The Inflation Adjusted Economy

pResident George Bush* has been telling us for years that the economy is growing, yet those of us who do do our own shopping have been aware for years that a dollar just doesn't go as far. Unless he's been speaking about the sheer volume of dollars moving through the system, he is, as usual, just plain wrong.

If the devaluation of the dollar in respect to the value of the Euro is used as a measure:

Over the past ten years, the value of the dollar has declined to $0.5142.

The Dow Industrial Average is actually hovering around 6309 points. According to historical records, that's roughly the high set on November 14, 1996. This is a simplistic approximation because the DOW is a "scaled average" and many factors and a rather complicated formula is used to arrive at the final number. But it's close.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average

If the value of your home doubled over the past eight years,you've only just broken even.

If you work for a wage which hasn't increased in ten years, your purchasing power has eroded by 48.28% So much for the token increase in the minimum wage. The last increase Congress voted for themselves was over $4,000.

On the lighter side:

Gas is only about $1.55 in "real" money and a barrel of oil is valued at around $48.

That $2300, 60" plasma screen TV you're going to buy with your $310.32 incentive check really costs only $1190.

That $42,000 Lexus crossover you want is a bargain at only $21,722.

The cost of education hasn't actually risen, it's held steady.

Unfortunately, those of us who aren't paid in Euros, didn't invest in Euros or dump our stocks in favor of gold at the beginning of the most disastrous pResidency in American History, no longer have much buying power - we're paying double for milk, food and gas and mortgages based not on the value of our homes, but what we were told we could afford to pay monthly, knowing that the Federal Reserve would never raise rates above 4%, ARMs and credit card rates beyond our ability to pay.

There's a lot of talk of the Amero becoming the currency for all of North America in the near future. While I can see some benefit to Mexico in hitching their wagon to our disastrous economy, Canada is rich with natural resources, carries little debt and, currently, has an enviable array of state sponsored social programs. A closer association to the U.S. economy would only drag them down and it would only be a matter of time before their socialist system is deemed unsustainable and dismantled. You can't have both a massive military machine and free health care.

Additionally, the legal changes their southern neighbor would insist upon in the "realignment" would change their culture - domestic spying, repeal of various personal rights, Real I.D., corporate personhood, recriminalization of marijuana, a vast increase in the criminal population and the resulting prison system to hold the newly created pool of cheap labor. The black hole that is Mexico would also require huge, inexpensive loans to fund infrastructure improvements, as well as the ingrained, rampant corruption the police, military and wealthy depend on for so much of their income. We citizens of the U.S. are already screwed to the wall, but if I were Canadian, I'd be very, very afraid.

I realize I've drifted off-topic, but I'm not as talented a writer as are so many others who post regularly (and of whom I'm often in awe). I'm just throwing things that bother me out there to generate some discussion and/or controversy. But please, fight nice kids.

With those plaster walls, it would be tough to move it anywhere.

Anyway, good take. The falling value of the dollar is due to the huge federal debt and the trade deficit with the oil producers and the Asian manufacturers. We would not be borrowing "anything" were it not for the war in Iraq. Republicans are going to have to craft a clever lie to lose the blame for that disaster.

Cheap/free money is a HUGE component of inflation.