"Problem is, most peoples wages haven't gone thru the roof.
Inflationary boom would be more appreciated if wages
would have kept pace."
All TOO true. I remember being in high school, when then president Nixon favored wage and price controlls. I thought it was a great idea, as I thought the powers that be would controll our wages anyway-and price controlls would at least "stem the tide". All of my classmates thought I was nuts-well........
Anyone that thinks wages have kept up with prices since the 70's need only look at auto prices to get a rude awakening. In 1971 I went with my father when he bought his new, fully loaded mid sized car-for $3500. What does a fully loaded new mid sized car cost now-7 or 8 times that? You bet! Odd thing is, my friends that still work at the factory I left after I put myself through college in 1981 aren't making 7 or 8 times more than when I left-in fact, they arent even making double-OOPS. When I left high school in 1973, ford workers were making about $10 an hour, it was considered a great job to get-top shelf. Are they making $70 an hour now? Again-OOPS. When I finished college in 1981, my tuition was $340 a quarter, which astonished me, as it was only $240 when I started in 1975. Well, I just finished putting both my daughters through nursing school at TEN times that rate,while, upon graduation, their starting slary(In a GREAT paying field) is roughly 2.5 times what mine was in 1981-UH OH-anyone see the pattern here?
Spooky
Good post.
I remember when gas was 25 cents per gallon, up 1200 % right now.
The only things I can think of that haven't absolutely
exploded yet is food and clothing(lots of cheap stuff from China around).
You could buy a nice house in the 70's for 20,000, now you have to
cough up nearly ten times that much.
Couple all this with the devaluing of the dollar and I'd hate to
see a chart of the actual buying power of the average consumer.
I estimate average income in the 70's probably was around 12K vs. 36K now.
I suspect, but can't confirm, that alot more overtime is being put in these
days too, vs. back then.
I think the main contributor to the inflation is the misuse of credit in this country,
people have alot of stuff but don't have much equity in anything.
If they keep borrowing and buying, prices will keep going up.
