On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 20:49:13 GMT, "Ed Huntress" wrote:
"Gary R Coffman" wrote in message
news

You're doing back-porch economics here, but it's easy to test. If what
you're saying was true, it would show up as a decline in GDP per capita.
But there was no such decline.

Sure there was, but you have to calculate it in *constant dollars* to see it.
That's the only way you can compare actual purchasing power differences
between years.

Gary


This is a joke, right?

Not at all. The issue being discussed is that it now requires the
purchasing power of two earners to maintain a comfortable middle
class household. The reason for that is obviously inflation, and one
of the main contributors to inflation over the period in question was
the introduction of the two earner household, which caused both
push and pull in the market, which resulted in depreciated wage
rates simultaneously with higher prices of household goods and
services, as I explained previously. Since inflation is integral to the
argument, you have to do the measurement in constant dollars to
see the changes in purchasing power from year to year as the
number of women in the workforce increased.

Gary