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Inflation is a Bitch

8:46 AM EDT on April 30, 2008

The only thing scarier than paying $3.50 for a gallon of gas is the suggestion that the price could triple over the next three years.  Prognosticators let us know that this escalation of energy prices will lead to the price of everything increasing, painting a picture so grim that it makes one want to run out and stock up on canned goods.  Oh, then the prognosticators tell you this.

While taking a mental break to steel my nerves so I could prep for a Mad Max type apocalypse calmly, I spent a little time on YouTube and found this:

What jumped out at me first was:  "Wow, in 1968 you could list off the addresses of random people on television and tell the viewers the house's value?"  Apparently, Patrick's "Where They Live" gimmick was not as original as I had thought.  Next, though, I wanted to know where I could find me one of those $10,000 houses.  With the assistance the County Assessor's website, I learned that those addresses are worth significantly more now.  (Apparently this "inflation" thing has been going on for awhile now.)  "How much more?" you might ask.  Read on.

3521 NW 34th St

THEN:

NOW

Value: $65,653 (657%)

In the lower picture, both the car and the house were around in 1968, but it really was taken in 2004.

(If my dad is reading this right now, he's probably flipping his lid and screaming at the computer, "That's a 1969 Bug!  Don't you see the tail lights?  And the back windshield is curved too much!  Did you learn nothing from me?!?")

3005 NW 70th St

THEN

NOW

Value: $81,352 (626%)

I am starting to get the feeling that people had a thing for shrubbery forty years ago.

1419 SW 77th St:

THEN

NOW

Value: $84,841 (530%)

It is remarkable how little this house has changed in forty years.  There's a big tree now, but otherwise, it looks like the car hasn't moved and the grass is just as splotchy today as it was then.

While we are taking this trip down memory lane, here are some other price factors from 1968:

Prices
Cost of a new home: $26,600.00 
Median Household Income: $7,743.00 
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.05 ($0.06 as of 1/7/68) 
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $0.34 
Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.53
Cost of a gallon of Milk: 1.07

Maybe we'll live.

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