INFLATION

When I moved to San Diego, California in January, 1979, it was starting.  

Inflation.

I think later that year or the next, every third person in San Diego (except me) had a license to sell real estate! 

Look at the devaluation of the United States currency since 1979.

Here is a chart showing the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) — the standard measure of the CPI in the U.S. — from January 1979 to the most recent available data (through November 2025, as of early 2026).

The index uses the base period 1982–1984 = 100, meaning values represent average price levels relative to that reference period. The long-term upward trend clearly illustrates the cumulative effects of inflation over more than 45 years, with notable acceleration periods in the late 1970s/early 1980s (high inflation era), the 2000s, and post-2020.