An interesting chart - 20 years

From Mark Perry at the American Enterprise Institute:

The CD ‘chart of the century’ makes the rounds at the Federal Reserve

Over the last 12 years, I’ve probably created and posted more than 3,000 graphics on CD, Twitter, and Facebook including charts/graphs, tables, figures, maps and Venn diagrams. Of all of those graphics, I don’t think any single one has ever gotten more attention, links, re-Tweets, re-posts, and mentions than the one above (and previous versions), which has been referred to as “the Chart of the Century.” 

And, to make this interesting, here is the underlying reason for the spike in prices:

The greater (lower) the degree of government involvement in the provision of a good or service the greater (lower) the price increases (decreases) over time, e.g., hospital and medical costs, college tuition, childcare with both large degrees of government funding/regulation and large price increases vs. software, electronics, toys, cars and clothing with both relatively less government funding/regulation and falling prices. 

So true - the prices that are going up are highly regulated businesses while the prices that have been falling are highly deregulated and capitalism and competition is allowed to work.