The Million-Dollar Economy: When Everybody Has More Dollars but the Dollar Buys Less

The U.S. money supply has expanded nearly fifteenfold since 1980, while consumer prices have quadrupled. Household wealth, wages, housing, and everyday expenses have followed very different trajectories. Using historical Federal Reserve, BLS, and Census data, I examine the expansion of nominal wealth and purchasing power, with an interactive dashboard modeling possible outcomes through 2037.