Originally Posted by
TheBaron Deux
I paid right at $15k for my 1985 Mustang GT, top of the line back then, a whopping 225 horsepower. That would put it over $36k now with 3% inflation. Today you can buy a 2016 Mustang Fastback V-6 with over 100 more horsepower, huge improvements in quality, handling, fuel economy...any metric you can name, for about $24k. My computer is better but less expensive. My 80" flatscreen cost $1000 less than the 50" it replaced. Yes, some things are more expensive; I almost never buy T-bone steaks anymore. Just as many have either gone down drastically for the same level of quality, or they have improved considerably for the same price. Is your $200 iPhone 6 no better than the $200 iPhone 4 you had in 2011? Everyone keeps focusing on what they perceive as givebacks and ignoring all the gains, or dismissing them as beneath us.
While you are right many things are an improvement on what we had, that does not change the basic point for figuring out what your money will buy. If you want to purchase the best Mustang available it will cost you $32k (non convertible) not 24K. You can buy as "lower" quality model for less. It has less bells and whistles than the top of the line model. I agree in the future, things will be better and you will get more for your $$ in technology relative to the past. But if you still want cutting edge or you want the best or even a top version of an item, it will continue to cost more. And our pay and to a much greater extent our retirement income will not keep pace. Yep the Iphone 6 is much better and still only costs $200 plus a two year contract that cost more per month. Is your cable bill still $29? Yes you get more channels but it still costs more.
So far the "gains" I see are verbiage gains that should have been worked out a couple years ago. I don't see many WOW that's a nice item areas.