Inflation Outpaces Wage Growth For Over 40% Of Americans

Also, the inflation for luxuries leaves regular inflation in the dust.

Back around 1960, $5,000.00 a year was a sold, middle class income. A Jaguar sportscar was about $6,000 and a Rolls was about $25,000.

Even if you spend the money to get a First Class airline ticket, you know that there are plenty of private planes out there.

Harlan Ellison wrote an essay about 'fuck you money,' the amount he needed to have in the bank so he could tell the studios to fuck off. Back in the day he could go six months on $1,000.

1000 dollars in 1960 would be about 11 grand today.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t know if I’d last 6 months on 11 grand. Maybe 3 or 4. Rent alone would nuke over half of that, and I live in a cheap ass place.
We’ve been robbed
- "Adjusted for inflation" is a lie.
  Think of it this way. $1 million in 1960 would buy you a couple of mansions, a fleet of nice cars, and you'd have enough left to put into investments that would give you income for life.
  $11 million today won't buy the nicest house on the block.

Just so we're all on the same page - this is the same disjointed wage growth we were seeing under Biden that we were being told wasnt a big deal. It's obviously gotten worse under Trump, but this has been a growing problem since at least the dotcom bubble

Fairly certain it has been an issue since the 60s or 70s for anyone not in the top 25% or so.
- I've always been saying it. Fiat currency leaves the value of money in the hands of too few people. Whenever their buddies start crying for help, the money hose turns on and the rest of us suffer higher prices with no wage growth to balance it.
"A wage growth curve that looks more like a middle finger to the vast majority" is how I heard it described today.

Almost like the wealth gap is it's own kind of slow apocalypse... Because if you don't keep a society moving together, it starts to fall apart.

I'm surprised it's only 40%.

The feds measure of inflation is deeply flawed because of the politicized basket of goods it uses, that’s why it’s seems so low.
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Chained_Consumer_Price_Index
  Exactly. Most times the US government mentions inflation they're talking about "Chained" inflation, which lags behind actual inflation for most by 1%.
yeah I am very skeptical its only 40%. I find it hard to believe anyone working for a wage that does not include a contract with a golden parachute is keeping up with inflation.
Over, 40% is the minimum.
- thats the "poors" of the country. .05 is the billionaires.

Wait until you do the math on how many millions you are paying in tax to the state, and what you get back for it. Almost nothing gets back to you.

I think our entire way of working is completely fucked up. Trading our time here for money, working until we are exhausted. For what. Then we get old and has lost the energy of youth, at some corp desk.

Its honestly a tragedy what we spend our lives doing.

That's an oversimplification. Taxes are supposed to go for things that benefit everyone like roads for sure; but the vast majority goes to things that we generally think of as good but don't generally need. Things like healthcare paid for by healthy people and military defense paid for by people who have never been shot at.
So while it is true to say nothing gets back to me, I am still relieved because if I was breaking even on my taxes that would mean I have some sort of life altering problem.
- Thats one way of looking at it, sure.
  Another way is that you could have had that money in your bank now, living a better life, maybe being able to stop working earlier, spending time with your family and friends, not feeling exhausted all the time.
  Of course we have to pay some taxes but many people dont see any positive results from it at all, in the shape of better schools, roads, or whatever.

Middle class is the new poor.

Its called working class... But most normies don't accept their w2 status, they prefer to cosplay being in the club

Always has been. Inflation hurts the poor the most.

In other words, inflation is actually a tool for the rich to steal money from the rest of us. Interesting how that works.

Not inflation. Price-gouging. Big difference.

If it were inflation increasing prices, profit percentages would remain relatively stable. That’s not what we’re seeing. Profit margins are through the roof across the board.

What is this "wage growth" you speak of? Never heard of it.

Broken system needs wealth redistribution

Those who have stocks better watch out. My friend sold out all his stocks because Warren Buffet sold his massively last year. Buffet does this just before an economic bubble burst. Rumour has it that it may come this autumn. I kinda want to hold out a little longer because I am looking at other indicators, primarily on unemployment rate, consumer price index and retail sales, before deciding. The rising inflation might affect consumer confidence, which could exacerbate the risk of recession. The reports on these three indicators are coming out this month of August and we'll see.

Maybe someone could explain to me how the short term inflation rate is 1.8%, but every tariff is at least 10%. I mean, in a country where nothing is made, which tariff free products are people buying? Is it just that many of the tariffs have not gone into effect yet? It's so hard to keep track.

it depends a lot on the business model. but like a lot of qualified people have been pointing out, places like Wal-Mart can weather the losses considering a store will make up to a 1-3million a day, and they pay the 40 people who work there so little they quality for SNAP there's a lot of cushion to absorb the costs. but no business with less than 15 employees is going to make it.
- But that's not how capitalism works. If 70% of the items in Walmart have a 10% tariff, they raise 100% of the items 20%. Especially Walmart. But I guess I'm wrong.
Worth noting that tariffs are not charged on the retail price but on the cost of goods when imported. The 10% is on what Walmart pays their suppliers. Still increases prices, but not by as much.
- I'm aware of this but usually companies will do anything to increase profits and pass that extra cost immediately on to the consumer to plus a little extra for them.
You pay 10% for the product when imported. However there are a lot of people, work and capital involved to transport the product and actually sell it to you.
Also a lot is also not imported, but made in the US. That is especially true for a lot of food, electricity, gasoline and even quite a bit of actual physical products.

I hope all the assholes that voted for Trump FoR ThE EcOnOmY are in that 40%

Italian here:

Also applies perfectly if he's a Working Class person and the viewer is Middle Class.

It's almost like voting for the worlds greediest is encouraging exponential growth of the wage gap. They will not be happy until they literally own all of us. They are literally getting all of the money our government is making, and before and after it gets to us, they take some more back. Edit: Yes, government employees are the exception, but that's probably a very small part of the budget.

At least in the US and UK (and I suspect most of the West), the official inflation has been understating the reality for years (just look at the massive difference between what a salary in the 60s could pay for and the very same inflation-adjusted salary today buys) so the real picture is probably significantly worse.