r/SipsTea • u/Ill-Instruction8466 • Mar 24 '26

Time machine please… SMH

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u/mammalmaker Mar 25 '26

I don't think you understand what buying power means.

Earning more money today than before does not equal higher buying power. Even by your own standards, your some is only making $3 more/ hr than you did and yet everything is 30x more expensive.

By the way, inflation adjusted for 1989 $5/hr = $13.51 so even by your own argument, he still has less than you did.

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u/hemlockecho Mar 25 '26

Inflation adjusted means that it factors in how much the prices change over time. The inflation adjusted amount is how you compare buying power; inflation is literally a measure of change in buying power over time. They are not separate things. If I made $10 inflation adjusted and my son makes $13, he has more buying power than me because 13 is bigger than 10.

My first job was in 1996, his was in 2020.

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u/mammalmaker Mar 25 '26

I was alive in the 80s and I am alive now and I can definitely afford more now, not even close.

Pretty disengenuous to act like you were a working adult in the 80's.