Give it up, even the government statistics don't support your claim. Versus their official inflation, wages have not been rising. If you plug in the real rise of costs of living, wages have been dropping for decades. They peaked in 1970s.
Whoa! How could that be so? Gummint/Fed has been telling us, "inflation is 2%, so don't worry... be happy"
Pabst are you really shopping a (good) script or treatmnt around L.A. (or was that just a joke.) I might be able to get it into the right hands (gratis). However if you do have a good agent - I am sure I can not do better than that.
Serious question... Would you ever consider mowing your lawns, cleaning your cars and cleaning the pool, gardening etc. ... would you ever consider doing this yourself regards f9
Use your head. "Versus their official inflation"-we're not discussing if wages have kept pace with inflation-although MANY peoples have-we're discussing if there has been wage growth as in BIGGER PAYCHECKS. I'll give you a economics primer: Without wage growth there would be no inflation. Prices don't rise out of a vacuum. Just because the growth hasn't necessarily been equally distributed isn't the point.
Entirely wrong example, both are Unionized Professional Jobs with guaranteed antiinflation rise every year. I am talking about workers wages. You are out of touch and misinformed on this issue .
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/AWI.html 1986 average wage $ 17,321.82 1996 average wage: $ 25,913.90 2006 average wage $38,651.41
I've seen tightnening in several areas, mostly in the housing market. I have some real estate investor friends who are really suffering. They can't refinance anymore and they can't sell their properties because people looking who want to buy the property can't get a mortgage. One guy in particular had 5 agreements of sale fall through because buyers couldn't get financing. Another friend has 2 tenants that have lost their job and now cannot pay rent. Then there are all my friends who used to work in the mortgage industry. Many no longer have mortgage jobs and are now taking any type of job to stay afloat. The ones who are still in the busines tell me how the lenders tighten their standards weekly. Loans that they have been working on for weeks are declined because of program changes. These friends are very concerned about the credit crisis.
Two auto dealers here closed last month. The dealerships weren't sold, nobody took over the operations, they just closed. The car lots and buildings are abandoned, empty. The local newspaper interviewed the owners, who said a big part of the problem was that customers couldn't qualify for loans to buy cars.
That was the problem to begin with. People with poor credit scores were leasing new cars like there was no tomorrow. Now we are going back to the reasonable lending practices of the past and lo and behold, the customer base has disappeared. They are now buying used cars. If they don't have the cash, use the bus. Pay your bills. Fix your credit. Save for a down payment. Buy a car you can afford. Maintain the car. Simple process. Financially savvy people know that a car is a depreciating and ultimately worthless asset. They will purchase the vehicle and hold it well after it has been paid off. The ignorant and idiots of the country are those that lease cars they could not otherwise afford with no down payment and repeat the process every 2-3 yrs.