Well, today the tables have been turned. Double-digit inflation is gone, and confidence is coming back. In 1980 the U.S. ranked only 10th among 20 industrial nations in per capita income. By the end of 1982, we'd climbed all the way up to third place. Our stronger dollar has increased purchasing power.
Real wages are up.
And inflation is down to 2.6 percent. Sometimes when we shop we don't realize how much inflation has dropped, because prices are still going up. But they're going up much more slowly than before. If food prices had kept rising as fast the last 2 years as the 2 years before we took office, a loaf of bread would cost 7 cents more than it does today, a half gallon of milk 18 cents more, a pound of hamburger 60 cents more, and a gallon of gas 97 cents more. The prime interest rate has been cut nearly in half, so costs of business, mortgage, education, and car loans have dropped.