You are a public relations advisor for local firefighters who are threatening to strike on the grounds that since 2010 the city council hasn't given a real raise. The mayor retorts that the median salary for firefighters in 2010 was $61,500, and that today the median salary is $82,500, a raise of $21,000. You want to attack that argument by accounting for the effects of inflation (CPI in 2010 was 218.5 and today it's 298.7). So how much additional buying power -- if any -- do firefighters at the median salary have today as compared to 12 years ago? (Pick the answer that it closest to your calculation; rounding may give you a slightly different result.)

Group of answer choices

$6,700 more

$775 more

$227 more

$23 more

Firefighters actually have about $1,573 LESS buying power.

Firefighters actually have about $2,183 LESS buying power.