<prompt> Human: I know the buying power of the US dollar is only a shadow of what it was, but could that ever change? My grandparents always tell me how much things cost when they were young, but is that something that could ever happen again? Or are we always going to have to pay more and more for goods and services?  <response>: Just because your grandparents paid a nickel for a steak dinner, two milkshakes, sixteen gallons of gas and a pack of cigarettes back in nineteen-umpty-yonder doesnt mean stuff was cheaper back then. Purchasing power for almost all groups is higher today than back in the days except for isolated scenarios such as American working poor in 1979 compared to 2018, and the percentage of disposable income spent on food is lower than ever. Now of course, you have more stuff to spend money on than your great gramps. He didnt have to chopse between paying for food and microtransactionamazon primenetflix. Hell, he didnt even have the choice of spending 17 of his income on novel and effective but hugely expensive drugs. Instead he just had his heart attack at 47 and died. Deflationlower prices is not a good thing in and of itself either. Japan has had stagnating prices and stagnating wages ever since the early 90s, and the idea of getting inflation going is a bigger boner for Japanese governments than giant ocopuses octopi? being raped by schoolgirls. Or other way around, can never get those right. 