What is the dollar really worth? Not what you think

摘要

If we believe our government, then we only experienceda rather benign inflation rate of 2.67 percent per year, on average, during the past five years, or a total of 14.2percent. This then makes the 2001 dollar worth about 88 cents. Yet looking at our actual out-of-pocket expenses, especially for gasoline and local taxes, we have a nagging feeling this might not be the true story.