I am curious to know how the value of the dollar has been reduced by 95 % in the last 100 years. I think you mean that the price of things has risen in 100 years.. and of course it has, but the issue is not about a rise in price but a rise in real dollar amounts. How many hours did I have to work in 1913 to feed my family and how much of my income in 1913 was consumed by food? How many hours do I have to work today to feed a family and how much of my income is consumed by the cost of food? How many hours in 1913 did I have to work to pay for a roof over my head and how many hours do I have to pay for a similar roof over my head today? What was the average income for a worker in 1913 and what is it today?
What have you been reading?
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I am curious to know how the value of the dollar has been reduced by 95 % in the last 100 years. I think you mean that the price of things has risen in 100 years.. and of course it has, but the issue is not about a rise in price but a rise in real dollar amounts. How many hours did I have to work in 1913 to feed my family and how much of my income in 1913 was consumed by food? How many hours do I have to work today to feed a family and how much of my income is consumed by the cost of food? How many hours in 1913 did I have to work to pay for a roof over my head and how many hours do I have to pay for a similar roof over my head today? What was the average income for a worker in 1913 and what is it today?
I don't know, but I have a feeling that a careful study of those questions might have an ugly answer. The only thing I see is a minimum wage that isn't really a living wage, but I don't know if that's always been the case or not. I do think that a living wage for low to middle income workers has been replaced with the availability of revolving credit.
I look at the people working around me in Miami Beach and can't figure out how any of them can live here without working 7 days a week. So it seems the value of the 40 hour workweek has gone way down.
Add to that the fact that it used to be that one income at a 'baseline' job would provide for a family... not in high style, and probably not to the point of sending the young'uns to college, but 1 paycheck a month would cover your rent or mortgage, and the rest went for living expenses. Today, those are luxuries... you know, food, utilities, etc.?
Today, its health insurance that takes up one whole paycheck a month. Mortgage? Utilities? College fund? Retirement? Life and property insurance? Well, if you're a 2 income family, and if you've got a good job, at least one of those is probably still going to slip. If you've got a GREAT job, you might just cover all of them.
It used to be that college was a way out of that cycle. Today? College is worth only very slightly more than high school. Then, once the value of a college education was eroded way enough, it was the MBA. Today MBAs are a dime a dozen, and they don't have a much more secure employment then the rest of us. Today, an MBA is nothing special.
Before long, they'll be asking for proof of your Ph.D before they hand you the flashlight and nightstick for the night watchman job.
I've been able to handle husband, house, horse, food and car on single income for most of the time we've been together... but now that I'm earning less, even though I no longer support a horse, we supplement the mortgage by having tenants in our house... thankfully, no kids to deal with, but daycare if you've got more than two kids is almost a full salary right there. I realize I'm in the minority though... (hubby's an unpublished writer but he works summers when we have special expenses like wedding and special condo assessments and crap like that).
What genre does he write?
I think I'd buy a copy of "The Exploits of Chevette Girl and the Monster that is Mazing"
Every time I think "what a lucky guy to have a wife like Chevette Girl" you go and up the ante.
<grin> I'll mention that he should write an addiction book for brewing widows/widowers! He writes mostly sci fi but at the moment he's working on a fantasy (magic) erotica trilogy...
Every time I think "what a lucky guy to have a wife like Chevette Girl" you go and up the ante.
<snicker> Let's just say I have better things to do with my life than housework?
I have always said that a clean house is the sign of a sick mind. Damn, all of a sudden I feel startlingly well. <LOL>
Been Reading Wheel of Time book one, but I'm having issues connecting to any characters. They always escape everything narrowly and the feeling of peril has been lost since (nook) page 700 of 2000 not sure what real page it is since the real book is like 780 or something.
I still need to finish hunger games book 3, that'll take all of a day or two.
I still need to finish hunger games book 3, that'll take all of a day or two.
Sorry but I think we are comparing apples and moon rockets - Not sure if the data are accurate but
"In 1911 only about 20% of youth attended high school—and fewer than 10% graduated. Whereas, in 2010, about 90% of all students in Pennsylvania graduated from high school;" - so who was spending money sending their children to college in 1913? Not the rank and file that's for sure.
http://ahundredyearsago.com/2011/02/28/high-school-graduation-rates-1911-and-2010/
I am not an economist but I think the value of a dollar can really only be measured by looking at a good (say a bottle of whisky or a bag of flour, a can of tomatoes or a pound of carrots) and calculating how many hours you would need to work to buy that same good in 1913 and how many hours you need to work today to buy the same good. If you need to work more hours today then the value of the dollar has fallen. If you need to work fewer hours today for the same good then the value of the dollar has risen. All talk of luxuries and necessities and the value of a college education today does not really grapple with the question about whether the dollar has been devalued by the Fed and its role in the economy as the central bank and bank of last resort
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Lemme be a regular monkey in the wrench here.
It ain't the value of the dollar that's important. Its the value of the workers. Remember when there was a feeling (valid or not) that employees were an integral part of a business and there was a mutual feeling of responsibility? Guess what. If your vision is good, you can see that in the rear view mirror now... as long as the road is straight and level. "Business is business" is the new battle cry, damned the employees and full speed ahead. If we have to, we'll just cut a few. We're here to make money, after all, and we can't do that if we have to be fair. Got to buy the wife that Escalade, ya know.
Your statistics are a distinction without a difference. High school, college, work experience... all irrelevant today. What prevails today is baseline reductionism. The bottom line and only relevant question is: "Can you live on it?" For more and more of us, the true answer is "no".
This is much less about the value of the dollar than being able to get by. Gasoline, adjusted for inflation, is less expensive than it was 30 or 35 years ago. Internet access? It didn't exist then. Health insurance? Hold onto your hat. Food? My guess would be that it about equals out. Housing? Higher. And even if the 'value' of a dollar has stayed level, wages have not.
I had a boss who used to justify herself by saying, "Hey, I have to buy the same loaf of bread that you do...". My response, the one and only time she said it to me was, "Yeah, but you can buy a lot more of 'em than I can".
Don't get me wrong; I have no problem with a boss making more money than a grunt. Heavy lay the head that wears the crown, and all that, ya know? But this "Just borrow $40K from your parents and start your own business" crap just doesn't wash. For one thing, if everyone started their own business, who would you get to work for you? For another, who would you sell stuff to? For another, can I borrow $40K? <grin>
Besides, I can't be my own boss. I promised myself long ago that I'd never work for another A-hole. <chuckling>
Today, it's getting a job, keeping a job and hoping you don't lose a job. It used to be getting a better job, learning your 'craft', working your way up the ladder, proving your worth, having it acknowledged. Anybody got one a them these days?
It ain't the value of the dollar that's important. Its the value of the workers. Remember when there was a feeling (valid or not) that employees were an integral part of a business and there was a mutual feeling of responsibility? Guess what. If your vision is good, you can see that in the rear view mirror now... as long as the road is straight and level. "Business is business" is the new battle cry, damned the employees and full speed ahead. If we have to, we'll just cut a few. We're here to make money, after all, and we can't do that if we have to be fair. Got to buy the wife that Escalade, ya know.
Your statistics are a distinction without a difference. High school, college, work experience... all irrelevant today. What prevails today is baseline reductionism. The bottom line and only relevant question is: "Can you live on it?" For more and more of us, the true answer is "no".
This is much less about the value of the dollar than being able to get by. Gasoline, adjusted for inflation, is less expensive than it was 30 or 35 years ago. Internet access? It didn't exist then. Health insurance? Hold onto your hat. Food? My guess would be that it about equals out. Housing? Higher. And even if the 'value' of a dollar has stayed level, wages have not.
I had a boss who used to justify herself by saying, "Hey, I have to buy the same loaf of bread that you do...". My response, the one and only time she said it to me was, "Yeah, but you can buy a lot more of 'em than I can".
Don't get me wrong; I have no problem with a boss making more money than a grunt. Heavy lay the head that wears the crown, and all that, ya know? But this "Just borrow $40K from your parents and start your own business" crap just doesn't wash. For one thing, if everyone started their own business, who would you get to work for you? For another, who would you sell stuff to? For another, can I borrow $40K? <grin>
Besides, I can't be my own boss. I promised myself long ago that I'd never work for another A-hole. <chuckling>
Today, it's getting a job, keeping a job and hoping you don't lose a job. It used to be getting a better job, learning your 'craft', working your way up the ladder, proving your worth, having it acknowledged. Anybody got one a them these days?
Nope. Those days are largely gone. Maybe some government jobs still have worth, but even those are getting hit.
I've just read the second Game of Thrones book (to get a little away from the hijack...lol) and it reminds me a little about how we have act at work.
I've just read the second Game of Thrones book (to get a little away from the hijack...lol) and it reminds me a little about how we have act at work.
Ah yes, the thread! The thread is the thing! <grin>
I just got a copy of The Bully Pulpit.
Reading How to Brew Like a Monk.
Learned that Wyeast 1388 originates from Moortgat brewery. Oddly enough, they use 1388 to brew all my favorite beers (Duvel, Maredsous 8 & 10).
Now I use it to brew my favorite mead!
Learned that Wyeast 1388 originates from Moortgat brewery. Oddly enough, they use 1388 to brew all my favorite beers (Duvel, Maredsous 8 & 10).
Now I use it to brew my favorite mead!
" L´Apiculture Pour Tous" de Émile Warré- 6th edition (birthday present) .
Where he says about mead : " I do not see future in mead..." , pointing out the dificulty of complete fermentations and the prohibitive prices of honey
Where he says about mead : " I do not see future in mead..." , pointing out the dificulty of complete fermentations and the prohibitive prices of honey
From 1923? The science of mead has come a long way since then, if you know what you're doing complete fermentation isn't a problem.
Sure, but in all coutries of south europe, you don´t find mead. If you want to find it you must search a lot.
Wine is everywere, with a huge choice of quality and price ( here you have superb wines - top ones, for less than 15 euro, bottle of 750 ml). There is only one brand or desert mead that you can find in specific markets ( for 10 euro , bottle of 500 ml). Dry mead , only if you know a producer or you produce it yourself... otherwise impossible to find in market.
Wine is everywere, with a huge choice of quality and price ( here you have superb wines - top ones, for less than 15 euro, bottle of 750 ml). There is only one brand or desert mead that you can find in specific markets ( for 10 euro , bottle of 500 ml). Dry mead , only if you know a producer or you produce it yourself... otherwise impossible to find in market.
Anyone know how long DAP and energizers have been available? Bet that makes a difference
