http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/28/the-coming-commodity-price-nightmare/ "Until recently commodity prices tended to fall over time as we used materials more efficiently â drywall rather than plaster -- or substituted other goods for those whose prices rose (aluminum and plastic mean cars are lighter now than they were in the good old days). Over the course of a century, an index of 33 commodities other than oil dropped at a 1.2% annual clip, as displayed in the GMO chart at right. This meant that food and clothes and other things, over time, tended to get cheaper in real terms, which gave people more money to buy other stuff â increasingly, in this country, stuff they often didn't need anyway" At least one article finally mentions it.
Yeah. Talking about stuff people don't really need: It amazes me that people buy $500 iPads, smartphones & cable TV. Call me backward but that stuff really is not necessary.