[Mel]
> Economy is indeed looked at in terms of growth and with a growing
> population that can be just a measure of standing still, depending on
> the number. If you look at the numbers in the economy and use
> dollars adjusted to 1967 base numbers, you'll see that a lot of the
> growth
> is an illusion that covers up the long term effect of inflation.
> In real value, base '67, I made more money in my minimum wage
> job as a kid than the teens today make. Standard of living for many
> has actually fallen in those terms. Economic growth is not unfettered,
> but rather it is dependent. (Oh, the current dollar is worth 15-cents
> of the 1967 dollar, maybe less by this time.)
>
> We look at Bill Gates and say wow he's the richest American ever.
> No. He's actually 13th richest, value adjusted. In today's dollar
> John D Rockefeler would be worth $305 Billion. Six or eight times
> Gates' wealth.
Platt:
Excellent, Mel. Inflation (caused by government printing money unbacked by
silver or gold) is a hidden tax used to pay for programs considered by
government to be for the "public good." In the U.S., the currency was
partially released from the gold standard by Roosevelt in the 30's, then
completely released by Nixon in 1971. You have well documented the
insidious effects of this legalized robbery of the general public. Another
effect is that up until the mid-50's in America, a working husband with a
wife at home raising kids produced a decent standard of living (and decent
kids). Now, it takes two parents working to provide the same standard of
living and the kids -- well, check high school and college drop out rates.
woods:
Nice. Platt I think we're onto something here. Your saying what I've been
saying. I completely agree. And don't forget Day Care. Day Care is
such an aweful need. For people to have to hand their children, sometimes
babies, over to complete strangers or even to have to hand them
over to somebody outside the extended family is such a
bother to me. It's disturbing. I don't know the values the people
have that would, and have, watched my son. And then, to have
to release my son into somebody else's hands, even if their
values are good, children grow up without that immediate attention
that is healthy for their family to provide for them. The family is falling
apart in so many ways. Kids on the streets getting into trouble. Youth
detention centers being filled beyond capacity with blankets rolled out
onto gym floors every once in a while at these facilities, like in Pittsburgh
this past autumn or winter I believe, which was not a new event.
1/3 of the children drop out of high school. A staggering 50% of African
American youth drop out of high school. It's what Carl on this forum
recently called the quiet rebellion.
woods
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