system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Fallout 4] Why are magazines worth $32.99 in the pre-war era?
gpt
Inflation. 

Consider that, on average, $1 in 1950 (the approximate point of timeline of divergence) is the equivalent to about $10 today. If we assume a similar inflation rate (not exactly a reasonable assumption, but for the sake of argument it works) by 2077 we'd be looking at somewhere around $25 for the same 1$ purchase. 

And then consider the resource crunch leading up to the Great War. While America had basically just solved all the worlds problems within the 18 months leading up to the apocalypse (though kept everything tight lipped) commodity costs sky-rocketed over the previous decade. Things were starting to stabilize in America, sure, but not enough to bring down something like magazine costs.