Cluelessness is not a valid defense, but it does make you look funny.
This couldn't have anything to do with the devaluation of the dollar over the last 50 years now, could it?

Oil for instance is almost identically priced today versus gold as it was 100 years ago.
Also, how much of this has to do with the following aspects:
-Women's liberation vilifying being a homemaker pushing women into the workplace diluting the labor market.
-The "Keeping up with the Joneses" syndrome of materialism.
-International labor market competition brought about by bad national trade policy driving wages down
-Open borders importing low skill workers who drive down wages, and foreign students who can do the technical jobs Americans can't thanks to dumbed down schools.
Nope.. these couldn't have had ANY impact on the cost of living for the average family...