4/7/2026 at 10:55:17 PM
This isn't very surprising. Typical US economic policy aims for 2-3% annual inflation. That counter shows an average 2.6% inflation across 26 years, which is kind of right in the range we'd expect.It's debatable whether this is good longterm policy - but it's been the norm in the US for decades.
by nrclark
4/7/2026 at 11:57:35 PM
This ticker's current speed is faster than that, though. It's going about 1e-9 dollar per second. That comes to about $0.03 per year, which as a fraction of the current base of $0.50, comes to 6% inflation per year.I don't know how that speed was determined. Either it's using a linear decrease since 2000 (which isn't correct, the inverse of exponential inflation would be logarithmic decay, not linear), or it's weighting by recency for the high inflation since 2020 (which may continue, or may not.)
by vikingerik
4/8/2026 at 12:22:44 AM
Good eye. The ticker was using the observed rate of change over the two most recent data points, so it's actually biased towards the most recent inflation numbers. I've updated it to simply use the slope between the oldest (January 2000) and the most recent data.It won't be 100% accurate, but it's close enough to create a visual. And the number is always updated monthly with real data anyways.
by traviswingo
4/8/2026 at 12:36:34 AM
Nice job, thoughtful executionby engineer_22
4/7/2026 at 11:15:30 PM
> Typical US economic policy aims for 2-3% annual inflation. That counter shows an average 2.6% inflation across 26 years, which is kind of right in the range we'd expectWe aim for "inflation of 2 percent over the longer run, as measured by the annual change in the price index for personal consumption expenditures" [1].
by JumpCrisscross
4/7/2026 at 11:42:49 PM
Accurately aiming inflation as a central bank is like trying to keep a deflating balloon the same size using a harmonica. 2.6% isn’t bad, I don’t know that many if any central banks have managed a tighter band.by bobthepanda
4/8/2026 at 12:00:43 AM
> "as measured by the annual change in the price index for personal consumption expenditures"How closely does that track with CPI-U, which is the index this web site is using? If I believe Gemini, PCE should show a slightly lower inflation number?
by rootusrootus
4/7/2026 at 11:20:45 PM
It also says nothing of where that dollar has been in 20 yearsby downboots
4/7/2026 at 11:49:13 PM
Probably down the back of a sofa.by oniony