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How much is inflation?
There is a thing called the consumer price index (CPI) There is a basket of goods that the people who keep the index basically shop for.  It is much more detailed for the sake of accuracy, but bottom line is they shop for the same stuff each year.  They measure the difference from year to year and that gives you a pretty good idea of inflation from a regular person point of view. http://www.inflationdata.com/Inflation/Consumer_Price_Index/HistoricalCPI.aspx But it isn't without its faults, people bicker about the methodology and what constitutes the index. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex.asp?viewed=1