No. of Recommendations: 15
During the last run of inflation, it was regularly complained (as well as pragmatically demonstrated) that the government's model of reporting inflation was significantly under=reporting it. With the recent changes at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, where Trump fired the director for reporting disappointing numbers, it becomes a probabilistic challenge to use any numbers the government may end up publicizing (once they open the doors again).
On a personal basis, I gauge inflation by the fact that both a NYC subway ride and a slice of pizza (in neighborhood places) were $.15 in 1966 and $.20 in 1970. Today a NYC Subway ride is $2.90, increasing to $3 in January and a slice of pizza is between $3.25 and 3.50. In 1966, the base price for a Volkswagen Beetle Deluxe Sedan was $1,585. In 1966, new Chevy cars could cost from about $2,066 for a base C10 pickup to $4,295 for a new Corvette, while many popular models like the Biscayne, Impala, or Bel Air had base prices in the $2,000-$3,000 range. A luxury car (today's equivalent would likely be a Lexus LS460 or Mercedes S500), like a 1966 Cadillac Coupe de Ville having a base price of around $5,339, a Fleetwood 60 Special at approximately $6,479, and a Fleetwood Brougham starting at about $6,695.
Real estate has tended to outperform those numbers.
Using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the total cumulative inflation between 1966 and today (October 2025) is 899.93%.
I'm going to say that the cumulative inflation over those 60 years was closer to 2,000%.
Of course, gold (which was illegal to own in the US back then) was $35 an ounce and is now over 100X that price.
While I-Bonds and TIPs will outperform cash or standard government bonds during times of inflation, the US government by overtly lying about the rate of inflation will keep their pound of flesh.
Jeff
(Not a gold bug, but just sayin')
