An Auntie Anne’s original pretzel cost about $3.50 in 2009. Today it’s $7.29. The pretzel tracked inflation almost perfectly.
The pretzel is accidentally the most honest inflation tracker in America. It’s priced in flour, sugar, labor, commercial rent, and energy. Every cost that went up in 17 years is baked into that $7.29. One mall receipt tells you more about the economy than most dashboards.
Now do the rest. Gas in 2009 averaged $2.35 a gallon. Today it’s $3.81. Up 62%. The median U.S. home sold for $172,000 in 2009. The latest FRED data has it at $405,300. Up 136%. Average public university tuition went from about $7,000 to $12,000. Up 71%. Health insurance premiums for a family of four went from $13,000 to over $24,000. Up 85%.
Every price in the economy moved. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 was set on July 24, 2009. It has not changed once in 6,088 days. $7.25 in 2009 had the purchasing power of $10.47 today. That’s a 30% silent pay cut delivered one year at a time, while the number on the check never moved.
In 2009, $7.25 bought two Auntie Anne’s pretzels. In 2026, it doesn’t buy one.
The dollar lost 30% of its value. The pretzel adjusted. The wage didn’t.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half time show was 10x more entertaining than the game itself. Don’t let people make you feel weird for supporting and loving ALL of the cultures that the world has to offer. To me that is what America is all about.
okay so is anyone else’s tiktok being extremely slow, keeps showing you old videos, doesn’t show you what you what you actually search, and doesn’t load certain stuff….
even though they didn’t win, i’m so eternally proud of my girls. they worked so hard and had such great partnerships and did the damn thing!! i love them so bad ☹️ #dwts
CARRIE ANN ARE YOU JOKING? JORDAN JUST DID THE BEST DANCE OF THE FIRST ROUND. BY MILES. YOU’RE GONNA GIVE ALIX A 10 FOR THAT BORING ASS SAMBA WITH NO BOUNCE AND DOCK JORDAN FOR BEING “TOO INTENSE” ON A PASO???? #DWTS