arrrgh.

[ceagle]

or, how the economy isn't working.

and it's not just any one administration. This is what I've seen over the last 20 years.

cars: up about 3 times
rents: up about 5 times
houses: up about 10 times
soda: up about 20 times

This just in... wages: up not quite 2 times. :/ Just heard from a friend of mine where I used to work for 4.40 an hour, that they are only hiring at 7.20 an hour.

Where is the money supposed to come from, to buy the things that have gone up so much more??

I think this is why people are compensating as best they can, with getting extra jobs and roommates, and cutting back on things they enjoy doing. Oh, and going into debt on credit cards. ;p

The only items I've seen go down in price have been in the hi-fi and computer sector, and even that's not thoroughly justified, since we all know it's just because of suffering labor in Asia.
No, this isn't the promise they told us about in grammar school, how the modern conveniences were going to make us all richer and have more leisure time, for actually living.

Does y'all know about the variances of capitalism? There is what is called Victorian Capitalism, which exploits and maintains a subclass of workers, and there is Progressive Capitalism (named for the period of the late 30s to the 70s) where the benefits of commerce are distributed in ways such that all can benefit.
Unfortunately, simple pure commerce doesn't work because left alone, soulless corporations tend to sink to the lowest common denominator.. quick profit over enduring value and growth for all. This is why there is always a need for at least some regulations, in order to keep power fair and objective.. just as we have ideally in a constitution.

And on a side note.. one of the worst problems right now is house pricing >:| The interest rate is half, so realtors are marking houses to be DOUBLE! Sure, this makes payments about the same.. for Now ....but!... lot's of people will be stuck with these artificially high-valued homes they they can never get out of monetarily, and whooops!... there goes another economic disaster in the making...! *grrrr*
So don't believe the pricing! I know, because I had a house years ago, and I watched it (and all the ones around me) lose 30% of their value for over 5 years... and then take 5 more to gain enough over what I paid for it to sell it. :|

Don't get stung!.. If you are in the market to buy, offer 50 to 70 percent of the asking price. Sure, house have gone up some... but not like near double in just one year ;P ...the listings we see right now are bogus..

..just like an economy this unbalanced, in what people make, vs what it costs to live.

Comments

[titanic.livejournal.com]

In our case the economy is such that we cannot survive on a single income, even if we cut everything way back. For now, we both work, and in jobs neither of us can leave as there is nowhere else to go.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

It was a good time to buy houses -- and fill 'em with soda pop. Or Snapple, in my case. ];-)

I have a differing opinion -- but I was working in the mid 70's for ninety cents an hour, so perhaps my view is distorted.

===|==============/ Level Head

[desertcoyote.livejournal.com]

*nods and sighs* I seem to remember a Time or Newsweek magazine a few weeks back with a cover article on shrinking paychecks- meanwhile, I see prices steadily climbing on everything I buy...consequently, I've had to cut waaay back on what I buy. :/
Not a good trend. Oh, and yes, "Modern conveniences"... *snort* yeah, right. Ok, actually, some of the modern "conveniences" are very convenient (like dishwashers!) but many in the last 20 years just seem to have added to our workload every day, instead of decreasing it...
*arghs, too*

[chrissawyer.livejournal.com]

Let's start a commune somewhere. To hell with the rat race. :)

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

When I buy my self-sustaining valley, I'll leave a hole in the dome so you can fly in any time.

I definately hear you on the cost of housing. My parents bought an acre of land and built a 2000ft^2 house thirty years ago for $30,000. The property is now worth almost half a million. Of course, though, they can't sell it for that, because it's currently a buyer's market.... (There are four other houses for sale in the same 'hood...)

-=TK

[starglider.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on rents and houses. Soda only costs that much more if you buy it buy the individual bottle (or worse can); I buy mine in 200-litre palets from wholesalers for a lot less. However cars actually seem to have been getting cheaper over the last decade at least. They only seem more expensive if you factor in the switch from normal cars to SUVs.

From One Eagle to Another

[millerwolf.livejournal.com]

Yep... it's true. Now's a good time to buy houses, but can we afford to live in them?

Feels like we're going back to the Victorian era, slowly. (Maybe we should call it the "Dickinsian" era instead?)

Re: From One Eagle to Another

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Heya..
Yeah.. it would be a good time yup, if ya get lucky enough to find someone selling at an honest price. *eeesh*
I guess it could happen :> I'm not really into conspiracy theories, because to be a true conspiracy something would hae to be organized.. but I think it's more of a mentality of gouging just because they are getting away with it right now.
Same goes for a lot of sectors... jobs, economy, .. if people had the confidence to take a stand more often, and others would respect that stand (and not take their jobs for poverty wages) then we might not have such a disparity in the rich-poor thing as we do these days.

VP's used to make about 40 times what the lowest earner in a company made.. I've heard that is around 400 times now.. but basic ratios should not change ...so things are terribly wrong.
The economy isn't just a financial ill either.. people's confidence is also being battered everyday with exponentially more deceit than ever, with spam, telemarketers, bad media reporting (hours and hours just following a car chase when there's real news out there?? Who is dating who for 1/3 of a news show??), etc etc.. that in general people feel defeated and powerless every day. I've heard that people on the average encounter around 200 lies per day. *arrrgh!*

Somewhere this derailing train has got to find another track, or we *will* be what many have feared, something like a third-world country.. :/ Yep... it might be more Dickinsonian path we've taken of the last half century, since I can't see that we are Victorious yet..

*eep* ... well, thanks for the comment :>
Good to see ya like toon birds!