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I don't know the first thing about economics, but it certainly feels like my purchasing power has been going down over the past 10 years.
I know this is going to sound strange but are you by any chance moderately rich?
A lot of the growth in the past few years in the USA has been driven by rising wages for the poorest people, so stuff like fast food has gotten way more expensive.
This means that while certain things got cheaper (TVS phones ect) and certain things got more expensive, the things that are more expensive tend to be the "upper middle class" purchases (ex restaurant food)
I wish.
I'm...lower middle class? Honestly I'm not sure how the classifications go, exactly. I'd call myself "working class" in light of my actual circumstances, if that didn't have historical baggage. I'd like to identify as middle class, but I clearly don't fit in economically on account of my complete lack of property.
ok, so that means you probably were hit the hardest by price changes!
The biggest changes price wise in the positive direction are medical care, housing and restaurant food.
So basically if you live in an apartment and eat out a lot you were hit the hardest by the recent changes in relative prices.
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