Why Baby Boomers Don't Understand Occupy Wall Street

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

1969 prices:

Gallon of milk: $1.10 ($6.47 in 2010 dollars)

Dozen eggs: $0.62 ($3.64 in 2010 dollars)

2011 prices:

Gallon of milk: $3.39

Dozen eggs: $1.25

I also didn't exclude medications. So what?

Does the term "farm subsidy" mean anything to you?

I don't see any medications. What are you talking about?

[Ban Hammer 13,558]

Hey, you're the one that brought up the bit about age and experience.

you can get experience when you're young too

[mawilson 2,133]

UK income disparity

Canadian income disparity

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v50n10/v50n10p19.pdf

Health care is widely recognized to be an extremely

labor-intensive sector of the economy, Wages and

earnings are usually assumed to account for at least

half of the total costs in industrially advanced economies,

and as much as three-fourths in some of them.

During the lo-year period ending in 1980, the increase

in wages ranged from 114.6 percent in the Federal

Republic of Germany to 323.7 percent in the

United Kingdom. In i975-80, wage increases ranged

from a low of 35.1 percent in the Netherlands to a

high of 103.2 percent in France. Wage increases exceeded

consumer price increases during both periods

in all the countries studied except in the United

States. In the 1975-80 period, wages in this country

rose by 50.6 percent and prices by 53.1 percent.

If actual health care expenditures are deflated by

the growth in wages, the percentage increase in the

resulting statistics presents still another sequence, significantly

different from the rankings previously

presented. For the 1975-80 period, the Netherlands

again emerges as the country with the greatest increase

(25.4 percent). France registers the lowest increase

(only 2 percent). The United States comes out

as a close second behind the Netherlands, with a

24.6-percent increase. Health care costs in both countries

were presumbly subject to upward pressure due

to non-labor cost factors still to be determined.

Both the Netherlands and the United States also

registered a relatively high increase in health care

spending adjusted for wage inflation when measured

over the 1970-80 period. During the full IO-year period,

the Netherlands registered the highest in this

regard among the seven countries studied, with a

62.9-percent increase. The United States, with a

53.6percent increase, was third, following West Germany,

which registered a 61.1-percent increase

[mawilson 2,133]

I don't see any medications. What are you talking about?

I'm talking about Big Dog "refuting" my claim that ALL the things you listed are cheaper today. He found one thing that wasn't and concluded that everything else I said must be false too.

Edited October 18, 2011 by mawilson

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

UK income disparity

Canadian income disparity

So the income disparity is just as bad in the UK and Canada as it is in the US. Is that what you are saying?

[^_^ 5,021]

Health care is widely recognized to be an extremely labor-intensive sector of the economy...

There's your problem right there. The solution lies in automation.

[mawilson 2,133]

So the income disparity is just as bad in the UK and Canada as it is in the US. Is that what you are saying?

It's close. In the UK, the top 1% control almost 25% of the nation's wealth, top 10% control over half of personal wealth.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I'm talking about Big Dog "refuting" my claim that ALL the things you listed are cheaper today. He found one thing that wasn't and concluded that everything else I said must be false too.

I don't think he said that. I think he gave you one example.

This is what I don't get. You weren't living in the 70's. I was. I know what I could buy back then. I know how things are now. I am not in any way shape or form saying "those were the gold old days". I am saying things are farther out of whack than they were then. A huge part of family worries these days is cost of health care. This takes a HUGE bite out of budgets compared to the 70's. A HUGE bite. That is money that was once pumped back into the economy for other things. Like saving money for down payment on a house.

It's close. In the UK, the top 1% control almost 25% of the nation's wealth, top 10% control over half of personal wealth.

But the little guy working in the call center for 12K a year can go to the doctor for the same price they charge Boris Johnson.

[mawilson 2,133]

A huge part of family worries these days is cost of health care. This takes a HUGE bite out of budgets compared to the 70's. A HUGE bite.

How do you know? You were young in the 70's and didn't need healthcare then.

But the little guy working in the call center for 12K a year can go to the doctor for the same price they charge Boris Johnson.

So if we had Medicare for all, you'd be happy? Seems like healthcare is a recurring theme with you.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

There's your problem right there. The solution lies in automation.

Robo-Doc.

How do you know? You were young in the 70's and didn't need healthcare then.

I know what I was paying out of my paycheck for it.

Nothing.

My employer regarded it as a benefit. Just like yours does to you. Only in the 70's everybody had that kind of coverage. Not just quants.

So if we had Medicare for all, you'd be happy? Seems like healthcare is a recurring theme with you.

Medicare sucks. We need something better. For everybody.

[mawilson 2,133]

My employer regarded it as a benefit. Just like yours does to you.

I don't have an employer anymore. I am now self-employed and buy my own coverage. I opted for a high deductible plan and a Health Savings Account.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I don't have an employer anymore. I am now self-employed and buy my own coverage. I opted for a high deductible plan and a Health Savings Account.

Hadn't heard that. Congratulations on entrepreneurship. Most self-employed people elect that type of coverage.

[mawilson 2,133]

Hadn't heard that. Congratulations on entrepreneurship. Most self-employed people elect that type of coverage.

Thanks. It's pretty good - inexpensive ($400ish per month) with zero co-pay and a $2,800 deductible. So I just put $3,000 in an HSA and use it to pay my health costs until the deductible is met and the insurance takes over. Total cost: about $8k per year, $3k of which is tax deductible.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

I remember when I could fill my gas tank for $2.50. A gallon of milk was $.25 and a pack of gigs was $.10. A triple screening at the neighborhood theater was $.50, a record album cost $2. In 1974, my first husband and I could fill two grocery carts overflowing with food and pay less than $100. I never had a car note over $120/month with no down payment. Our first place was $250/month for three bedrooms, a fireplace, the kitchen was 15' x 26' and we had a huge yard.

Things have changed a bit . . .

Slim, I am talking about my generation coming of age in 1975. Not the people who raised me. None of the girls I went to school with planned on staying home and cooking (like some of our Mothers did). We were preparing for careers. Even my stay-at-home Mom worked a seasonal job each year to raise some extra bucks. Ozzie and Harriett was a TV show. It wasn't reality.

You are probably going to laugh at everything in this paragraph. When I graduated high school in 1975, someone on our yearbook committee decided to run around town and take pictures of prices in windows. So, I'm sitting here looking at these pictures, and they tell me that self-serve gasoline was 50.8 cents per gallon. Milk was $1.29. Three loaves of bread - $1.09. Vending machine - 30 cents. Cheer detergent 99 cents. My first real job after college paid me $650 per month. The rent on my townhouse apartment was $160 per month, I paid the utilities. Oh, and as I have mentioned many times before, the health care provided by my employer didn't cost me one red cent.

Point? Well first of all I don't think people are whining because they want six figures. I think they are saying that it takes close to six figures to maintain a decent life, where you work and save for a rainy day. Rather than hang on by the seat of your pants.

And all this deterioration in 35 years. I don't care how you want to paint it. It's alarming.

Edited October 18, 2011 by Sofiyya