But of that $76T of “growth”, how much was due to inflation? John Williams (of Shadow Stats) charts inflation as running an average of 8% over the past 16 years or an increase from 2008 of roughly 3.4x. Divide that back into the supposed growth, and ‘real productivity’ hasn’t increased by much. In fact, a meager 3.4% per year. That’s not recessionary, I’ll freely admit. But the next question has to be asked. “Who benefited from that growth?” Certainly not the bottom 90% of households who are experiencing a decline in their net-worth (in terms of purchasing power).
My Dad bought a house and raised a family on the wages from a single job. I did the same. But how many households could do the same today? Precious few, right? Economic spin doesn’t spend too well at the grocery store and gas pump. Most people are getting poorer. That’s the fact that matters to me and why I say the US is in a multi-decades recession and headed for a depression.
Probably quite a few if they limited themselves to the same size home (about 1500 sq ft in 1960), the same once a year domestic vacay by car, and one car per household average that was likely the norm for your Dad.
It’s not monetary inflation causing the problem you are illustrating. It is lifestyle inflation.
Edit: And the number of poor are decreasing, not increasing.
As kid, I could send a 1st class letter for $0.06 cents. Today, the cost is $0.68 cents. That price increase is due to monetary inflation, not life-style inflation.
In '73, I bought a new, VW Super Bug for $2,300. What’s the cost of a comparable vehicle today? Same-same with most the items in the basket of ‘necessities’.
It is well-documented that wages --hence, living standards-- began to fall behind productivity in the mid-70s, impoverishing the bulk of the nation. Potentially, the US is a very rich country. In actual fact, we are all but bankrupt.
You can apply inflation to both the GDP numbers and to the debt numbers. But the ratio will remain the same (obviously).
Sure. He bought a 950 sq ft house with one basic bathroom and a basic formica kitchen. Today it’s 2320 sq ft with 2 very nice bathrooms, a half a standard bathroom, and a well-equipped kitchen with granite. That house had one basic phone line that everyone shared. Today they have 5 or 6 phone lines with full data functionality as well. Etc.
Ha! Today you send an email instead for $0.000001. Major deflation!!!