General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Update: First they took the manufacturing jobs and I didn't complain [View all]Urchin
(248 posts)The low cost of imported goods and services has enabled the government to tell us that inflation is almost nonexistent.
But the cost of those things that are most essential to life and which are also still supplied domestically, has SKYROCKETED.
The price of a home, the price of a college education, the price of health and other insurance, the price of transportation, the price of energy, the price of medical care (including the dentist) have all skyrocketed.
Because the government's been printing money for years and is able to tell you there's no inflation because cheap imports keep costs down.
But the cost of life's essentials--I can do without the latest electronic gizmo, but I need medical care, education, a roof over my head, etc., more than a cheap throw-away telephone or smartphone.
Thanks to the cheap imports, the government can keep the borrow and spending party going, so the wealthy can inflate the price of real estate and other assets (while people who bought their homes and started 401K's decades ago, have their modest gains serve as bribes to vote for those who will encourage the borrow and spend approach to economics, instead of America's original model of how to achieve prosperity: hard work and thrift.
Meanwhile younger people are being screwed over because they don't benefit from asset inflation. And its unlikely when they buy a house that they will see the price of their house increase like the people who bought their houses years ago.
If we still made stuff in this country, a Kmart men's sportshirt would probably cost $150 and there would have been no way the government could have told us there was no inflation. But hey, look at the prices of the other stuff I mentioned and wake up: the economy's been designed to funnel as much as possible of inflation into assets like stocks and real estate.