You also need to take into account that wages were better back then for a lot of folks in 1988 believe it or not. Getting a college degree was still incredibly valuable (still valuable today but unless you're an accountant, lawyer, doctor, Ivy Leaguer, or engineer [math and sciences professional]) for most folks coming out of college.
Now wages are frozen, if not slipping, and the costs of other goods and commodities related to shooting are up as well. I remember when I could fill my tank for less than $40 (Durango with V8 and four-wheel drive capable), drive to the range, buy ammo at the range, shoot a few hundred rounds of centerfire ammo, and not spent a hundred dollars. Today, forget about it. Plan to go to the gym first thing in the morning with a few guns locked in the truck (now a Ford Sports Trac with V6), get breakfast from Dunkin Donuts, take mostly reloads with me (they shoot better oddly enough), have the fiancee in tow (thankfully she loves shooting), then after a cursory washup hit the nearby coffee house where we relax and work on ebooks, then go to Costco for food shopping for the month, and then go home. Oh and only do this once a month.
I used to be able to go every two weeks straight to the range in back. Now I have to budget for it (I don't really need to but I'm a penny pincher) not to be throwing away hundreds of dollars. Now I make my own black powder for when I shoot at my buddy's property (which we only do once a month not to tick off the neighbors a mile away), reload like a fiend (which I've come to enjoy since my fiancee and I can do it together, get a Lee mount-free reloading press [great arm workout]), and if I'm lucky I get to shoot twice a month (never miss the opportunity to shoot on my buddies property because I can keep all my spent brass without worry of it getting swept onto the range).
It's changed folks. What used to be a past-time for a lot of folks is becoming more and more a hobby for well-to-do folks. If you are on the lower end of middle class with a family, it becomes a difficult hobby to enjoy. If you are lower class, you are doing the bare minimum if at all. Hell shooting is why I got into writing romance ebooks (yeah let's call them ebooks and not call'em Fifty-Shades of Grey, more realistic, better written, yet not nearly as successful porn books). So I could shoot more.
If I couldn't reload I wouldn't shoot nearly as much. This way I get to shoot a few hundred rounds a month mixed up of .308, .44 Mag, .357 mag, 9mm, .38 special, .30-06, 8mm, .30-30, and .454 Casull.