Income Decoded

Less hype. More clarity. Income, decoded.

College tuition and childcare prices are up 194% since 2000, per BLS. Overall prices: up 100%.

$100 a month into Amazon stock, every month since January 2000 📈 You put in: $32,200 Value now: about $2.21 million It included a dot-com crash of more than 90%. Monthly buying kept going through all of it.

$100 a month into Amazon since 2000 = $32,200 in, about $2.2M now. The hard part wasn't picking it. It was holding through a 90% crash in 2001. Boring monthly buying beat every clever market timer you know.

Every new machine gets the same headline. 1811: weavers smash looms. 1960s: 'automation will end work'. 2026: AI. Jobs changed every time. The people who lost them were never comforted by 'history says it's fine'.

The world's biggest economies, 1980 → 2025 📈 China went from outside the top 5 to #2. India climbed into the top 6. Italy slid from #6 in 1980 to #9 in 2025. GDP in current US$. Source: IMF World Economic Outlook, Oct 2025 (2025 = estimate).

For some countries, the biggest export is their own people 🌍 Remittances, % of GDP (2025): 🇹🇯 Tajikistan 57.7% 🇳🇵 Nepal 32.3% 🇭🇳 Honduras 30.1% 🇸🇻 El Salvador 27.5% 🇵🇭 Philippines 8.5% 🇲🇽 Mexico 3.6% 🇮🇹 Italy 0.5% Source: World Bank, personal remittances received, 2025.

New car prices are up 21% since January 2020, per BLS.

Electricity is up 43% since January 2020, per BLS. The AI data centers are hungry.

Who sells the most to the world? 📦 Exports of goods and services, 1970–2024 2024 top 3: 🇨🇳 China $3.83T 🇺🇸 United States $3.22T 🇩🇪 Germany $1.94T 🇨🇳 China went from #26 in 1970 to #1. Source: World Bank (NE.EXP.GNFS.CD), current US$.

$1,000 in Pfizer in 2000: about $2,341 today, dividends included. Same $1,000 in Novo Nordisk: about $51,000. Same industry. 22x apart. "Safe blue chip" describes the past, not the future.

Bitcoin is capped at 21 million. The dollar has no cap. Which one still exists in 100 years? A) Bitcoin B) US dollar C) Both D) Neither Reply with your pick.

Inflation in 2025: same year, same planet, completely different money 🌍 🇨🇳 China 0.0% 🇮🇹 Italy 1.6% 🇺🇸 United States 2.7% 🇹🇷 Turkey 34.9% 🇦🇷 Argentina 41.9% (219.9% in 2024) 🇮🇷 Iran 50.6% Source: IMF World Economic Outlook, Oct 2025 (average consumer prices, 2025 estimates).

$1,000 in pharma stocks in January 2000, dividends reinvested 💊 🇩🇰 Novo Nordisk: $51,332 🇺🇸 Eli Lilly: $38,918 🇺🇸 Johnson & Johnson: $12,604 Source: Yahoo Finance adjusted close (total return), Jan 2000 – Oct 2026. Past performance is not a guide to the future.

Eating out costs 38% more than in January 2020, per BLS.

Eggs hit $5.90 a dozen in February 2025. They were $2.27 in September 2026, per BLS. Still 55% above 2020.

In 1980 Italy's economy was bigger than China's. In 2025 China's is more than 7x Italy's (IMF, current US$). Europe didn't lose the race. It stopped running.

1913: the Federal Reserve is created. 1971: the dollar is cut loose from gold. 2026: a 1913 dollar buys about 3 cents of stuff. Nobody stole it. It just leaked.

Coffee is up 124% since January 2020, per BLS. $4.17 a pound then. $9.33 in September 2026.

Ground beef is up 75% since January 2020, per BLS. Burgers are a luxury now.

Countries with the Largest Economies (1960–2024) 🌍