re: Inflation Outpacing Wage Growth For Over 40% Of Americans

I feel like overall things are improving vs the last 4-5 years of inflation

Not to mention Biden flooded the country with illegals and on top of it gave them thousands every month.

The American worker has been losing out on the benefits of a more productive society since the 1960's.

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Well yes, if apples aren’t available, I have to buy oranges

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If apples aren’t available, it’s because they aren’t in demand. No need to stock them if they just sit and rot.

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False, they aren’t available because they make less money for the farmers in this case.

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Because there is more demand for oranges.

No one wants a 1400 square foot vinyl sided 3/2 with builder grade everything on a little lot.

lol. I’m in outside sales and our base remains the same as pre Covid and our commission structure is always being reduced. Purchasing power in our industry is down about 30%

It’s pretty useless to look at those numbers over a 1 year period. I just did some quick math and, since 2020, I’ve averaged a 4.3% increase, annually, to my base pay. My wages have definitely not kept up with inflation for that period. We don’t live beyond our means, but it’s definitely impacted our discretionary spending.

In 1988, the top selling vehicle in the USA was the Ford Escort, priced at $6,500-9,300

Escort top seller in '82, '87,'88


Last year the top selling vehicle in the USA was the Ford F Series, priced at $39,000- $84,500

F Series top seller each year this decade



Americans are buying nicer stuff whether they can afford it or not.

Thoughts on the damage the last 4 years did?

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The boomers cant comprehend this shite. This is a generation that stumbled into the union hall drunk at 19 got a job with a pension they supported a family on 1 income and then they shipped those jobs away while yelling at everyone younger than them

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Honest question, asked without any hidden agenda: what do you expect to get out of posts like this- acknowledgment that your lives are more difficult than mine? Are you trying to excuse the fact that you don't have something you want or need, or deflect the blame for that from yourself? Is there something you think "we" should do differently, like some kind of economic policy or something?

I'm not one of those guys who bitches about avocado toast, but I do see a couple of things going on that seem like part of the underlying problem here. First, my priorities when I was a young college grad were:

1. Reliable transportation
2. A clean, comfortable place to live, ideally with my name on the deed
3. Day-to-day comforts (booze, cable TV, maybe a motorbike or something)
4. Investing / saving
5. Health insurance

I think #5 above has jumped waaaay up the list for a lot of younger people. Even if it mostly doesn't come directly out of their pockets, I think it influences what jobs they pursue and what benefits they elect. I guess that makes sense now that people look to their doctors for everything from pot to Viagra to amphetamines (a lot of which *is* out-of-pocket).

Second (and 'duh'), I think people live way beyond their means.

My wife and I pull in around $300,000 / year from our jobs, and live in a house that's worth just about exactly that. She drives a subcompact. I drive a compact. Both are Japanese. People park on their grass in our neighborhood. Some of them even rent! Our daughter's school last year was mostly black.

Why do we tolerate such a meager lifestyle? Well, it doesn't feel that meager. We have everything we need, and most of what we want.

And one day we'll be free, maybe even before we need catheters and walkers and whatnot.