And people can’t afford houses, college, healthcare, etc. because…? Like cool chart, but my generation will literally never be as financially stable as those who came before. I guess it’s fun to pretend we’re better off than we are though.
Imagine paying for college with your income rather than loans.
People can afford more things now than the previous generation
There are things that increased in price faster, like college. But that’s offset by other things that didn’t increase as fast, like fuel. There are other things that got cheaper, like computers and phones. You’re cherry picking the things that got more expensive, but those are not 100% of a person’s expenses
Yeah and look 2 years back on your same graph and see the big 11% in one month.
And let’s not forget that this is multiplicative. So these months/years with high inflation are still felt today even if the inflation is relatively normal.
But you are disingenuous in your arguments, while accusing others of doing that same thing.
If the food cost follows the inflation and the inflation is 20%, will you say that food prices are ok because they follow inflation?
It would be fine if the wage followed the same inflation as food and housing, but the reality is that wage lag and stagnate behind inflation.
So yeah, if your groceries cost you 20% and you haven’t received an equivalent wage increase, then your groceries cost significantly more in absolute term because you still have the same money as before, but your food cost more for the same grocery basket you bought before inflation.
But again, you are disingenuous, so probably just a troll. I won’t respond anymore.
I would say you can’t use food as an argument for why 20% inflation is a wrong number
Remember, the inflation-adjusted earnings also have to go up 20% just to stay the same. You don’t have the same money as before, your paycheck must increase by 20% for your real earnings to stay the same.
If the graph says real earnings are up 1%, your paycheck went up 21%
If your paycheck didn’t increase, then you can just say that it didn’t track the inflation numbers, food prices or whatever doesn’t matter since it’s the real earnings that are too low
I’m not saying I agree with them, but they are the only ones providing actual data. Everyone else, including you, is just attacking and downvoting them. I would be interested in hearing an actual argument, but to accuse them of just “repeating a talking point” while they provide data and you provide nothing but a talking point is ridiculously hypocritical.
Their data is adjusted for family size. Family size has been consistently shrinking since the 1960s, which, if you adjust their graph, will lead to overall decrease in wages throughout time. It is a meaningless method of transformation to get data that supports a false narrative.
Why did you not point out that their data is transformed when I did?
You’re deliberately ignoring what I actually wrote. Two high school grads working minimum wage jobs in 1960 could have been homeowners in about five years. There are hundreds of reasons why the ownership rate was lower in the past.
Each successive generation has a higher income even accounting for inflation
And people can’t afford houses, college, healthcare, etc. because…? Like cool chart, but my generation will literally never be as financially stable as those who came before. I guess it’s fun to pretend we’re better off than we are though.
Imagine paying for college with your income rather than loans.
People can afford more things now than the previous generation
There are things that increased in price faster, like college. But that’s offset by other things that didn’t increase as fast, like fuel. There are other things that got cheaper, like computers and phones. You’re cherry picking the things that got more expensive, but those are not 100% of a person’s expenses
It’s fun that tvs and computers got cheaper, but housing and food are through the roof.
It’s cool that I can buy a laptop for 500$ dollars, but it’s a one time purchase that we can live without.
Food is not through the roof
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/food-inflation
2.2% vs. the previous year
Yeah and look 2 years back on your same graph and see the big 11% in one month.
And let’s not forget that this is multiplicative. So these months/years with high inflation are still felt today even if the inflation is relatively normal.
But you are disingenuous in your arguments, while accusing others of doing that same thing.
So kindly fuck off
That’s in line with the inflation numbers. Food costs did not outpace inflation in any significant way
If the food cost follows the inflation and the inflation is 20%, will you say that food prices are ok because they follow inflation?
It would be fine if the wage followed the same inflation as food and housing, but the reality is that wage lag and stagnate behind inflation.
So yeah, if your groceries cost you 20% and you haven’t received an equivalent wage increase, then your groceries cost significantly more in absolute term because you still have the same money as before, but your food cost more for the same grocery basket you bought before inflation.
But again, you are disingenuous, so probably just a troll. I won’t respond anymore.
I would say you can’t use food as an argument for why 20% inflation is a wrong number
Remember, the inflation-adjusted earnings also have to go up 20% just to stay the same. You don’t have the same money as before, your paycheck must increase by 20% for your real earnings to stay the same.
If the graph says real earnings are up 1%, your paycheck went up 21%
If your paycheck didn’t increase, then you can just say that it didn’t track the inflation numbers, food prices or whatever doesn’t matter since it’s the real earnings that are too low
Okay now do one that shows how much is available after paying for things like rent, food, car, etc.
Meaningless chart
That’s been done too
https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-purchasing-power-of-american-households
Purchasing power of American households is at all time high
Okay, now why hasn’t the minimum wage been raised in literal decades?
Honestly it just seems like you’re being obtuse
That’s the federal minimum wage, cities have certainly raised their own minimum wages
That’s why only like 1% of workers make the federal minimum wage
Nice cherry picking, you got any other fallacies to throw in there?
1% of workers is not very impactful for the average income
The workers who make $20 minimum wage in SF are not affected by $7.25 minimum wage
So we should raise the federal minimum wage so that so-called 1% of people can’t be ignored like you’re trying to do.
This is how our argument has looked to me:
You: “well the average is fine”
Me: “well the average doesn’t help those at the bottom”
You: “well they don’t matter to the average”
Your arguments need a lot more work. You just seem soulless with the points you’re trying to make.
We weren’t arguing about the minimal wage. You are the one who brought it up. It’s not relevant to this discussion
Yeah but it doesn’t tell the whole truth, cost of living has been rising steadily as well.
Cost of living is inflation, which this chart takes into account
The things you say are useless, especially since these are adjusted by household size. Do one that isn’t.
I’m not saying I agree with them, but they are the only ones providing actual data. Everyone else, including you, is just attacking and downvoting them. I would be interested in hearing an actual argument, but to accuse them of just “repeating a talking point” while they provide data and you provide nothing but a talking point is ridiculously hypocritical.
Their data is adjusted for family size. Family size has been consistently shrinking since the 1960s, which, if you adjust their graph, will lead to overall decrease in wages throughout time. It is a meaningless method of transformation to get data that supports a false narrative.
Why did you not point out that their data is transformed when I did?
In 1960, minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the price of the average US home was $11,000.00
How many minimum wage workers are out there right now looking to buy a new home?
They weren’t buying then either![Home_Ownership_rate](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/cc8236e5-de8f-4c20-84f1-89a95516c155.jpeg)
So, you agree, people were able to buy a house on minimum wage in the past and can’t do that today?
They were not, look at ownership rate.
You’re deliberately ignoring what I actually wrote. Two high school grads working minimum wage jobs in 1960 could have been homeowners in about five years. There are hundreds of reasons why the ownership rate was lower in the past.
Could have been, but did not buy homes. Explain why
If you actually had an argument, you’d be able to present a variety of proof, instead of just posting the same graph over and over.
Thought you’d never ask