• ⇤
• ⇽
• ≡
• ⇾
• ⇥

today I did a bit of math....

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

It's occurred to me since I've been back that my salary is basically the same as it was in 1999. Twelve years ago.

And yet, everything feels considerably more expensive. Now, of course, I'm supporting two people who weren't in my life ten years ago, but I was semi-supporting a girlfriend back then by paying some of her rent and paying several of her car-related expenses. No, it definitely "feels" more expensive now.

I looked into the one reasonable measure of inflation that I could think of: the US official inflation rate. I kid, I kid. No; it's the price of gold. Given how corrupt the measurements of inflation really are, gold is the best measure I can think of. And it turns out that the year I was born, gold was at around $US44.50. That's the same year, 1971, that the $US officially parted ways forever as it turns out. Today the price of gold is $US1480. That's well over a 30:1 difference.

The difference between today and 2001 is aptly shown on this graph:

Just 10 years ago, gold was "only" worth $CA400. Which means that in the past ten years, my flat salary has actually lost 73% of its buying power. So .. wow.

Saved another $5 in TTC tokens by riding my bike.