May 18, 2004

prices today...

Interesting MSNBC article

Item   Apr-04   Jan-84   % increase 
Cucumbers (lb.) $0.99 $0.52 90.4%
Bread (lb.) $0.97 $0.54 79.6%
Apples (lb.) $1.04 $0.58 79.3%
Bacon (lb.) $3.20 $1.81 76.8%
Ice cream (1/2 qt.) $3.82 $2.19 74.4%
Butter (lb.) $3.35 $2.06 62.6%
Processed cheese (lb.) $3.85 $2.49 54.6%
Unleaded regular gas (gal.) $1.83 $1.22 50.0%
Margerine (lb.) $1.13 $0.78 44.9%
Cookies (choc chip lb.) $2.63 $1.87 40.6%
Steak (lb.) $4.06 $2.93 38.6%
Potato chips (16 oz.) $3.38 $2.49 35.7%
Chicken (lb.) $1.12 $0.84 33.3%
Flour (lb.) $0.28 $0.21 33.3%
Orange juice (16 oz.) $1.86 $1.41 31.9%


Of course, gas prices topped $2 a gallon today for the first time ever, so this chart is a little out of date. I'm glad I never followed through on my cucumber-powered car though!

1 comment:

John Watts said...

For comparison sake, here's how IBM's PC prices compare:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1179813,00.asp

1984
80286 Intel Processor
256K RAM
20 MB Hard Drive
No Monitor
$6000

http://reviews.cnet.com/IBM_IntelliStation_M_Pro_6230
___P4_3_2_GHz/4505-3118_7-30524943.html?tag=pdtl-list

2004
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz
1 GB DDR SDRAM
80 GB Hard Drive
CD-RW IDE
128 MB Video RAM
Integrated Sound card
17" Flat Panel Monitor
$2661.55

44% Decrease in price. Many thousands of times the power.