bwolinsky, I'm sure Anaconda meant wages in REAL terms. Plus inflation as represented by BLS and other gov't agencies is bullshit; go to shadowstats.com.
Yes, real wages have risen considerably since 1970. They absolutely were not the peak. Please check bls.gov, because these are the only stats that matter (Yes, real wages are part of the statistics compiled by the BLS). Those shadow stats don't mean shit, and you shouldn't trust them. If you're looking for further proof, you can visit bloomberg and search this information.
Hey guys, I have another Data point for you. I grew up with 2 parents (almost got divorced) and 3 siblings. We never took vacations. All 4 of us (one girl) lived in one room till my sister was 10. Then it was 3 boys to a room and 1 girl We had one tv We never had cable We went to public school We drank out of the tap None of us had cell phones My dad didn't buy his first house till the youngest sibling was in 8th grade (we rented. Its not wasting money, do the math) our house now is 3/1 1600sqft. My dad and mom still drive the same car. 92 nissan and 86 astrovan Now. I drive an 09 gf drives an 08 looking for a house minimum 4/2 1/2 2000sqft. We have 2 tvs We have cable tv and internet we both have cell phones with internet we drink bottled watter In my opinion. I think the average american can afford to live pretty nice (I think what I had growing up was pretty nice). Everyone wants to live like what they see on tv.
On the gov't agencies, no one has more resources than the BLS, so whatever they're gathering isn't reflective of anything. Found this, and it does show wages and salaries increased from around 95 to 100 since 1975 ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/eci.ecconst.txt <i>BUT...................</i> Productivity has increased substantially, which means we get paid more through other sources, like with health benefits and 401k or other qualified plan credits from the employer. Here's a more personal example. We had two hospital stays in the family totalling $56,000. We were only on the hook for $3k. This level of coverage is absolutely part of overall compensation, which doesn't appear to be captured in this table. So I guess it's back to health care and pensions, but now you should understand more of where it's coming from.
I remember doing heavy construction labor summers and part time anything while in college to pay for tuition and expenses. The real problems are: 1.The gov'mt interfering in everything. 2. Globalization.When we are all equal we are all equally poor. 3. Don't forget the Fed who has managed to drop the value of our money to less than 1% since they took over in 1913. 4. Massive gov'mt over spending. Feel free to add to the list.
Feel free to add to the list. ---------------- a change in tort laws (Carter) Creation of the EPA --------------------- Liability has added an enormous cost of doing business. EPA, I remember one of the first companies they shut down back in early 80's They were a big customer of ours, they employed all journeyman machinists (good paying jobs). To this day the EPA is still moving dirt around on that site after years of studies regarding tearing the building down/clean up.
Reminds me of the come work on our mine we pay a $1000 000 a month, of course anything you want to buy costs $1000 100 and we own all the stores. "St Peter don't you call me I owe my soul to the company store"
This entitlement mentality was true for a large enough number of people to juice the economy in the early 2000s. Without the spending from home equity liberated by refinancing, the economy would have had 3 down years and 3 years of less than one percent growth from 2000 to 2006. BTW... a decent standard of living is attainable as long as someone's flexible about their work and where they live. You can't always get what you want.
Inflation ruines everyones' aspirations to save over time for what they want. So, the only way is to borrow and spend it. That's why so few people buy homes without credit or cars without credit or Congressmen without credit. In early 1990s CPI was amended so that a basket of goods, instead of being prioced against the same basket of goods a year later, would be priced against a basket of substitute basket of goods. For argument's sake, if today an average American eats burger regularly and in a a year's time they can't afford a burger any more and eat sandwiches, a basket of burgers ina year will be compared to today's basket of steaks. The BLS publishes estimates of the effects of major methodological changes over time on the reported inflation rate (see the "Reporting Focus" section of the October 2005 Shadow Government Statistics newsletter -- available to the public in the Archives of www.shadowstats.com). Changes estimated by the BLS show roughly a 4% understatement in current annual CPI inflation versus what would have been reported using the original methodology. Adding the roughly 3% lost to geometric weighting -- most of which not included in the BLS estimates -- takes the current total CPI understatement to roughly 7%.