Think Your Kids Will Be Worse Off Then You? You’re Probably Right!
Look to history, not headlines.
You’ve probably heard that inflation is on the rise, and you probably realize that your new paycheck might not be keeping up with inflation. For most Americans recent raises are falling behind increasing prices.
The headlines are full of announcements and analyses of the recent ups and downs of the economy. A few months ago headlines focused on wage increases. After that is was inflation. In the last few days it’s been the steady decline in stock market values.
But those headlines are only the latest drips and drags of a far more important story.
On the whole we are getting poorer, have been for decades.
Here’s the numbers:
According to the BLS, in the first quarter of 2022 wages increased by 4.9% from a year earlier, while the Consumer Price Index — the most common measure of inflation — rose by 8.0%. In other words, the cost of living increased by about twice as much as wages.
Even with that raise or good paying new job most Americans found themselves about three percent less buying power than a year earlier.
And prices are almost certainly going to continue their rise.
