| Blouge said: >If 7% inflation was a reality, then just about everybody would be massively worse off now than in 1996 This used to be something to be embarassed of, but now, at least where I live, it is the norm. |
It is the norm because they think they need to drive a brand new car that they really can't afford, pay $100/mo for a phone (that didn't exist in 1996), have a super fancy TV, and go out to eat with their friends 2 times a week at expensive restaurants, not to mention not work throughout college, so they have just obscene student loan payments they have to make.
Inflation has not been anywhere close to a 7% average since 1996. If you are seriously trying to argue that my buying power is equivalent to $16,000 in 1996 for my job, then I don't know what else to tell you, other than that is an absolute joke. I mean good god, that would only be about $13,000 after taxes of 20%. The average home sold for about $140,000, so assuming a $110,000 loan at 8% (the going rate) would have run $9600 per year alone (60% of pretax income). In other words, I would have never been able to buy a home at my starting salary.
An average home nowadays is $270,000, meaning $220,000 loan at 4.5% will run $13,500 per year, or 26% of income. I've got a budget, and I could definitely fit that in, despite having expenses such as a cell phone that I wouldn't have had in 1996.
Money can't buy happiness. Just video games, which make me happy.
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