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1. MarkMc+(OP)[view] [source] 2018-09-12 06:12:23
> Wages, in real terms, have largely lost purchasing power to the point where it takes two incomes to have the same (or less) purchasing power than one income did prior to WWII.

I don't think that is true. Even if you exclude management jobs, hourly wages have remained roughly steady in real terms since the 1960's: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-...

There are also longitudinal effects at play: native-born Americans have seen their wages rise but this is offset by immigrants who generally have lower-than-average wages (but still higher than in the country they emigrated from). Both groups are better off even though average wages haven't changed.

replies(1): >>yomly+J2
2. yomly+J2[view] [source] 2018-09-12 06:51:52
>>MarkMc+(OP)
I had a quick cursory glance for useful contrasting data to show how while wages in real terms have stayed flat in the US, things like college tuition fees[1] and house prices[2] have not.

Both of these things are pretty important - college education can be life altering in terms of career trajectory, and owning a house is an entry point into the wealth ladder and also simply an escape from rent. In real terms, the cost of these has runaway over the past 20-30 years and so people's access to two crucial things that aid social mobility (wealth/housing and education) have been eroding over the years. But apparently because our money can still buy a basket of goods we should be satisfied that our lives haven't gotten any worse.

For me, and I'm pretty sure it's quite complex and I am guilty of Dunning Kruger wrt politics and economics, I simply cannot understand how inflation can get away without finding a way of placing these in the basket of goods used to calculate inflation.

[1] https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76

[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-property-poll/u-s-hou...

replies(1): >>icu+Nk
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3. icu+Nk[view] [source] [discussion] 2018-09-12 10:58:49
>>yomly+J2
Exactly... flat wage growth in real terms is useless if the rise in the price of the things you need/want outstrips your ability to buy it.
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