Was he using the newer inflation tables? They've been altered to reduce inflation adjusted payments for Social Security recipients. No longer take into account for real estate and gasoline prices and way understate inflation compared to older tables. I know, I was all over those table during the changeover.
Here's some real inflationary numbers: New 3 bd room, 2 bath, 2 car garage, 1130 sq ft home 5 miles south of San Francisco Airport (PRIME real estate) in 1955 was $13,000. Dad's wages as a Pan Am mechanic at SFO was $2.40 per hour or $4896 gross per year. That home's price was 2.6 years union wage income. Today that home is worth $1,200,000 and that job pays about $85,000 per year, or 14 years income. Price of McDonalds lunch consisting of Big Mac, fries, and a shake was .99 (no tax back then) and minimum wage was $1.75 in 1970. Price of reg gas was .25 per gal same year.
10 years ago while using the old tables from Dept of labor the 1970 minimum wage inflated forward to 2010 equated to something like $17.00 as I recall.