Prices Shoot Up, Wages Drop

$5 gas, 50-cent Postage Stamps

And it doesn't feel like this is the finish line. People get used to anything -- take a look at the price of a cocktail in a big-city restaurant, or a ticket to a major-league baseball game. Outlandish turns into commonplace.

Yet some things -- gas, stamps -- don't qualify as optional, discretionary purchases; people need them when they need them, which is where the frustration comes in. The one-two punch of $5 gas and 50-cent stamps has such powerful symbolism precisely because those two products matter so much to so many people.

And if the day should ever come when Americans look back on the five-buck gallon and the half-buck postage stamp with the same wistful longing that older Americans today feel for the 31-cent gallon and the 3-cent stamp...

Well, that doesn't seem possible.

But, then, neither did this.

Strange article, acting as if this is normal, no it's not, as wages used to go up along with the prices but no longer do. And there is the difference.

When grandpa bought that 10 cent loaf of bread, his wages matched and so forth and so on up the scale.

But what happens when the wages and salaries stay stagnant or are non-existent? --The Squawker