The cost of a loaf of bread in that decade was 5 cents, the average wages per hour in the US was 35 cents. Today, a loaf of bread is $2.50 and the average wages is $12 an hour. A house would be $10k to build (my grandparents built their house in '72 for $15k, it is now worth $250k) where a person was making $6k a year. Today a house averages $250k and you make $60k. In actuality, the costs of necessities have gone up, but the costs of almost everything else dropped due to globalization. But you can't outsource growing food, buying land, or building houses really well.