Everyone likes money. It buys us what we need to live, grants us those little luxuries that make life more enjoyable and provides a measure of security against times of strive.
Sadly, with each passing day, our money buys less and less. Two articles caught my eye tonight as I scanned the news. The first was about the falling purchasing power of the US dollar for overseas travel: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18475171/ It is not surprising that our currency is flagging against the other major currencies. Our staggering debt and huge trade and budget deficits combined with a lackluster economy are a sure ticket for disaster. We tend not to notice that prices creep up slowly as we go about our day-to-day lives...there is always inflation and we are used to rising prices. The staggering reality comes when we have an opportunity to see how our currency really stacks up in the rest of the world.
The second article, "Men in their 30s lag behind fathers in pay" (although incorrectly capitalized) is also an eye-opener. Men of this generation in real terms earn LESS than their fathers a generation ago. America is slipping in more ways than one.
CEOs and others at the top earn salaries way beyond the scope of their productivity. Show me ANYONE that is so talented that they are worth more than $1,000,000 per year. (someone makeing $1,000,000 per year gets $500 per HOUR...I would like to see them produce $500 worth of goods or services every hour...that would take SOME SKILL) When you have such a huge divergence in salaries and a declining economic growth rate...someone has to pay.
Our nation also spends well beyond its means. This can't continue indefinitely. Gains in productivity through technology and improved mechanization can't continue indefinitely. The tractor was better than the horse....but a better tractor is only marginally better than the previous tractor. We can't continue to pile up debt that we assume will be paid by robust productivity and surging economic growth in what has become a global marketplace.
--The Clever Cynic, http://theclevercynic.blogspot.com/
E-mail: the_clever_cynic@yahoo.com
