Friday, October 31, 2008

Acute Future Shock

Yesterday, I checked a lady out of the store. Amongst her purchases were ten comic books (she was obviously buying for nephews or grandchildren.) Now, when I was a consumer of comic books, that purchase would have cost me one dollar. That would have been (when I was 12) a whole week's allowance. I could see myself doing that. Yesterday, this lady did not spend one dollar on those comic books, though. In fact, she did not spend ten dollars on those comic books. No, this nice lady ended up spending $29.69 plus tax on those ten comic books.

If the general rate of inflation kept pace with that of comic books, we should be paying about $30 for a cup of coffee at a diner...Starbucks et al would be up around $50 a cup. This is just another symptom of a much deeper malaise in our society. Think about it...

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