Set everything to 100 in 2008 — the year the money-printing era began in earnest — and watch what pulled ahead and what got left behind. Data runs 2008 through 2024 (a 2025 refresh is pending).
Nominal: raw dollar figures, each indexed to 100 in 2008.
In nominal terms everything rises, so it's easy to feel like wages "went up." Switch to real terms — divided by the price level — and the prices line flattens to 100 by definition, revealing what actually grew in purchasing power. Stocks roughly quadrupled in real terms; homes and wages rose modestly. This is the Cantillon Effect at the scale of a whole economy: the same era lifted asset owners far more than wage earners. It does not prove printing was the only cause — technology, globalization, and demand mattered too — but the gap is real and large.
Figures are approximate annual values, indexed to 100 at 2008, meant to show direction and scale — verify against the live series before citing exact numbers.
| Series (raw) | 2008 | 2016 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 (year-end) | 903 | 2239 | 5882 |
| Median home price ($) | 245k | 307k | 420k |
| CPI-U (1982-84=100) | 215 | 240 | 314 |
| Median weekly wage ($) | 722 | 832 | 1165 |
Sources, verify and re-date before relying on them: S&P 500 (FRED) · Median sales price of houses (FRED MSPUS) · CPI-U (FRED CPIAUCSL) · Median weekly earnings (FRED/BLS). Real = nominal index ÷ CPI index × 100. Education, not financial advice.