Oh I see that now. Long and boring day.

Anyway, that's just an example I pulled from google. If you graph it against inflation then wages are basically stagnant. If every worker is producing more they should have more buying power overall. I.e. every worker doubles production, if that was reflected in cheaper products instead of more profit we would see prices go down and as a result the wages would increase faster than inflation, but that hasn't happened. Meanwhile corporate profits are up, meaning the difference hasn't been used to save the consumer money.

This post was edited by Thor123422 on Feb 17 2021 03:30pm

Cheaper products is a valid point, as is shrinkflation.

We have seen buying power increase, though. Compare basket of good items (i.e. milk, bread) against their inflation adjusted prices from 50 years ago. And even when just comparing modern conveniences, you don't think someone today is living a better life than someone at a similar inflation adjusted income ~20 years ago?

This isn't to say that all productivity gains are necessarily funneled into cheaper products, but its one of the avenues corporations takes when trying to maximize profit.

You can't just take a basket from 50 years ago to today and call it good. Those "modern conveniences" are often not conveniences. Internet service is a necessity for every household, and some other things like education (college is now the high school equivalent so you have to add that in along with the time premium of paying back the loans and forgoing income) and healthcare have absolutely fucking exploded.

So no, I wouldn't say that, at least not without a lot of caveats.

This post was edited by Thor123422 on Feb 17 2021 03:48pm

The internet is a necessity because it represents an enormous improvement to quality of life. That is to the point. People can and do live without it, but most of us clearly don't want to.

The cost of basic goods has gone down. Cars, internet, phones, food, clothing are all far more affordable. That represents a tangible increase in the quality of life.

My internet goes up in costs every few months without getting any better because fuck you its an oligopoly, you gonna start your own isp 🤷‍♂️?

Some things have gone down, but other things that are necessary for a great many people in society like healthcare and education have exploded.

Things that have gotten cheaper aren't necessarily better. Food for instance has gotten cheaper as its lost nutritional value and been loaded with corn syrup. So cheaper does not necessarily mean tangible improvement.

Like I said, it's not cut and dry that buying power has increased.

They are linked

cam did, why can't you?

In 1971 when Nixon closed the gold window, severing the last tie between the dollar and gold, the minimum wage was $1.60/hour and gold was $40.80/oz. This meant that full time employment was worth ~78 oz of gold per year. At today's prices, 78 oz of gold would be worth $140,000, or 70/hour. Inflation is a lie. End the Fed.