Richard posted;
The Wizard has us believing we are paying "lower"
I like your use of the name Wizard, as in Wizard of Oz. The book is said to be a vailed expose of Free Masonry,
prices because the products are imported.. but have you noticed the price go down ? Not really , they went down some years ago sufficent to destroy the US manufacturer and now they are up. WalMart led the trend.
I don't know Richard, prices on most things are still pretty good. OTOH, If the price of oil goes to $100 per barrel, things will get tough.
Meanwhile, the US Congress spends $ 500 billion more than it takes in in taxes and the nation imports $ 500 billion more in goods than it exports. The dollar has lost 50% of its value in four years on the world market as demonstrated by the price of gold, the ultimate equalizer. We have an enemy in our camp and its us.
There are a lot of patriotic Americans, but there are lots of morons who believe that it is the government's job to take care of them. I think that the real enemy within are the liberals who want to destroy our G-d given freedoms. Michael Savage, of the Savage Nation calls them the Red Diaper Doper Babies, it's what results when liberals who IMHO suffer from a form of insanity, start smoking marijuana. The only thing that's worse than insane, is insane and stupid.

