Re: OT: Inflation in the US

John Smith wrote:
MooseFET wrote:

...
Stagflation started under Nixon. Remember the wage and price controls
and all the distortions it caused in the economy. This is part of
what messed up the US car industry among others.

I was born in 1952. Price controls were in effect which had been in place since the great depression, I guess. I believe it was sometime in the early 70's they did away with them. About 80% of the population owned their own homes, most of the rest were purchasing them from the banks, had 3 to 4 weeks vacation time, union pay scale/benefits whether the company was union or not, etc. I had heard about homeless people who were willing to work, just had never seen one.

Now, about 20% of the population own their own homes (the rest are either purchasing them from the gov't/bank or renting.) I see homeless people everywhere begging for work/education and loads of the "middle class" struggling.


And now every family seems to have 3-4 cars, teenagers absolutely "need" to have a car the millisecond they turn 16, huge plasma TVs everywhere, gym membership for the whole family, $150/mo cell phone bills and $60/mo cable bills per family are considered normal, take out food every other day, the Starbucks in the morning is a "must". Oh, and a house has got to be >>2500sqft. Should I go on? _That_ was different in the old days. People had their priorities right. And people who have their priorities right get more for their Dollars.

Example: We are on a $5/mo cell "plan", use an antenna, no cable bills, have two cars with each less than 3k miles/year, brew our own coffee, cook our own food, our daily excercise costs a few hiking shoes every few years when they are on sale, and so on. Yes, it is possible.


To tell me we are better off is a very poor joke, been there, seen it. However, they have convinced the youngsters they are better off and things are only getting better.


I see that very differently. Just take our turf, for example: Today you can buy a hot rod 65GHz ft transistor for less money than a Kaiser roll at the bakery, for pennies. To me the good old days are right now.


Sure looks to me like we are heading towards another depression and price controls ... we shall see what the future brings.


The housing craze sure threw us a curve. And it was clearly avoidable.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
.

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