Not to butt in SG, but imo the real question to be answered regarding the existance of inflation and the amount of increase or decrease in inflation over the years is what were wages, in say 1983 (including minimum), compared to the cost of gas, bread, a television, a house, a car, etc. back then to current wages (including minimum) and cost of gas and bread, a house, television, etc., etc.
And then there's the second question that beggars to be answered which is "what is the cost of living"? The two questions are very necessary but at first appearance the same question. But they're not the same question.
My parents were able to pay their house off. I may never be able to. They didn't have to pay over a hundred dollars a month for a television signal, nor did they have to pay up to or well over a hundred bucks a month for their phone service, as we do for our cell phones. Of course gas was a hell of a lot cheaper in '83. Medical insurance was too. As was the cost of a stamp. We have the electronic toys that weren't available in '83 but they come at high cost. The printer for your computer is affordable but the ink isn't really just as the movie ticket is barely affordable but the concessions kill you. Do I go back to the dark ages with no computer driving old vehicles to be able to pay my house off? That may not be enough. Nonetheless I may have to in the upcoming years if the cost of living continues it's steady increase when a new 1983 Ford diesal pickup cost around $5,000 to $8,000 and today a new one costs $30,000 to 50,000. And where our retirements are now wrapped up in the uncertainty of the market instead of a pool of moneys that the government set up for the masses to pay into and withdraw from who worked most of their lives and were unaware the same government was dipping into to it for the numerous pet projects on its agenda.
I'm sure I've missed some things and my numbers may be a little off, and everything can be argued, but I'm really not open to debating the subject when the realities of a steadily increasing cost of living over the last three decades of my adult life are apparant to me, and during that same time frame wages have fully failed to advance any where near the same rate year after year and its all glaringly obvious to me. I'm not trading forex to get rich, I'm struggling at it in hopes of one day maybe paying my fucking house off. And it's looking less and less likely that I'll reach that goal as each month passes.
