What if you're poor and have kids. Milk is four bucks a gal. You 've got a shitty car and it needs repair. you've got bald tires, need a tune up, get 12 miles a gal. and gas is three bucks.? Yes, if you're a thinker you can get around everything but health care. But guess what. The economy is a high wire act balanced on people making 20 k, spending 40, until they go broke, wipe the slate clean and start over again. Here, in Florida, property taxes went nuts with insurance. I understand people in retirement communities have their bags packed to get out of here, but can't sell. Some people actually can't afford taxes and insurance. The mortgage is a throw in. Twenty years ago, when I came here, I couldn't believe how cheap it was. Now, it's prohibitively expensive. In Palm Beach Cty, I costs some 2200 a year to insure two shitty cars I don't even drive. Geico? They want nothing to do w/us. I'll bet inflation here is about 10% plus. Much of it is local, but how about food? Good investment ideas are Big Lots, FDO, DLTR.....these places are packed, absolutely packed, as even better off folks like paying a dollar or two for what costs four in a drug store. Inflation lives for the general population.
Intelligent people who don't: Pay rent Eat Drive Have health insurance Pay taxes Have kids in college Take vacations Go to movies Get hair cuts Have pets Inflation 2-3%? Gummint's got you brainwashed.
LOL, so what do you when you see milk up 10% from your last store visit, use your intelligence to convince the cashier that it actually isn't?
Stay married to the same person, pay off the house, cook at home, get a crew cab mini pickup for good economy and low frequency of repairs and low cost of repairs, learn to drive a stick and save on gas, if your income is low your income tax bill is zero, go camping [use the pickup truck], have your kids work while in college, get a Flowbee and keep the number of dogs down to 1 or two, you will be fine... Some needy people I have know in the US were just not interested in efficiency, or they were stupid, etc. One guy used to work in my yard and was always needy. I found his household had $1000/month telephone bills, wasted huge amounts of food, had people commuting a long way in a pickup truck that got horrible mileage, etc.... I knew another guy that was hitting up the free food deals at churches and had a million of his own money in a fund managed by his dad.. his dad did not trust him with the money and would not release any of it to him!! When bums hit me up for money I tell them "you are in the richest economy ever dreamed of by mankind, you are broke, and somehow this is my problem??"
Wasn't talking about "being fine", but rather that prices of nearly everything are WAAYYY up, yet the Gummint keeps pumping out the same old bilge... "don't worry, inflation is ony 2%". THAT lie is 10X the one about Iraq's WMDs.
So what ? A $1.00 double cheeseburger compounded at 10% a year only costs $16 after 28 years. However a $30 steak dinner will be $480. Its the amount of your total living cost that is a potential problem. Think ahead. Buy 3 new cars at today's prices and garage them. Bring out a new one every ten years.
Only in America can you see the fattest "poor" people in the world. With plasma TV's via Visa in their living rooms to boot. Eating take out with the kids who should be studying instead of watching the boob tube. Problem is threefold: The Central Banks, Politicians, and sloth/mendacity. Human weakness is not something you can correct with a gun or a promise to change. There will be a flushing soon (25-30 years) and then mankind just starts over. Question is will you survive the flush? If you're 50 or 60 mercifully you'll probably be dead before. If you're 40 or under, good luck. Chelsea Clinton President of Amerika. Preceeded in the White House by Jeb Bush. Healthcare and a can of Spam for all.