alt Hacker Newsassuming 2% inflation over 30 years, that means that a dollar in 1996 is now worth $1.81. 80% depreciation versus 25% increase in income is not comparable.
The wealth inequality in the past 30 years has dramatically shifted in favor of the ultra rich.
Technology has been used to create illegal monopolies -> too big to fail -> surely we can't / don't need to regulate this -> tech companies get away with murder and laugh all the way to the bank.
A company like Meta could finesse their algorythms to bias people against antitrust action and you would never know.
To repeat the talking point of tech companies that "technology has helped us, therefore we should not regulate it in any way" is to accept the premise of people that spend every waking hour of their day figuring out what they can get away with to screw you over.
I would asume the FRED statistic already is inflation adjusted as they said real income (usally inflation adjusted). That is 25% come ontop of the inflation, while you subtract it.
That being said, inflation or CPI is a very poor metric over time. I mean, sure, lets look what a smartphone with an all-knowing AI and internet access cost 100 years ago and see how much more we are paying now for it. Or the price of antibiotics, polio vacines and so on - sure they were cheap 100 years ago.
Because it is obvisouly not possible, we measure CPI in the price of eggs, milk, veggies, transportation and so on. Sure, we are all happy that we can buy today 25% more butter than we could 20 years ago.