SMS wrote:

I was out on a ride today with the spousal unit and two child units, and
daughter-unit blew a tire. I did a temporary fix with two (2) dollar
bills and proceeded to a nearby Performance Bike Shop. Got her a Ritchey
Tom Slick 26" x 1.4" which was $18 (less an 11% off promotion they were
having, so it was about $16). It's been a while since I bought a tire on
the spur of the moment, and was kind of surprised that the prices are so
high. On the Performance web site they have the Panaracer Urban Max for
$20, but while the picture shows 26" x 1.75" the drop down menu shows
26" x 1.25".

It is strange in a not-good way that bicycle tires cost almost as much
as car tires.

To answer your initial question, it was probably about the time the US
dollar fell in the toilet and nobody bothered to fish it out.

Chalo