THE WORTHLESS DOLLAR

The Worthless Dollar?

Have you noticed your grocery bill and your gasoline bill seem higher than ever? It's not just you. My injured clients are often scrimping to get by as they recover from unexpected injuries that put them out of work. Prices just seem to keep climbing. And it's not just your imagination.

Firstly, the price of meats, poultry, fish and eggs set the all-time high in May. Meat costs, especially bacon (my favorite), are rising the fastest. Some say that we now have the fewest cattle in the last 60 years.  Starbucks has raised prices on some drinks and its packaged coffee sold in supermarkets. Folgers and Dunkin' Donuts brands have already boosted prices on us coffee addicts.

Secondly, the food package sizes have changed. While a gallon of gas is still a gallon, almost nothing in the grocery store is the same size as it was just 10 or 15 years ago.

If you notice, things are no longer in round numbers. What used to be 24 ounces is whittled down to 23.7. Then 22.5. Then 21.9, such that the changes are incremental and they are not noticed.

Not only are you getting less food or product for your dollar, you are getting less bang for your buck at the gas station.

I just paid about $3.55 for gas locally. Currently, the national average is $3.67, higher than it's been since back in 2008. The day that Obama took office, gas was $1.86 a gallon.

Consider these comparisons from just 1960 to 2011:

Movies:           1960:  $0.75              2011:  $8.00

Bacon:             1960:  $0.79              2011:  $4.77

Hershey Bar:  1960:  $0.05              2011:  $1.00

Penn State:    1960:  $1,250.00       2011:  $42,098.00

Levi Jeans:      1960:  $5.00              2011:  $50.00

Milk:                1960:  $0.49              2011:  $3.99

Many folks are going back to the older days.  Gardens are popping up across America. Chicken houses now are tucked away behind nice homes. People are raising goats, sheep, and a cow or two. Once an almost-lost art, the canning of fruit has become fashionable again. People are cutting back on food from restaurants and focusing on making dinner from scratch. Consumers are realizing that food with a cellophane wrapper will never compare to food that God has wrapped with a peel.

Maybe inflation will force us back to what many still call, “the good ole days.”