When's the breaking point?
 

This goes along with Ridge's post about the cost of ring free. At what point will this explosive inflation catch up and cripple us? What is the point our economy breaks and crashes? I just had to buy a set of batteries for my bURB, and it set me back $239. Why does a pair of batteries have to cost so much at dealer cost(I get trade price, not retail)? Or why does a 5 quart jug of ATF now cost $23 when last year it cost $15?

I keep wondering how much longer it will be before it cripples our economy, and we crash. There are so many examples of things I bought within the last 2 years where they have doubled or tripled, and a few things have quadrupled. Yet wages haven't gone up that much(unless you work for McDonalds and go on strike to demand more for a high school level job) to match.

Or go to a grocery store and buy ground beef for $4+ a pound now where just a year ago it was about $2.50-$3 a pound. It seems the obamanomics are catching up to us all, and we now get to pay the price for it. But what will the end game cost of it be in the end?

I know I'm not the smartest most well versed in the economy, but even I can see it is in a downward spiral with no end in sight.

Amen. I drive a piece of crap back and forth to work. The oldest daughter is driving and heading off to college in 1 year. My youngest daughter will be driving next year. I don't know how in the world we are gonna make it through the next couple years. Things have gotten ridiculous.

They say that if you drop a frog in boiling water it will jump out but if you put it in cool water and gradually heat it up it will sit there and cook to death...... They are heating our water folks!

Seattle just passed raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, you just can't fix stupid and stoned. I still cant believe what some of you guys in the North East pay in property taxes, ya'll ever though about using tar and feathers on some of your elected officials? Its happening down here now as the influx of transplants that think its OK to have high property taxes are outnumbering those who realize it total BS. Its going to hell in a hand basket, quick. I was going to keep rambling on, but I'll put it in the political thread instead

the two counties in the country with highest taxes are Nassau and Suffolk counties. I live in Nassau county. at the end of the week I don't have a spare dime to put aside. I cant wait to get the hell out of here. sell my house, buy a little condo and do the whole snowbird thing.

It seems like every month the prices go up 10%. People who buy the stuff all the time don't notice it so much, but when you go a few months without buying something it's quite the shock. And it's everything it seems like. When I was outfitting my jon boat I couldn't believe how much some of this stuff has gone up. Moeller 6.6 gallon fuel tanks are a bargain at $75, yet I used to buy them 8-10 years ago for $25 for the same exact tank(has plastic gone up that much?). 5/16" EVINRUDE fuel line assemblies are now $60 for the cheapest one I could find, last one I bought 10 years ago was $25 full retail at a dealer. And so on and so on.

Or go to the grocery store, why does a bag of chips need to cost over $4? 10 years ago they would have been $1.29. Or milk is over $4 a gallon when just a few years ago it was $2.

They used to tell us prices were going up because the economy was going down. Now they say prices are going up because the economy is good. So which is it?

With my wife being a teacher and me being gimped up, our income isn't that great. But we don't have many bills, and everything we have is paid for. Yet we live paycheck to paycheck most of the time. Why should you have to make $75K+ just to live a decent life. 20 years ago you could live a nice life(better than many) on $25K, but with the out of control taxes, fees, and living expenses you have to make triple just to try and live something of a life instead of being to "LIVE" life. It scares me to think of what it will be like for my son by the time he is grown up.

no more middle class, we've become a nation of have's and have not's.

Yep, and the way of old where one neighbor helps another is a thing of the past. Too many looking to the gubermint to solve their woes. I need more property so I can have a garden like Sir Stink.. I don't see it ever being a collapse.
BTW- at $15.00/hour I volunteer for the "stupid and stoned" gig.
It used to only pay $5.00/hr to be stupid and stoned.
Let's face it if you living in NYC in a 480 sq foot flat, your paying about $3k a month in rent. If your knocking down $15/hr your gonna come up a little short.. On the other hand.. if your living in Tampa, FL Your starting pay at $15/ hr. you are middle of the road in pay.

I been honking about double digit inflation forever. Printing the money we owe to China isn't sound fiscal policy, evidently.

When I was in high school $5 an hour was decent money.I worked for a lawn service for $6Hr, and were not talking a cushy one where you got to ride a zero turn, I got to walk my A$$ off behind a friggen walk behind and was expected to mow a lot in a trailer park in under 4 minutes. I was happy to do it then and thought it was good money. Now they want $10Hr to flip burgers(which was $3.45 an hour when I was in high school). My first job out of high school was in a dealership as a mechanic, and I started at $12HR, and had to supply all of my own tools, pay for my uniforms, and pay for my own training and certification tests(we got reimbursed if we passed our certs). Now they are talking about burger flippers who don't even have to have a high school education getting paid more than that.

I just don't see how we can keep going like this and our economy not collapse. It's scary to think about, but at our current rate it just seems ineviteable.