to: RJG640v8
You're probably and older person. You confuse the amount of money with the value of money.
When you say somebody "makes" X amount of dollars you ignore what it now costs to live. Our property tax, insurance, phone bill, electric bill, heating bill, fertilizer bill, cost of machinery has risen far beyond what they were in the 70's and 80's.
The government is the reason for inflation. Inflation used to be thought of too few goods causing the price to rise. Today there is simply a competition between government and private dollars with the government willing to spend any amount for goods and services.
My 4 wheel drive pickup in 1976 cost $5500. My 1996 4WD cost $25000. The one I looked at the other day was $40000.
Our telephone bill used to run less than $100 a year, today it costs $750 a year. The NH3 I bought for $65 a ton is now $800 a ton and the $12, 56 pound bag of seed corn is now $300 and may only weigh 45 pounds.
So when you say somebody makes $100 it mean very little in the context of value. Look at it this way, as a kid I bought nickel candy bars that were full size, today you get a slightly smaller candy bar for a dollar. That means the $10 I made off a hog would have purchased 200 candy bars while today you get 1/2 that many for the profit from a hog.
