Show me the inflation of $ USD, starting from , through .

The Grim Depiction

Inflation graph

The raw numbers

Year Inflation Value
1914 1.000% $1.01
1915 1.980% $1.03
1916 12.621% $1.16
1917 18.103% $1.37
1918 20.438% $1.65
1919 14.545% $1.89
1920 2.646% $1.94
1921 -10.825% $1.73
1922 -2.312% $1.69
1923 2.367% $1.73
1924 2.976% $1.78
1925 3.468% $1.84
1926 -1.117% $1.82
1927 -2.260% $1.78
1928 -1.156% $1.76
1929 0.585% $1.77
1930 -6.395% $1.66
1931 -9.317% $1.50
1932 -10.274% $1.35
1933 0.763% $1.36
1934 1.515% $1.38
1935 2.985% $1.42
1936 1.449% $1.44
1937 2.857% $1.48
1938 -2.778% $1.44
1939 -1.408% $1.42
1940 0.714% $1.43
1941 9.929% $1.57
1942 9.032% $1.72
1943 2.959% $1.77
1944 2.299% $1.81
1945 2.247% $1.85
1946 18.132% $2.18
1947 8.837% $2.38
1948 2.991% $2.45
1949 -2.075% $2.40
1950 5.932% $2.54
1951 6.000% $2.69
1952 0.755% $2.71
1953 0.749% $2.73
1954 -0.743% $2.71
1955 0.375% $2.72
1956 2.985% $2.80
1957 2.899% $2.88
1958 1.761% $2.93
1959 1.730% $2.98
1960 1.361% $3.03
1961 0.671% $3.05
1962 1.333% $3.09
1963 1.645% $3.14
1964 0.971% $3.17
1965 1.923% $3.23
1966 3.459% $3.34
1967 3.040% $3.44
1968 4.720% $3.60
1969 6.197% $3.83
1970 5.570% $4.04
1971 3.266% $4.17
1972 3.406% $4.31
1973 8.706% $4.69
1974 12.338% $5.27
1975 6.936% $5.63
1976 4.865% $5.91
1977 6.701% $6.30
1978 9.018% $6.87
1979 13.294% $7.79
1980 12.516% $8.76
1981 8.922% $9.54
1982 3.830% $9.91
1983 3.791% $10.28
1984 3.949% $10.69
1985 3.799% $11.10
1986 1.098% $11.22
1987 4.434% $11.72
1988 4.419% $12.23
1989 4.647% $12.80
1990 6.106% $13.58
1991 3.064% $14.00
1992 2.901% $14.41
1993 2.748% $14.80
1994 2.675% $15.20
1995 2.538% $15.58
1996 3.322% $16.10
1997 1.702% $16.38
1998 1.612% $16.64
1999 2.685% $17.09
2000 3.387% $17.67
2001 1.552% $17.94
2002 2.377% $18.37
2003 1.879% $18.71
2004 3.256% $19.32
2005 3.416% $19.98
2006 2.541% $20.49
2007 2.779% $21.06

The disclaimers

I'm not an economist, nor have I had any training in economics, and precious little in mathematics. I made this thing by way of experimenting with the Google Chart API at a moment when I was suddenly curious about what inflation does to the value of money. Usually inflation is simply expressed as a percentage, which is fine as a matter of theory but which I have trouble thinking about in terms of the dollar figures it amounts to. The data is from here.

Terms like "value" and "worth" are probably used incorrectly. Sorry. Like I said, I'm not an economist. The main principle I've been able to extract from this exercise is that inflation's impact on monetary value follows the same principles as compound interest -- hence the acceleration effect you'll see if you expand the date ranges.