Re: What is a BILLION really?
- From: David <dgold1958@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 14:57:04 +0200
On Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:52:26 GMT, "BillB" <bogus@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Aboo" <jhemphill@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uk6ht3x6b6.ln2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dude, the 5500 in 1905 was worth about the same in buying power as the 37k
is today.
And I'm wondering if the stats in 1905 included the Indians and what-not?
Dude, I said real GDP, not nominal GDP. That means the numbers are already
adjusted for inflation. Are you with me now dude? The "middle class" dudes
100 years ago were broke-ass poor compared to the "middle class" dudes
today.
A steak dinner in 1905 probably cost you around 10cents. A steak
dinner today costs you around 20.00. When I was growing up (anno
1958), my dad was able to work and support a family with four children
on his own. Today, a family income is based on two salaries and less
children. If one half of the salary should disappear, there goes the
house, the boat, the cars and many other things.
While the "real" GDP may have increased, there is serious concern
about the quality of life that has been achieved. Quality of life is
not measured by how much you have, but by how often you get to enjoy
what you have. In today's corporate america, you are expected to work
ridiculous hours without compensation. There is no family comes first
mentality--you are a slave to the corporation that you work for. There
used to be a time when you worked for a single company your entire
life, retired from that company, received a watch and a pension and
headed to the golf course.
These days, staying at one company for more than a few years is
unheard of. There is no more pension plan and when you leave the
company, they hardly notice, since the turnover is so great. Sure,
you might get a little party if management really liked you; once you
walk out the door, however, you are quickly forgotten.
Of course, the necessity for two incomes means that something needs
to be done with the children. So, we rely on school teachers to not
only teach our kids, but to raise them. We shove our kids off in to
daycare centers as soon as they are out of diapers and hope that the
people working there don't abuse them. When our kids get in to
trouble, we always say that it could not be our kids--we have good
kids. How many parents really know their children anymore?
Sure, life in 1905 was not an easy one. Life in 2006 is not any
easier. On paper, perhaps, but the reality looks totally different.
We may live longer, but that does not mean that there is any increased
quality of life in the later years. The spread between the rich and
the poor is forever increasing. Corporate greed is putting americans
out of work by going offshore. Coporate america has bought the
government and is pretty much free to do what ever it wants--MS, IBM
the oil companies, insurance companies, etc.... Bush politics has
successfully reduced the amount of freedom that americans enjoy and
wants to increase his surveillance programs even more--in the name of
the war on terrorism, purely spreading FUD.
We don't know our neighbors anymore, because we all sit in front of
television sets and explore the internet. America is perhaps the most
hated country in the entire world. People in america are starving
and/or have no access to health care. SAT scores are dropping. Kids
have no respect for their elders or for the property of others--why
should they? You cannot touch them.
Yeah, there may be more money floating around but to think that
things are better today than they were 100 years ago requires a more
thorough examination.
David
.
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