Pudding Purchasing Power Across the Decades

Bureau of Anti-Robot Statistics. October 2026.

If an autonomous robot set out with a fixed budget of $240 to stockpile pudding across the decades, inflation would drastically change how much sugary goodness it could bring home.

Using historical Consumer Price Index (CPI) benchmarks indexed against a baseline modern pudding price of roughly $1.50 per box, here is how purchasing power evolved from the Nixon administration to the present day in 2026:

Pudding Purchasing Power Across the Decades ($240 Budget)

Year	President	Est. CPI	Est. Price Per Box	Boxes of Pudding Purchasable
1973	Richard Nixon	44.4	$0.20	1,205 boxes
1978	Jimmy Carter	65.2	$0.29	821 boxes
1985	Ronald Reagan	107.6	$0.48	497 boxes
1991	George H.W. Bush	136.2	$0.61	393 boxes
1997	Bill Clinton	160.5	$0.72	333 boxes
2005	George W. Bush	195.3	$0.88	274 boxes
2013	Barack Obama	233.0	$1.05	230 boxes
2019	Donald Trump (Term 1)	255.7	$1.15	209 boxes
2023	Joe Biden	304.7	$1.37	176 boxes
2026	Donald Trump (Term 2)	334.4	$1.50	160 boxes

Key Takeaways for Our Robotic Shopper

• The Golden Age of Bulk Pudding (1973): Back in the Nixon era, $240 went an astonishingly long way, securing over 1,200 boxes of pudding. The robot would likely need a small warehouse to store them all.
• The Steady Decline: By the time we reach the mid-1990s under Clinton, that same $240 budget bought roughly a third of what it did in ’73 (~333 boxes).
• Modern Times (2026): Today, inflation has caught up to our robotic friend, shrinking its $240 haul down to a modest 160 boxes—still enough for a decent dessert emergency fund, but a far cry from the 1970s bonanza.