On Sun, 13 Oct 2013 03:34:29 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Sat, 12 Oct 2013 22:11:35 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:

Dean Hoffman" wrote:
According to the Carpe Diem site one had to work 885 hours in
1959 to earn the same goods as one can earn working 170 hours in
2013.

More he http://tinyurl.com/lrq8suo

One would work about 28 hours to buy a gas stove in 2013 compared to
almost 91 hours in 1959. He has ten other examples of decreasing
work hours needed to buy given items.

If only one could find a job. What did we export then? What do we
export now? Why don't we have decent jobs - because we exported all
the manufacturing.

And how many hours did we have to work then and now to buy our
current largest manufactured export - gasoline and diesel fuel?

When nobody can get a middle class job, who benefits by low prices?

Some, but not all of the unemployment is exporting manufacturing jobs
in favor of cheap labor. Many of our economic problems are still the
after effects of the housing bubble that was caused by banks and
sleazy mortgage brokers.

I've been trying to hire a person for a trainee type maintenance
position. I get two types of applicants. One is the 60+ year old guy
that was making $25 or more an hour. The other is the young guy that
did not finish high school and has a difficult time spelling the name
of the street he lives on. .

As for how much are we paying for oil products, not much. Gas was 22¢
a gallon in 1963. Gas is now 16x that but my wage is 21x what is was
then so I'm ahead.

Lucky you. College grads are having trouble find anything much better than
minimum wage jobs, if that.

Actually, if they are willing to get their hands dirty, there ARE
jobs out there that pay a half decent wage. They will be tired at the
end of the day, too.
The jobs are not plentiful, but try to hire a mechanic today. And even
with the burst housing bubble, getting good building tradesmen is NOT
easy. Getting GOOD truck drivers is not easy either - but nor is
finding trucking companies willing to pay a decent premium for a good
driver --.

A college degree is not a pre-requisite for these jobs - but given
the choice between thenabove-mentioned applicant who can't spell their
street name and a college grad - the grad has the better chance.