Example of "Progress/Upgrades" that Just Piss Me OFF!

68gtxman said
It’s due to things like “Quantitative Easing”, used to devalue our dollar and steal “we the people’s” money through inflation. Thank a central banker and our past administrations for this. This problem spans borders as the world uses the US dollar as the standard currency.

I don't think that's the main reason for the higher price. The new plastic cap is 5X more complex than the old metal one. The new, expensive, plastic one is specific to one make/model. The old, cheap, metal one probably fits 100s of different vehicles, going back to the 1950s.