Inflation adjustments

I have a rule of thumb that I use for converting prices from past decades to current dollars, to account for inflation:

1900s price to present-day:  multiply by 100.  Something that cost a penny in 1905 would cost about a dollar now.

1960s price to present-day:  multiply by 10.  Something that cost ten cents in 1965 would cost about a dollar now.

1990s price to present-day:  multiply by 2.  Something that cost fifty cents in 1995 would cost about a dollar now.

Inflation is, of course, a way for governments to increase their spendable funds without overtly raising taxes. Savers get the short end of the stick, which is why I make investing in tools and skills and Heaven a high priority. These price increases happened in spite of tremendous advances in technology and commerce over the years.

My rule of thumb came in very handy when I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. My jaw dropped repeatedly over the things that this supposedly poor family was spending money on, and in what quantities. Although I guess it makes sense; John Bunyan was writing about Vanity Fair in the seventeenth century.