Gas prices are outrageous these days. Unleaded gas is almost $2 a gallon! (Editor's Note: In California, we'd dance in the streets if it was $2/gallon -- these days, we're looking at $2.25 or more!)

But many years back, the cost of gas was more than half of today's prices. Many other items were a lot cheaper! About 20 years ago, a loaf of bread was approximately 37 cents -- the price of a stamp today! Milk is a dollar something these days, when it used to be about 45 cents!

The problem of inflation has sent prices in the U.S. a lot higher than they used to be. From what I understand, the Cold War and World War II probably helped in jacking up these prices in the 1960s when inflation started to take its course.

(Editor's Note: Normally I'd correct the dates of something like this, but I'm just not sure what you mean. World War II ended the Great Depression in the 1940s, and the Cold War ran until 1989, when the Soviet Union collapsed. Economists would argue that inflation is pretty much inevitable in a growing economy, but it hasn't been bad at all until the last 5-6 years or so.... In any case, SwEeTp61 has some good points, so keep reading....)

I've seen this same scenario in Whyville. When Whyville started out, things were cheap like they were in the "old days" of real life. Good face parts probably weren't more than 20 clams. Today, however, good shirts range from 30 to 65 clams. And hair has sky-rocketed, ranging from 50 clams to 104!

Furniture and paint for your houses are costly, too. Thank the lord for Grandma! ;-)

So, Whyville, as unreal as it may seem, is shaping out to be just like real life, with the prices and all. Money is valued in real life and clams are valued in Whyville. The world is changing, and so is Whyville!

This is SwEeTp61, signing off
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Editor's Note: Good observations, SwEeTp61! Now the next question to ask -- the very Whyville question -- is, Why? Why is this happening in Whyville... why does it happen in real life? For those of you curious, I suggest you research the German economy near the end of World War II. That might be a good starter.