back around 1960 when I was 25 or so I asked my Rep. father:

[ensho]

I said: all my life the price of everything goes up each year. this can't continue. when will it stop? he didn't answer which was his way. either calling me crazy or not answering at all.

have we finally financially hit the wall? or just a turnstile and the price of everything will still keep going up each year.

I think we will have to totally break before it stops. which means the pentagon will have to break first. guess I'll be dead and buried or burned before that happens.

no wonder alot of todays kids have a 'why bother' attitude.

what do you all think?

[Skink]

1. People used to get raises.

now they struggle just to maintain hours worked.

[slackmaster]

3. My pay now is 18% higher than what I was making two years ago

I had to change jobs to get a raise.

[zbdent]

5. but ... but ... but ... productivity is up, UP UP!!!

Don't ya know? Your productivity went up 200 percent since we laid off your two co-workers ...

(and people wonder why it takes 5 times as long to get an answer for something these days ... go figure)

[slackmaster]

2. I think I'll probably have to keep working until about age 70

Although my house will be paid off when I'm 60.

[Historic NY]

4. We off shored all our manufacturing because of unions, regulations & costs...

at least thats the memo. So it was to bring down the price of stuff... How come we still pay the same price as if it was made here? Nothings cheaper except plastic crap.

[Ter]

6. 25 in '60?

God bless you at 76 and using a computer enough to tally 1,000+ posts. My grandmother didn't even know how to turn it on, it was sad.

[ensho]

7. your grandmother missed a lot of fun - I even play Guild Wars

listen every day to electronic music - heavy beats that get you moving. soundclick.com

I'm grinning.

would grin even more if I could afford grass.

thanks for noticing and commenting.

[Ter]

8. That is so awesome!

I bet you are not one of those super-slow drivers either. :)

[ensho]

12. however, there are many people older then me who are doing more

then I am. they amaze me. I'm not that special.

[CreekDog]

9. i don't understand why one would have a fetish over things staying the same

why do you assume everything has to stay the same?

things change. the tv you had in 1960 is not the same in almost any way as what you buy now.

this is going to sound kind of cruel, but i don't want things to be the same as when you were a child.

there was no Medicare back then, no significant air pollution controls, no air bags or seat belts for the most part...oil was so plentiful that only one gallon needed to be used to generate thousands more.

all that has changed, many things for the good.

[ensho]

10. you have it wrong - I'm not talking about change, I'm talking about finance

everything costs more every year.

that can't last. isn't that part of the reason empires have crashed?

[CreekDog]

11. you don't even know what you are asking for: you ARE asking for things not to change

for prices to stay the same forever.

you are saying this is why everything falls apart --it's not.

things change. the idea that they should stay the same is folly, even if you want it that way, it's not possible. change is even occurring when you think things are staying the same.

[ensho]

13. the price of things can't keep going up every year without

repercussions.

I'm not asking for things not to change. here I DU I've said many times that - life was change and loss -

you are reading me wrong.

[woolldog]

14. ensho

As long as wages rise to keep pace with prices, we're fine. But over the past decade or so, from what I understand, wages have stagnated. A lot of that is because of rising health care costs employers have to pay.

[Go2Peace]

18. We have not come to grips with all the laws of economics - scarcity of resources

There are other things that create inflation, like the way in which we create money. But one thing that is going to bite us big time, and yet few economists include in their economic theories, is how much of modern life is based on non-renewable resources. Not just oil, but pressure is on many resources we take for granted.

[kick-ass-bob]

15. But we make more, so it doesn't matter as long as they go hand in hand.

I make 78k a year at age 38. At retirement 10 years ago, he made somewhere around 60k. If prices have gone up 30% in 10 years, then we make the "same".

His house in 1973 cost 43,000, but is now priced out at 260,000. If he sells, does he really make a 600% ROI? Not really. The total inflation cost was about 415%, so that 43k is really about 222k in today's $$. So in this case, he is better off. If he could only sell for 200k, then he paid more for it than he could sell it, in "real" terms.

It can last as long as the purchasing power continues alongside the inflation rate. If we start seeing no increase in earnings but an increase in prices, that is when things fall apart and why empires crash.

[forestlake123]

17. It is the Federal Reserve

They inflate the Dollar which causes prices to rise because that is what happens when there is more money if the supply..

Before the Federal Reserve prices slowly went up and down gently until the Federal Reserve and since then the dollar has lost 95% of its spending power..

[forestlake123]

16. honestly how does anyone not see that it is the Federal Reserve?

If the Federal Reserve keeps printing money and adding money to our economy prices have to go up and all it does it help the rich and hurt the poor!

Think about it, the fed is giving away this money cheaply to the banks who give it to people with the good credit who are usually the rich people.

The extra money makes almost everything cost more (especially since oil is ONLY traded in the US dollar so when the dollar has less value the cost of oil will go up more and more..)

and now all the poor people are not seeing raises fast enough because the products cost more so people are buying less and when people are buying less then the business doesnt make enough money to pay its employees more (of course there are some businesses who make plenty of money and out of greed dont pay people more)



Lately after learning about the Federal Reserve I have come to understand some things more
I am still a democrat but I understand that the businesses are less of an evil to the Federal Reserve...

[OhioBlue]

19. the price of everything hasn't gone up

but our wages have stagnated and our cost of living increases b/c of what we buy... and pay for... IMHO....

The price of energy, health care and groceries have gone up. But, my earnings have also gone up (and down) but compared to 10 years ago.. still a bit up. Clothing purchases seem to have actually gone down in the last 20 years. Household goods.. kinda stagnant or maybe even down.

but, now I have a cell phone bill, an internet bill, my health insurance is way up, electric and heating up, gas for my car, up...