Jeopardy and The Price is Right are two of the most successful game shows in television history.  However, they operate with two very different concepts.  On Jeopardy, the contestants are better informed  than the audience – as most people don’t know who the Speaker of the House is, let alone anything about 18th century French literature.  On The Price is Right, the audience typically knows much more than the contestants – as every couch potato knows what a box of Cheerios or a jar of Skippy peanut butter is going for.

And Americans love The Price is Right.

Tucker Carlson Tonight on the Fox News Channel, is typically the highest rated cable news program on TV.  On a good night, he generates over 3 million viewers.  The Price is Right – America’s most popular and longest-running daytime game show, launched in 1956, relaunched on CBS in 1972, and dedicated to contestants guessing the price of almost everything, without ever going a penny over – routinely generates over 5 million daily viewers.

America is good at Jeopardy, but we’re awesome at The Price Is Right.

Speaking of games, some are comparing Vladimir Putin’s strategy over in Russia to 3-D chess, and Joe Biden’s to a game of checkers (except on Tuesdays, when everybody at the Home plays Bingo).

In case there was any doubt, we are now living in a decidedly Price-is-Right world.

The Price is Right shows us not only what Americans pay attention to, it also shows us when they pay attention to it.

According to research performed by Jonathan Hartley, a data analyst at Harvard University, and a longtime fan of the show, the accuracy of  people’s guesses on The Price Is Right sharply decreased from the 1970s to the 2000s, and then stabilized in the 2010s.

Hartley found that in the 1970s, the typical guess was about 8 percent below the actual price, but in the 2010s people underestimated the price by more than 20 percent.

The difference in accuracy, according to Dan Kopf, data editor of Quartz, an online business publication, was that “inflation in the US was much higher and much less stable in the 1970s and 80s. When inflation is high and variable, people become more attentive to prices, noticing they are paying more for goods than before.”

And inflation we have.

In January, inflation hit 7.5 percent, the highest in nearly 40 years.

Think about that. Inflation hasn’t been this high since 1982.

In 1982 Michael Jackson’s Thriller was at the top of the charts, VCRs and Walkmans had just been introduced, and a left-wing psychopath named Trudeau was the Prime Minister of Canada.

History. Rinse. Repeat.

In fact, inflation is so bad that Family Dollar stores across the U.S. are now charging $1.25 for items, and the 99 Cents Store has become the 99 Cents And Up store.  Here’s something you may be hearing soon over the loudspeaker at the 99 Cents Store, “Price check, aisle six.”

Americans are all aware of this uptick.

According to a recent Investors Business Daily/TIPP poll, just 19 percent of adults say their wages have kept pace with inflation, while 49 percent say they haven’t kept pace. Meanwhile, 85 percent of Americans are concerned about the path of inflation over the next 12 months.

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In other words, most Americans are slightly concerned about what’s going on in Kiev, but totally enraged about the skyrocketing price of Chicken Kiev.

And, not surprisingly, voters are blaming President Joe Biden.  An astounding 47 percent of adults disapprove of Biden’s economic policies, with only 32 percent approving.

No wonder the public thinks Joe Biden is clueless about inflation: he thinks his kid’s coke straw paintings are worth half a million bucks.

The recent Virginia governor’s race taught us that parents can be an impactful voting block when they’re enraged and engaged.  In November, we’ll find out if Price is Right viewers will tell Republicans in Congress to “come on down!”

John Phillips can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on “The John Phillips Show” on KABC/AM 790.