Originally Posted by
Delta1067
If the post is that ignorant then please educate me on how I need more than a 20% raise over the next 2 years to beat "inflation" While you are at it also educate us how full blown section will make us better off. I wont hold my breath waiting for an educated response as all I expect is a one liner.
That is NOT what I said or hinted at.
Your previous comment about how you don't care about inflation and how you don't understand how it affects you was what I was talking about.
Simply put, the dollar today doesn't have the buying power it did ten years ago (or any other time in history). So yes, while you might be single and get to enjoy your toys, make no mistake, the money in your wallet has a much lower purchasing power.
For example, back when I was a kid, 50 cents bought you a coke and a candy bar (each 25 cents). Now, each of those items today are nearly a dollar or more.
I bought a high end pickup truck with all the fixin's back in 2001 for $24,000. Four days ago, I just bought a brand new one for $44,000 (after rebates, incentives, and dealing).
The houses you own have DROPPED substantially in value because while everyone's income has gone down (except for government employees) and the cost of goods have gone up, resulted in mass foreclosures and short sales as people couldn't make ends meet. Today, there is a record breaking number of empty homes on the market which is dropping the bottom out of the housing market. You'll be lucky if you aren't upside down on your home.
Let's say one of your homes cost you $190,000 back in 2000. And today you get lucky and are able to sell it at $175,000. So you only lost $15,000 right? Wrong, you actually lost $64,000. Why? Because back in 2000, $190,000 had the same purchasing power as $254,000 today.
There, that's how inflation and your ignorance of it affects you.
What the others are saying on this forum, is that because of the financial crisis that is unfolding, inflation and interest rates can not stay at their all time lows. In essence, the pay raises will not keep up with inflation.
We have interest rates today for homes in the low 3%. That is ridiculously low. Go talk to your parents and grandparents about when annual inflation in the late 70's hit nearly 14% and interest rates on homes were something like 20%.
For example, a $190,000 home at 20% interest on a 30 year loan has a monthly payment of $3174 and a total cost of 1.14 Million dollars !!!
Educate yourself.