The Stock Market Has Not Kept Up With Inflation During The Past Decade

These numbers show how the DOW as a broad measure has not kept up with inflation during the last decade.   We chose the items below to demonstrate that the cost of living in the past decade has doubled on average.  Dow Jones represents stocks.  Crude represents fuel/transportation costs.  Sugar and Wheat are food items Americans consume every day.  Cotton represents the cost of clothing while Gold represents the cost of converting fiat currency into hard money.

 Compiled by B2BE On December 21, 2011
Sources: Yahoo Finance Historical, Index Mundi Dot Com

Date	Dow Jones Opening Price	Crude Oil (Price Per Barrel)	Sugar (Cents Per Pound)	Gold (Dollars per Troy Ounce)	Wheat (Dollars per Metric Ton)	Cotton Daily Price
Jan-2001	10,790.92	25.95	10.06	265.49	132.84	64.18
Jan-2002	10,021.71	19.15	7.31	281.51	125.31	43.42
Jan-2003	8,342.38	30.77	7.89	356.86	149.60	56.71
Jan-2004	10,452.74	31.40	6.03	413.79	166.33	76.24
Jan-2005	10,783.75	42.89	8.92	424.03	153.59	51.26
Jan-2006	10,718.30	62.36	16.19	549.86	167.16	59.01
Jan-2007	12,459.54	53.40	10.90	631.17	196.07	59.05
Jan-2008	13,261.82	90.82	11.66	889.60	369.59	73.25
Jan-2009	8,772.25	43.91	12.24	858.69	239.36	57.70
Jan-2010	10,430.69	77.12	21.91	1,117.96	201.51	77.40
Jan-2011	11,577.43	92.66	29.74	1,356.40	326.55	178.93
Percent Change	% 7.29	% 257.07	% 195.63	% 410.9	% 145.82	% 178.79