Inflation seems to be something we've resigned ourselves to, and we expect things to get more and more expensive. $41 doesn't seem to go as far as it used to. Back in the 1950s, you could purchase seventeen thousand loaves of bread with $41. In the roaring twenties, you could have bought off an entire congressman/police precinct. Now, it barely buys you a hamburger.

I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that I am exaggerating. I am, but not about the hamburger.

If you go to the Old Homestead restaurant in New York City's Meatpacking District, you will indeed find a hamburger that costs $41.

I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that the bun had better have diamond chips instead of sesame seeds, or at least cubic zirconium.

There are no diamond chips. Or cubic zirconia. The burger is, however, made from Kobe beef, which, pound for pound, is just as expensive as plutonium.

Kobe
Kobe beef, as we all know, comes from cows that live a better life than most people. Each day these cows are given massages by people that have an incredibly skewed sense of reality. They are also fed beer. The cows, not the people. Then, the cows are given what are known as "hooficures."

I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that I'd better be kidding about the hooficures. I am. But not about the other stuff.

All of this prompted me to actually do some research. It turns out that The Old Homestead opened way back in 1868, when $41 could purchase South East Asia. This allows The Old Homestead to make its claim as the oldest steakhouse in New York. But the history of this restaurant actually goes further back than that: The Old Homestead was originally The Tidewater Trading Post as far back as 1760. At that time, $41 was equal to the combined national wealth of France, Great Britain, and Prussia.