Hoss gives his fiancé $300 to go shopping (equivalent to $6200 today)
She gambles away $5000 and Ben pays it off like it's nothing... (equivalent to $103,000 today)
A simple lunch at the Cafe runs $2, (equivalent to $41 today)
They bring $500 to a horse auction (equivalent to $10383 today)
Most westerns do the same. I guess they thought 1950s/60s people wouldn't understand inflation.. In the early 60s, you could buy a sandwich, beverage, and desert for $2.00
But bringing $500 to a horse auction seems low unless they were only buying one or two horses. In the late 1800s, a decent horse would cost anywhere from $75 to $200.
Heck I remember in the mid-70's McDonald's ran a commercial bragging that you could get "change!" from your $1 purchase of a Hamburger, Fries, and drink. Way before they invented the Happy Meal or Combo Meal!
People in the '50s and '60s were well aware of inflation. My parents were constantly whingeing about how expensive stuff was then, compared to the '30s and '40s.
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Okay, "inflation" alone wasn't the best word to use. People are indeed aware of inflation from month to month or within recent years, but that wasn't my point. My point is that most people of the 50s/60s watching Bonanza wouldn't realize how much things cost in the 1800s compared to the 1960s and that a cowboy for instance would earn $20 for a whole month.
The $300 Hoss gave to his fiance in the OP's example to "go shopping" would be well more than a cowboy would earn in an entire year. That $300 in 1875 would be worth over $8000 today. If Hoss handed her $25, that still would have been a lot of money just to go shopping for something that wasn't a capital investment, like a carriage for example, but the average TV viewer might not be impressed.
It's a bit of a plot hole, especially the $300 figure, but you're spot on strntz. It's easier to relate to inflation within our same generation. I remember once at the "Filling Station" on Andy Griffith they decided to over-charge for gas, something like $0.60 a gallon and Andy flips out "You might be able to get away with prices like that in Raleigh, but not here in Mayberry!".