Some days I feel like there’s some sort of vast conspiracy to keep the prices of all things in perfect proportion so that they’ll maintain that same ratio of cost to my income regardless of how much money I have and how much they actual cost.
I was grocery shopping yesterday and a box of cereal - which I did not buy, but looked at - was $5.99. Really? We’re talking about six damned dollars for a basic box of name-brand ceral, and not one of those big “family” boxes. I remember eating a lot of cereal when I was in college (a mere 8 years ago) and it never cost that much - it was about $3 a box, but I also had a lot less disposable income. So it still “costs” me the same proportion of my money to buy a box of cereal. Milk is similar - I don’t know what the hell happened to milk, but it’s almost $5 a gallon around here.
It’s not that I’m particularly big on those two things, but it’s the principal of the thing. I’m sure that there’s some legitimate reason out there that even though I’m making twice what I was making back them, cereal and milk are about twice as expensive, and that it has something to do with government subsidies of corn and oil and so on, but it just feels fucking insane and stupid. Why do I feel as broke as a college kid 8 years on? Because shit’s more expensive.
Gas went crazy. At $50/ish a full tank, gas costs me as much of my money, proportionally, as it did when I was 16 and I could fill up for $10.
It’s like you can never get ahead.
I don’t even need to talk about housing prices.
Will everything always be getting more expensive so that you always feel like you’re in the same position with how much of your money it takes to buy things? Is that why old people think everything’s too expensive? Is that what inflation is? When I’m making $100K a year, will it cost $300 to fill up my gas tank? Will pop tarts be $99.99?
It honestly just makes me want to put a gun in my mouth and pull the trigger some days.
Actually, it’s the *principle * of the thing. If you had more principal, you wouldn’t complain about how much things cost.
Ok, I only did that because this is the pit.
On a more responsive and substantial note: I think this topic is worthy of GD rather than the pit. The subject would be things like corporate welfare vs. the ability of the middle class to keep their heads above water; why the system we have is perhaps as closely related to fascism (in the economic sense) as to capitalism, as corporations and governments are in bed together but we are the ones who get fucked; and similar topics.
It’s interesting how items that are perceived as optional goodies and toys (electronics, computers, fancy TVs) keep getting cheaper, but the necessities of life keep getting relatively more expensive. Together they make it seem like the cost of living is pretty stable, but it’s not. More people can afford the optional goodies (maybe, probably), but also more people can’t even feed their families.
Revealing my essential paranoia here, but I don’t think this is accidental or coincidental.
The price of milk has risen dramatically, not least because of a major increase in demand for milk (and milk products) from China, where it and other dairy products have not traditionally been consumed in large amounts, but are seen more and more as part of a Western, and therefore desirable in some ways, diet.
Totally uneducated WAG, but I suspect this has to do with the fact that the consumer economy is largely financed through credit cards. If things were way more expensive than people could afford, they’d tend not to buy it even on credit. But if things are just a little more expensive than they can afford, they figure “eh, I’ll just put it on the credit card and pay it off when I get my next paycheck.”
And this drives prices up to just that level where, for most of us in the center of the economic strata, things are priced “just out of reach.” Sucks for those of us who (now) refuse to use credit cards.
The thing is, I feel like a dick for even complaining about it - we’ve got it good here in the U.S., “where even our hobos are fat,” compared to the rest of the world, and I could have been aborted in Darfur rather than been born a white male here, I mean, I GET it.
VCO3, how much money do you spend now on getting out of the debt that you created when you were a free-wheelin’ college kid (and over the past 8 years)?
I find now that I feel like I am totally broke. I make more money now than I ever have. But, that’s because every extra penny I have goes to paying off the debts I started piling up when I was in college (8 years ago). And I don’t even really have any fancy toys to show for that debt - just living as if I was going to be able to pay it off in the future.
I don’t have college loan debt, but as a trade off I took on a mortgage instead. So I’ve got my credit card debt from college and my mortgage debt from now.
Doesn’t seem like the economy has changed as much as I have changed.
The current high price isn’t because of price support for milk in Wisconsin. The price support starts at a pittance in Madison Wisconsin and radiates outward across the country. I’ve always found this to be completely unfair, especially when you consider how much milk California puts out. Yet congress even last year refused the push by Wisconsin to make it a level minimum price across the country. The price support currently in place is not raising the price of milk in this state. The farmer isn’t usually the one that benefits greatly from the high prices. Very little of that increase goes to them.
I hear ya. It seems like every item in the grocery store is at least $2.50+. I was so happy to know that my kids would be getting breakfast for free at school (all the kids do, it’s not related to income) so I wouldn’t have to spend so much at the grocery store. Add in fresh fruit, veggies & meat and I can’t get out of the store for less than $120 a week. It shouldn’t cost almost $500 a month to feed a family of four and we don’t eat a lot. Cheese is $4, milk $4, yogurt $4, blueberries $3, bread $2.50, cereal $4, crackers $2.50…it’s so depressing.
I suppose I should just be thankful I can put good food on the table.
I am told that that the price of an eighth of pot has remained constant since I was in university ten years ago. The benefits of the underground economy!
Seriously, though, my big beef is that here in Amurrica, we seem to have gotten to the point (I certainly have) where we have so much stuff that each of us practically has our own gravitational field. I guess a six-buck box of cereal would be more significant to me if I actually ate cereal any more, or maybe less significant if I didn’t have fifteen grand or so in credit card debt to pay off.
The ability to run up more or less permanent debt on credit (and Lord, I know I have) is one thing; then there’s the ever-increasing “need” to have services that more or less lock you into permanent, lifetime subscriptions. Lessee, I’ve got cable, Internet, cell phone service, HOA fees, insurance payments of various types, magazine subscriptions; and thats only a fraction of what I could sign my life away to if I really wanted to.
Unfortunately, dammit, I like having most of that stuff. So, the prisoner is in love with his chains, I guess.
It’s not just milk and cereal- it seems like everything has gone up. A couple of weeks ago I went grocery shopping and then I was like, “Hey, I just spent $175 and I didn’t even buy any junk food!” Using coupons helps a little, unless you’re like me and you end up buying stuff you normally wouldn’t, just because you have a coupon.
Actually the standard of living keeps going up, in fact it doubles every 30 years or so. Myths of Rich and Poor gives a pretty good presentation based on empirical research:
And the biggest problem that poor people have with food now is that there’s too much obesity, not a good indicator that food prices are out of reach.
And there’s that recent report showing what the average poor person owns. Cars, TV’s, cell phones, etc.
My rant on this topic would have been even more extreme - not only are things more expensive, but I truly don’t think our salaries are keeping pace. Way back in the 50’s/60’s, a single-income for a family was plenty to live a very comfortable life, complete with house and kids. Hardly anyone in modern times can afford a house and kids on a single salary now. Part of this equation is affluence, but not all, in my opinion.
I don’t know how old you are, VCO3, but in my experience, most people don’t find themselves in a really comfortable place with money until they are at least 40. And that’s after busting their ass for 20 years to get ahead.
it creeps up on you. One day you’re sharing a small 3 room hole in the back of a carburetor shop, the next thing you know, it’s several jobs later, you have a kid in college, a few cars and a nice house.
You’re still proportionally in the same debt as you were before, but now you have nicer stuff.
