Was coffee really cheaper back then?

Someone older tells you a coffee cost half as much when you were born. They're right. But the coffee isn't really the story.

Since 2003, almost everything costs about twice as much: rent, bread, a haircut, a bus ticket. When everything goes up together, it's not that each thing got pricier on its own. It's that each dollar buys less.

Same fact, two ways to say it. "Coffee got expensive" blames the coffee. "My dollar got smaller" points at the money. Most people only ever say the first one, so they never ask why their money keeps shrinking. That's the question "Why would anyone want prices to rise?" answers.

It works forward too. If prices rise 2% a year, today's $5 coffee will cost about $7.40 in 20 years. When you plan, plan with that number, not today's.

To be fairNot every price rise is about money. Coffee beans have bad harvests, rents climb when a city gets popular, and baristas get raises. Some things even got cheaper, like TVs. But when nearly all prices climb together, year after year, the common cause is the money.