by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:
Have things been getting better for the middle class, or have things been getting worse? Needless to say, the answer to that question is obvious. The cost of living is absolutely crushing us, we can’t afford to replace our rapidly aging vehicles, debt levels are exploding, and the proportion of the country that is living paycheck to paycheck has been steadily rising. Our economy is a mess, and America’s middle class is getting smaller and smaller. Sometimes I feel like I am watching a very tragic version of musical chairs. If you are still holding on to your chair, you should be very thankful, because more people are slipping out of the middle class and into poverty with each passing day. TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
If you are old enough, you can still remember a time when many middle class families would purchase a new vehicle every few years.
Sadly, today most of us are being forced to get as much mileage out of our rapidly aging vehicles as we possibly can. As a result, the average age of the passenger vehicles traveling America’s roads has reached an all-time record high…
This should be the best of times for the people who help keep America’s cars running.
There have never been as many on the road—around 290 million light vehicles—and they have never been so old. One reason for that is good news: They are better made. Getting the odometer past 100,000 miles has gone from being noteworthy to normal. Thirty years ago the average passenger car was about 8.4 years old and today that is 13.6 years.
Even keeping our aging vehicles repaired has become exceedingly difficult.
These days, if the mechanic hands you a repair bill for less than a thousand dollars that is a reason to celebrate.
In the old days, you could get a really nice used vehicle for a thousand dollars.
Of course groceries have become insanely expensive as well. Earlier today, I came across a USA Today article that discussed the fact that the average household in Miami spends 327 dollars at the grocery store per trip…
Many longtime Miamians say they’ve felt this way since the pandemic transformed much of their city. As New Yorkers and Californians faced lockdown orders and restrictions, many flocked to Florida, with the largest increase of New Yorkers moving to Miami where they could benefit from tax and mandate breaks while working remotely. But along with having the largest net population gain of any state in the country came exploding living and housing costs. Housing prices have risen almost 50%, according to the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index released last month.
Grocery prices shot up. (An average household spent about $327 per trip). So did electric bills. A carton of eggs last year cost $5.
327 dollars used to be a lot of money.
Now it will just buy you one cart of food.
I warned my readers that the economic conditions that we were witnessing in Venezuela would eventually come here, and now it has happened.
As I discussed a few days ago, core consumer prices have actually risen for 53 months in a row.
Our cost of living crisis is out of control, and there is no end in sight.
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
