Been to the grocery store, ordered takeout or tried to buy a house lately? The prices of electronics (calculators, watches) fell consistently throughout the 70s which was a period of very high inflation. You can't cherry pick one sector.

Of course.

It is very difficult to get a good number across all sectors. Despite my post, I’m not all that convinced we are in a deflationary period. The bell-weather asset for me would be Gold, and its price since I’ve been alive wouldn’t make me lean towards deflation.

If anything would, I suppose it would be the number of hours worked. That is, how much labor does it take to support a reasonable lifestyle. In my experience — and I’m an old geezer, so take this with a grain of salt — it seems like a lazy bastard can get by in this world a lot easier than 100 years ago. The degree of manual back-breaking labor that went into earning a dollar has decreased significantly. I don’t know how that would get figured in.

Gold prices aren't highly correlated with inflation so that would be a poor indicator. If you look at the actual historical data, gold isn't a very effective inflation hedge.

>> It is very difficult to get a good number across all sectors.

That's what cost of living indexes are for.

>> The bell-weather asset for me would be Gold

You probably mean to say gold futures or gold-based derivatives. There are more people who think they own "gold" than there is physical gold on this planet. Unless you have a bar in your hand, you own a contract tied to the price of gold, ie paper.

And despite the same technological improvements, gasoline is decisively more expensive. Technology is purely deflationary, so the situation with phone cost isn't very telling. What is more impactful is the cost of phone service vs median income across those decades, despite technology's deflationary forces.

Gasoline pump prices are highly impacted by taxes and regulations so those don't tell us much about core inflation or deflation. Look at the spot price of crude oil on international markets. The price today is still well below previous peaks.

I think computer hardware is one of the few things that decreased in price over time. The price of most other good and services has definitely increased since the '80s.