...What are the immediate effects of such a steep drop in our currency? It puts extreme upward pressure on anything and everything. This has really kicked in especially within the last year to two years, and has been building before that for the better part of this decade.
Metals * Aluminum: up 76% in 4.5 years * Copper: up 333% in 5 years * Platinum: up 353% in 9 years * Silver: up 272% in 6 years * Gold: up 300% in 7 years
Food * Canola: up 133% in 2 years * Cocoa: up 206% in 7 years * Coffee: up 170% in 6 years * Corn: up 150% in 2 years * Oats: up 160% in 3.5 years * Rice: up 239% in 6 years * Soybeans: up 134% in 1.5 years * Wheat: up 200% in 2 years
Fuel * Brent Crude Oil: up 900% in 9 years * Heating Oil: up 450% in 9 years * Light Crude Oil: up 850% in 9 years * Propane: up 190% in 9 years
(source: http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-inflation_18.html )
During this time, how much have your wages gone up? For the average American, down about 2%. If you made $50,000 a year in 2000, you would need to be at $61,289.20 just to keep pace with inflation today. To actually "get ahead" in the world (to do what raises are supposed to accomplish), you would need to be further ahead of that number.
That high school $8/hr job in 2000 would bring in $9.81 today. How many supermarkets are paying that, though? In many places, they're still paying $8, or even less. That $8/hr job today was worth $6.53 only 8 years ago.
As wages has stagnated and the price of everything has soared, Americans have tended to find another way to get income - the equity that is stored within the value of one's home. From this last gamble to hang on to the American Dream that was the good times of the 1990's, we witnessed what may perhaps be the greatest bubble and crash in our lives: the housing bubble. ... from: http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2008/03/your-economy-is-in-trouble-when-dollar.html
--
Email.it, the professional e-mail, gratis per te: http://www.email.it/f
Sponsor:
Scopri le tue passioni con Leonardo.it! *
Clicca qui: http://adv.email.it/cgi-bin/foclick.cgi?mid=7653&d=15-3