content is heavily regulated, the TVs themselves are only barely regulated.

So it seems more government involvement raises prices. Who'd have thought?

look no further than govt...and govt pay backs

Let's look at the top 3 - hospital services, college tuition and college textbooks.

Hospitals have more high tech equipment and tests than 20 years ago. What used to be an inexpensive X-ray is now an expensive MRI or CAT scan. Government regulations about staffing and equipment have driven up administrative costs. Hospitals throw away huge amounts of bed side plastic equipment because it can't be reused once it's out of the package (even if the patient never touched it). There is some justification for higher costs.

College tuition covers administrative costs such as staff, buildings and professors. Those haven't changed in 20 years unless the college built new buildings because they had excess cash. Costs should be about same as 20 years ago (adjusting for inflation).

College textbooks should be cheaper than 20 years ago because technology has made layout and editing faster and easier.