In a message dated 05/07/2000 9:00:14 AM Central Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Coca-cola from a machine cost fifteen cents.
Phone calls cost a dime.
If this system is so great, how come economic life has been getting
steadily worse since before most people were born? If we are really in an
economic boom (as the media tells us) how come the typical couple works 70
hours a week to make ends meet?
I think these are not boom times, at least not for workers. I think that
the media lies. >>
___________________________________
Thank you for sharing this information. Those of us old enough to remember
what life in America used to be, need to keep reminding those not old enough
to have a perspective on the present state of affairs.
I'm older than you. When I was a kid, gas was 22 cents a gallon and for
a Quarter you could go to a Saturday morning double feature movie which
included a bag of popcorn and a soda!
When most people hear these price comparisons they just shrug and say
something like: "Well yes things were cheaper way back then.
We've had "inflation" but people didn't get paid nearly as much
as they do now.....it's all relative."
THERE IS SOMETHING VITALLY IMPORTANT WHICH NEEDS TO BE
UNDERSTOOD HERE!
OUR MONEY HAS BEEN DEVALUED!
There is a huge difference between inflation and currency devaluation.
For example:
Let's take an honest hardworking man...let's say a carpenter,
and we'll call him Joe.
Joe graduated from high school in 1947 and started working.
He was a good reliable worker and times were good.
The home construction industry was booming.
Joe was careful to save 10 percent of his pay because he
knew that someday he would need it for retirement.
Joe didn't trust banks because of the stories his parents
had told him about the Great Depression.
So he put a safe in the floor of his basement and kept
his savings there.
The years went by and Joe saved 10 percent of all he earned.
Wages slowly increased over time, so he earned more,
but he noticed that taxes and prices went up a little faster than his
earnings. Even though it got harder and harder to save money,
Joe did without other things so he could save 10 percent of
what he made.
Joe worked hard for 47 years. He had a heart attack at age 66.
Joe decided it was time to retire.
He owned his home "free and clear".
Joe had earned about one million dollars in his 47 years.
He saved almost exactly $100,000. 10 percent of his earnings.
But Joe made a very grim discovery.
THE DOLLARS HE HAD PUT IN HIS SAFE HAD SHRUNK!
A dollar Joe put in his safe in 1950, was now worth only about 8 cents!
It was as if someone had broken into his safe and stolen 92 cents out
of every dollar he had saved that year.
The dollar he put in his safe in 1960, was now worth only 10 cents!
The effect was exactly the same as if Joe had been robbed
of his hard-earned money.
In 1960, Joe earned $410. a month.
By 1970, Joe's pay had doubled to $820 a month.
By 1980, Joe's pay had more than doubled up to $2,000. a month
By 1990, Joe's pay had more than doubled again...up to $4,500 a month.
This may appear to look good on paper, but the sad reality is that
taxes and prices went up even faster than Joe's pay.
Joe had more "disposable income" in 1960 than he had in 1990.
In fact, the property taxes on Joe's home had increased over the years
to the point that when Joe retired in 1995, his property taxes were
higher than his house payment had been on his 30 year mortgage!
The $100,000. in life savings would have been a comfortable
retirement fund in 1950.
Today it will provide a poverty-level income for about 4 years.
Joe realized he could not afford to pay the property taxes on
the home he thought he owned "free and clear".
He also realized his $100,000 savings wasn't going to last very long.
Joe had no choice but to sell his home and move into a lower
priced home in an area where taxes were also less.
Joe also realized that even with Social Security added to his
savings, his retirement years wern't going to be "golden".
How can this be?
How can it be that in America, the richest country in the world,
that people can work hard all their lives and end up broke?
The brutal truth is: We have been robbed! And we continue to be robbed!
According to Biblical Law and our Constitution, we are supposed to
have a dollar which is a "fixed standard of value".
If we had such a "fixed standard", then the dollars Joe saved in
1950 would be worth the same today as then.
Joe was robbed, just as if a thief had broken in and taken his money.
If it had happened that way, Joe would have understood what happened.
But because he was robbed slowly over time by another method,
he doesn't understand.
Americans are now going broke on the amount of money
they used to dream about making.
This is because of the twin robbers of currency devaluation
and high taxes.
Right now we are hearing a bunch of mumbo-jumbo
eco-speak from Alan Greenspan.
The Federal Reserve is pumping up interest rates to
"fight inflation".
This is total and absolute nonsense!
Raising rates to fight inflation is like pouring
gasoline on a fire to put it out.
Here's a final sobering thought.
Remember that in 1960, Joe earned $410. a month?
In today's dollars that's about $8,000. a month in purchasing power,
(or in "constant dollars" as the economists like to say).
Ain't it a cryin shame that the Dollar isn't "constant"?
The Federal Reserve said they were going to give us
an "elastic dollar".
That is exactly what they have done.
Regards to All
Nakano
Reference: economic data and figures cited are from U.S. government -
http://www.economagic.com/em-cgi/data.exe/fedstl/pi
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