Cost of living - 1930 to present

A bit of perspective in the current financial 'problems' Mark Perry writes at Carpe Diem:

The High Cost of Living vs. The Cost of Living High

food_clothing_shelter.jpg


Based on a suggestion yesterday from a student in my MBA class (MGT 551 Business Economics), the graph above shows the declining share of disposable personal income (data) spent on food (data), clothing (data), and shelter (housing and household operation) since 1929. From a high of almost 59% in 1933, the percent of disposable income spent on food, clothing and shelter today has continually fallen, and today (2007) is only 33%.

Bottom Line: When people today talk about the "high cost of living," they�re usually talking about the "cost of living high" (see Dallas Fed), because they're certainly not spending very much on the basics: food, clothing and shelter - that spending is at an all-time low as a percent of disposable personal income.

Like I said in an earlier post:

We may piss and moan about how poor people are but most people living under the poverty line have running water, cell phones, televisions, automobiles. Visit another nation and you will find that this is not the case over there.

For a quick reality check, Zimbabwe's GDP/per Capita is $200.

On the same note, The Masked Millionaire has a set of four basic rules on how to buy something when you have the cash for it and when you do not have the cash for it:

In God We Trust..All Others Pay Cash
Cash Is King

Here are four simple techniques to avoid money problems:
  1. Pay With Cash
  2. Pay With Cash
  3. Pay With Cash
  4. Pay With Cash
If you can't pay with cash then here are four alternatives:Don't buy the item until you can afford to pay with cash:
  1. Don't buy the item until you can afford to pay with cash
  2. Don't buy the item until you can afford to pay with cash
  3. Don't buy the item until you can afford to pay with cash
  4. Don't buy the item until you can afford to pay with cash

What he said...

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This page contains a single entry by DaveH published on September 28, 2008 1:24 PM.

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