25 years of price changes in the U.S.

From the Economix column at the New York Times, where the focus is on why higher education costs have risen so much. 

Eyeballing the graph, the "all consumer items" curve shows a doubling in about 24 years, and if you divide that number into 72, you get an approximate annual increase of 3%.  Not particularly surprising or out of line with historical norms, I suspect.

The college tuition and medical care costs lend support to the "no children/early retirement" principle.