"Feelings and perception are irrelevant. Only facts matter."

Feelings certainly matter. For example, I might walk to a fountain if I feel thirsty.

The alternative explanation, that I walk to the fountain because of a sequence of mechanical forces exerted by the ground on my body, seems less insightful.

That makes more sense. I remember buying cheap supermarket bread for the equivalent of CAD 0.56 (1990). Nowadays the cheap bread is CAD 1.88
Not far off from this site http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/70yearsofpricechange.html

Luxury goods have become a lot cheaper compared to daily necessities. Back then having a 2nd tv was a rarity. Nowadays people have 2-3 cars, tv in every room, multiple consoles, pc, laptops, tablets, smart phones.

While I GENERALLY agree that game prices have increased (due to inflation), keep in mind that DLC did not exist in 1996, so there is an additional source of revenue for developers that often comes at minimal cost.

Additionally, I don't think the cost structure was the same that it is today. Reviewing the differences in a game between 1996 and 2010 will show that retailer margin has went from 30% ($18) down to 25% ($15), platform royalty has went from 33% ($20) down to 12% ($7), whereas publisher/developer has went from 20% ($12) to 45% ($27).

http://kotaku.com/5937166/why-1990s-snes-games-were-so-damn-expensive
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-60-dollar-video-game.html

So in that regard, the publisher/developer should not be the ones hurting from video game sales, as their take has increased quite a bit faster than inflation. It is the stores, and the gaming platforms themselves that have actually decreased without even taking inflation into effect.

clearly i forgot to factor in the inflation caused by the US's UFO program too,  how silly of me. 

Next you'll be quoting theonion as fact too. 

dlc did exist,  in the only way it could,  mission packs. 

i had mission packs as early as quake 1

"Blouge, please spare us the conspiracy talk. Take it to the politics board." - Shadowman1980

The Fed fixes the price of loanable funds (the interest rate). Fixing the price of economic goods leads to gluts and shortages. One example of a glut is a $1 trillion student loan bubble. I don't see the conspiracy or politics here. Just economics 101 and economics facts.

"I don't have time to deal with someone who cites shadowstats.com and the Mises Institute as valid and authoritative economics info." - Shadowman1980

What's wrong with the True Money Supply? I welcome you to do your calculation using Federal reserve M1. I doubt it will be much different than mine using TMS. No one disputes that the quantity of money keeps increasing. M1 and TMS are only slightly different in how dollars are counted.

Instead of smearing other's arguments as non-"authoritative" or "conspiracy", please contribute to the discussion in a constructive way.

"clearly i forgot to factor in the inflation caused by the US's UFO program too, how silly of me. "
 
Have you filled up your gas tank lately? Bought groceries? Gone to the theatre? Bought a home?

If you believe BLS numbers, I feel sorry for you.

Edit: Or maybe you are just young?

You do realize that $640 price now is more in line with 7% annual inflation since 1996 accross the board. Just because certain items cost that much more than 1996 does not mean they all do, or we would be looking at bananas for $1.50/lb (when they are still $.50/lb), milk for nearly $5/gallon (when I get it for about $2.50/gallon), a car equivalent to a Subaru Legacy Wagon would be about $50,000 (I just bought a really nice brand new Chevy Cruze for $16,000, even a much larger car would have only run me about $20,000).

Sure, I can look at individual items I have bought, and I will certainly be able to find ones that have gone up 3, 4, even 5x what the price was when I was a child, but I can also find items that literally haven't changed a single bit since I was a child, or have gotten cheaper.

You also need to consider when looking at inflation other factors. For example, the huge rise in housing prices has a lot more to do with much larger houses than it has to do with super high inflation on housing. With vehicles, the vehicles we buy today are much better than the ones we bought in 1996 (significantly more features, much safer, better gas mileage, etc.). Computers have consistently gotten cheaper, yet continue to get better and better.

If 7% inflation was a reality, then just about everybody would be massively worse off now than in 1996, when I would argue houses have significantly more flexible spending (adjusted for inflation) now than they had in 1996.

Eye opening

>If 7% inflation was a reality, then just about everybody would be massively worse off now than in 1996

I guess you haven't met many 30-year olds living in their parents' basement.

This used to be something to be embarassed of, but now, at least where I live, it is the norm.

Edit: There are also 47 million Americans on food stamps. At least we have cool gizmos now.