When people are talking about inflation, what inflation statistic are they referring to? CPI has been below 3% since May 2024. Precious metals (silver, gold, platinum, palladium) have out-paced Bitcoin. USD:EUR hasn't gotten worse than 5-year lows, same with USD:GBP. I don't think these statistics support "money is fleeing the U.S." or "tariffs are causing runaway inflation", unless I'm missing something? You could p…
Grocery prices, utility bills, gas prices, insurance premiums, property taxes or rents all are part of the real coat of living. The political fairy tale that is the CPI stays low to avoid having to increase government payments for social security and the like.
Today, the county road department still has a "light equipment operator" job and it pays about $52,000 per year. The house they bought 50 years ago is now worth $940k.
There's no way a couple with a single income of a "light equipment operator" could afford that house today.
In fact, even a light equipment operator's boss, the foreman/supervisor couldn't afford that home on today's wages. Maybe a light equipment operator's boss's boss, the a "superintendent of public works" would have enough income to afford the house that 50 years ago a light equipment operator was able to afford.
It really shows how an increasing percentage of the value of a worker's labor has been systematically extracted and transferred from workers to owners.