With less then half of all Americans doing better today then 10 years ago does it make you wonder why?

Question

Why did oil go from around $20.00 a barrel in the late 90's to over $75.00 today and higher .
Why are over 2 million people losing their homes in the next three months .
Why is the dollar worth only .04cents Today compared to its full value of $1.00 some years back .
Roll the clock back and tell a man making $2.00 an hour that in the future that $2.00 will be worth $40.00 but the price of bread is going from .10cents a loaf to $2.00 .
Now tell him in the future he will only be making $20.00 an hour Instead of the equivalent of the $40 he makes now relative to prices .

We are losing our standard of living and people are making much less then they use to while a small group has gone from making millions to billions .

Answer 1

1) OPEC, they cut back on oil production plus the increased demand for oil in China and India has made the supply and demand principle true, there's high demand, less supply, higher price. There you go.
2) People not living within their means. They have a house they can't afford, maxed out credit cards, and loans out the wazoo. Not all of these people, but I'm sure a fair amount. They can handle their money responsibly, and they are suffering the consequences.
3) The dollar is only worth .04 cents? Yeah. I have no clue where you got that from. If the dollar was that low, we'd be in a depression 100x worse than the great depression.

edit khinsd, the gold standard is the worst way to back up a currency, it's to easy to manipulate the value of the dollar, and if all monatary denominations were based on the gold standard, Russia would have the most valuable monetary note and Japan would have one of the least. The gold standard does not work.

Answer 2

Much of the problem is due to the US going off the Gold Standard. This is a bit complicated to explain in detail without writing a book, but basically our currency is now a medium for exchange and has little value. What that means is that prices haven't necessarily gone up, it just takes more money to buy something because the value of money has decreased. If this answer doesn't seem to make sense, you can better understand by researching economics.

Answer 3

America's continued prosperity does not depend upon the ability for corporations to make millions/billions of profit, but for each citizen to have a living that equates to living in a developing nation. Leisure time gives people time for creativity and innovation, which are the principles that put us ahead of the world.

Answer 4

It's all about trickle down economics. All super rich have giant money pools like Scrooge McDuck. When they go from making millions to billions the pools swell to such an extent that some of that money leaks out of cracks in the overexerted walls and trickles down to the streets below. Us plebians can pick these scraps up and buy gas, thus perpetuating the cycle of prosperity.

Answer 5

No, we all know why, Bush gave all your money to the rich, corporate welfare and ran up a 4 Trillion dollar additional deficit, more than all the other president's combined.

The economy is built on cards with no foundation, and it is starting to fall! I guess the Republicans will blame Clinton. Well, don't try!

You can see for yourself how "Fiscally Responsible" Republicans are! Does Bush have a clue what a balanced budget looks like? Clinton does!

http://www.uuforum.org/deficit.htm

Answer 6

The half that is richer gets richer
the half that is poorer gets poorer

while the poor stays poor on the now richer half

half gets richer
half gets poorer

the half that became the new poor stays there half of the new richer/richer gets richer
the other half gets poorer

The now 1/8 gets split in two again and
half gets richer
the other half gets poorer

and the cycle goes on and on until some have billions and most have nothing.

Answer 7

I'm doing 10 times better than I was 10 years ago, if your not, well then sorry for ya, your not very smart.

Answer 8

Inflation
People took out adjustable mortgage rates. Interest only.
Economy fluctuates
I buy my loafs for $1.00

I'm sure you blame Bush for everything.

Answer 9

I've heard it said that America will be a third world country in another few years, and I'm beginning to believe it...

Answer 10

I don't wonder why. I know why. This country is run by rich elitists on BOTH sides on the political spectrum. Politics and elections are the modern day 'bread and circus' while the elite skim the wealth off of our country and suck it dry.