That is a complicated issue. If it's not meaningless to ask what a dollar 50 years ago was worth in present terms, then it isn't meaningless to ask about further back. E.g. the answer would appear not to be a trillion, or a trillionth.
However, while this seems to be the view of most economists, I think it's meaningless to ask even what the value of a dollar 50 years ago was, because we are so much richer now. A dollar now can buy you computing power that would have been unthinkable then, cures for diseases that were then incurable, and so on. Economists deliberately ignore immensely valuable new innovations till their prices stabilize (= decline dramatically), since otherwise the CPI would jump around wildly. But this means the CPI greatly understates the growth in wealth.
I found a National Geographic Moon Landing Special from 1969 the other day. It being more than a decade older than me, I was amused at the adverts in the front.
Watches with "electric" (rather than 'electronic') precision, that run for a year on a power cell and don't need winding (gasp!).
A stereo where the 'stereo' ability was the main feature (woo!).
Polaroid cameras advertising all the brilliant things you could do for your business by having a near-instant photo (You mean they didn't bother inventing a digital camera to take to the moon? What were they doing?).
A cadillac, an oldsmobile, a steel framed suitcase, a Hassleblad camera crowing about auto-wind-on film, an insurance company covering an elephant on a raft, a dishwasher...
A mere 40 years ago, and a lot of the products have an air of being low-spec, basic, simplistic, even. Growth in wealth? Aye.
We define money in terms of wealth & then are forced to define wealth in terms of money. Even using item baskets as a unit of wealth is really doomed to imperfection. All you are doing is attempting to standardise wealth. That's what money try's to do.
In any case, while I disagree that it is meaningless to make comparisons, I think that it is meaningful to discuss the value of money. Wealth is not a precise unit. I'm not at all sure that makes it meaningless. But I'd rather avoid defining it as that which a basket measures.
However, while this seems to be the view of most economists, I think it's meaningless to ask even what the value of a dollar 50 years ago was, because we are so much richer now. A dollar now can buy you computing power that would have been unthinkable then, cures for diseases that were then incurable, and so on. Economists deliberately ignore immensely valuable new innovations till their prices stabilize (= decline dramatically), since otherwise the CPI would jump around wildly. But this means the CPI greatly understates the growth in wealth.