Back in September of 2011, my ladyfriend and I went to Atlantic City for a weekend. While there, we walked along the boardwalk and saw a video game arcade so we went in and played some games. Most of them I never heard of, but they did have one of my favorites from the 1980s, Ms. Pac Man. Back then, I could play one game for a quarter and got 5 "men" for the game. This time, the game cost 50 cents and I got only 3 men for the game. With only 3 men, unless you are really, really good (I could still play the game fairly well), a game hardly lasted more than a few minutes. From a cost-per-man perspective, it went from 5 cents back in the 80s to 17 cents in 2011. Taking inflation into account, it's probably not terribly out of line. Still, I found it rather depressing.
On the upside, personal computers have gotten better and cost a lot less than they did when I bought my first PC back in 1995 and its replacement in 2000. Same for TVs. Even the new A/C I bought a few weeks ago to replace the 19-year-old one which died cost less and has a lot of nifty features including a remote control. With the weather cooling off quickly since I bought it, I haven't had to use it much, so most of this discovery process will take place next summer.
In the supermarket, potato chips and chocolate chip cookies are two items whose prices are rising a lot. My goal is to find them for $4 per pound. That's an increasingly difficult task, unless they are on sale. And the "sale" prices are often well over $5 per pound, making my head shake as I whisper to myself, "THAT'S no bargain!"
