I was watching a Quilt in a Day episode a few days ago and Eleanor was showing depression fabric prices. they worked out to about half an hour's income at minimum wage. You can buy decent quality solid fabric today for about the same rate, a half hour of minimum wage labor. Prints may run a bit more. Careful shopping brings the price down some. Over the long term it doesn't matter what the numbers are, it's how much it works out to as a percentage of wages. As fuel (energy) prices go up, the cost of everything else goes up as well, usually with wages being last in line.
I haven't bought there yet but I was at Thousands of Bolts' website looking just a few minutes ago and batiks were averaging around $7.00 a yard there. Not a bad price IMO. I didn't check other types of fabric, it's not what I'm after right now.
Rodney