This is a (possibly) intentional (not by you) abuse of language in order to to rip people off.
Inflation/deflation is decrease/increase in the value of money, separate from technological progress or supply and demand of real products.
It's impossible to measure this directly, so dishonest people pushed to simply measure price increases/decreased, ignoring technologocal progress, so that powerful interests good steal from the public good.
> Inflation/deflation is decrease/increase in the value of money, separate from technological progress or supply and demand of real products.
If $1 gets you X capabilities, but the same $1 gets you X-1 capabilities later, is that not inflation? The same $1 gets you less. Whereas getting X+1 for $1 is deflation: the $1 gets you more.
The capability is how many calories you can get (Food), how much space you have to live (Shelter), how far you can go (Transportation: $y gets you z litres).
In the Radio Shack example, $1600 got me some capabilities in 1991, and some other capabilities in 2024: am I getting more, or fewer, capabilities? Further, how many hours would I have had to work in 1991 (e.g., minimum wage) to make that $1600 versus the hours I have to work in 2024?
I'm not sure it's a meaningful question... for $1600 I can get an iPhone which is more capable than anything you could buy for any price in 1991. Is the argument that this means there's been deflation? To me its a category difference and you can't compare because prices aren't set entirely by capability conferred but also by cost of production and demand.
Inflation/deflation is decrease/increase in the value of money, separate from technological progress or supply and demand of real products.
It's impossible to measure this directly, so dishonest people pushed to simply measure price increases/decreased, ignoring technologocal progress, so that powerful interests good steal from the public good.