Post by acptulsa on Apr 7, 2016 18:06:09 GMT -8
I think what the newcomer to this discussion has the most trouble understanding is the dollar is not a dollar--it's a nickel.
What do I mean? Well, my old man got out of the Army Air Corps after WWII and got himself a good job paying a dollar an hour. How is that a good job? Easy--it was 1946 and the dollar was still a dollar. As in, when he wanted a Pepsi he paid a nickel for it--now it costs a dollar. When he wanted to ride a bus, he put seven cents in the meter, or a nickel and a half--now it costs a buck and a half. When he wanted to sit down and have a cup of regular old coffee, he paid a dime, or two nickels--now it costs two bucks. When he put gas in the car (it was always cheap in Oklahoma), he paid 14.9 cents per gallon, or three nickles--now it costs three bucks. When he was hungry for lunch, he bought a deluxe double hamburger with all the trimmings for a silver quarter, or five nickles--now it costs five bucks. When he wanted to go to a movie, he paid thirty-five cents or seven nickles--now it costs seven bucks. And when he shopped for a new top of the line Dodge Custom with heater and radio and other options, it would set him back two grand, or forty thousand nickles--now it costs forty thousand dollars.
The Pepsi isn't any wetter, the gas doesn't burn any brighter, the double burger isn't any more filling, and the movie doesn't last any longer today (with no newsreel, serial and cartoon, it actually doesn't last as long). So, there's only one explanation. The dollar is no longer worth a dollar. The dollar is worth a nickel. Period.
Why do you think all the five and ten cent stores have been replaced with dollar stores?
This is how inflation robs us. We cannot get raises often enough to keep up with inflation. One would seem obnoxious to try. You'd have to get a raise every single day.
Price inflation is the wrong term for this phenomenon. It isn't a matter of things being more expensive today than yesterday. That isn't what is happening. The number on the price tag isn't bigger because the charge is actually higher. The number is bigger because the dollar isn't worth as much today as it was last week. It isn't price inflation, it's dollar devaluation.
Gold has always fluctuated in price. But it goes both up and down, and in the long run, comes out about where it started. Fiat currencies are not gold or anything else which has value in and of itself, but merely pieces of paper (or electrons in a computer) which have been decreed to have value by some government. In order to change the supply of gold, more gold has to be discovered and dug up. But fiat currencies can be created from paper and ink, or from thin air. Therefore, they pretty much never get more valuable. If their value goes up for some reason, more are printed until that value is down again, because if you had that printing press and you could get away with it, you'd print more too.
And we are being robbed. When my dad got home from WWII, there were quite a few jobs around where one could make a dollar (twenty strong, valuable nickels) an hour. Today, twenty dollar an hour jobs are getting pretty scarce. About as scarce as the once huge middle class.
And that's not to mention the fact that you can't just stuff your mattress with money any more, because its value will shrink like wool in a hot dryer. You have to play the stock market if you want your savings to keep up with 'inflation' (devaluation), whether you're the type who's susceptible to getting fleeced or not.
This is how the wealth got concentrated in the hands of the richest one percent. The Fed is how that was done.
What do I mean? Well, my old man got out of the Army Air Corps after WWII and got himself a good job paying a dollar an hour. How is that a good job? Easy--it was 1946 and the dollar was still a dollar. As in, when he wanted a Pepsi he paid a nickel for it--now it costs a dollar. When he wanted to ride a bus, he put seven cents in the meter, or a nickel and a half--now it costs a buck and a half. When he wanted to sit down and have a cup of regular old coffee, he paid a dime, or two nickels--now it costs two bucks. When he put gas in the car (it was always cheap in Oklahoma), he paid 14.9 cents per gallon, or three nickles--now it costs three bucks. When he was hungry for lunch, he bought a deluxe double hamburger with all the trimmings for a silver quarter, or five nickles--now it costs five bucks. When he wanted to go to a movie, he paid thirty-five cents or seven nickles--now it costs seven bucks. And when he shopped for a new top of the line Dodge Custom with heater and radio and other options, it would set him back two grand, or forty thousand nickles--now it costs forty thousand dollars.
The Pepsi isn't any wetter, the gas doesn't burn any brighter, the double burger isn't any more filling, and the movie doesn't last any longer today (with no newsreel, serial and cartoon, it actually doesn't last as long). So, there's only one explanation. The dollar is no longer worth a dollar. The dollar is worth a nickel. Period.
Why do you think all the five and ten cent stores have been replaced with dollar stores?
This is how inflation robs us. We cannot get raises often enough to keep up with inflation. One would seem obnoxious to try. You'd have to get a raise every single day.
Price inflation is the wrong term for this phenomenon. It isn't a matter of things being more expensive today than yesterday. That isn't what is happening. The number on the price tag isn't bigger because the charge is actually higher. The number is bigger because the dollar isn't worth as much today as it was last week. It isn't price inflation, it's dollar devaluation.
Gold has always fluctuated in price. But it goes both up and down, and in the long run, comes out about where it started. Fiat currencies are not gold or anything else which has value in and of itself, but merely pieces of paper (or electrons in a computer) which have been decreed to have value by some government. In order to change the supply of gold, more gold has to be discovered and dug up. But fiat currencies can be created from paper and ink, or from thin air. Therefore, they pretty much never get more valuable. If their value goes up for some reason, more are printed until that value is down again, because if you had that printing press and you could get away with it, you'd print more too.
And we are being robbed. When my dad got home from WWII, there were quite a few jobs around where one could make a dollar (twenty strong, valuable nickels) an hour. Today, twenty dollar an hour jobs are getting pretty scarce. About as scarce as the once huge middle class.
And that's not to mention the fact that you can't just stuff your mattress with money any more, because its value will shrink like wool in a hot dryer. You have to play the stock market if you want your savings to keep up with 'inflation' (devaluation), whether you're the type who's susceptible to getting fleeced or not.
This is how the wealth got concentrated in the hands of the richest one percent. The Fed is how that was done.
