County Commissioner Meeting has moved next week due to election day on Tuesday.
Meeting will be at 6:30 Wednesday November 7th.
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Welcome to the quest for better citizenship!
Comments are open but there is An Old Rule you may have missed.
2 comments:
A couple of places to check about the "state of the economy".
INFLATION - WHO SAYS IT'S DEAD?
88% EROSION OF PURCHASING POWER - AND CONTINUING
- a dollar in 1950 will buy only 12 cents worth of goods today, 88% less than before -
Inflation in my adult years increased average prices 1,000% or more -
example 1: a postage stamp in the 1950s cost 3 cents; today's cost is 41 cents - 1,266% inflation;
example 2: a gallon of 90 Octane full-service gasoline cost 18 cents before; today it is $3.05 for self-service - 1,870 % inflation;
example 3: a house in 1959 cost $14,100; today's median price is $213,000 - 1,400% inflation;
example 4: a dental crown used to cost $40; today it's $1,100 - 2,750% inflation;
example 5: an ice cream cone in 1950 cost 5 cents; today its $2.50 - 4,900% inflation;
example 6: monthly government Medicare insurance premiums paid by seniors was $5.30 in 1970; its now $93.50 - 1,664% inflation; (and up 70% past 5 years)
example: several generations ago a person worked 1.4 months per year to pay for government; he now works 5 months.
And in the past, one wage-earner families lived well and built savings with minimal debt, many paying off their home and college-educating children without loans. How about today?
Few citizens know that a few years ago government changed how they measure and report inflation, as if that would stop it - - but families know better when they pay their bills for food, medical costs, energy, property taxes, insurance and try to buy a house.
Is inflation a threat to society? Consider this famous quote:
"There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose." Lord John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), renowned British economist.
DEFINITION OF INFLATION:
Inflation is the loss of a constant purchasing value of the dollar,
caused by an increase out of 'thin air' of the supply of money and debt creation by the financial system
http://mwhodges.home.att.net/inflation.htm
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Item Average inflation per year, 2002-2004 Data
Housing 14%+ Median US house 2002 = $158,000. Mid 2005 $240,000. (source = US Census and OFHEO data)(see hedonics in the glossary)
Food 7%+
15% - 2006-7 The agricultural price index (all farm products) has moved from 95 to 120, about 26% per here
Also ask yourself how much more you're paying for dining out (for the exact same meal) than a few years ago..
7/2007: 23% food price in last 18 months per the IMF
Health care 9.5% "Total national health expenditures increased by 7.7 percent in 2003...In 2004, employer health insurance premiums increased by 11.2 percent" (source). The Health Care Index is also up over 80% in the two year period ending in August of 2005. Health insurance costs doubled since 2000.
See a health care popup chart here, click here for regular link.
See a premiums/benefits popup chart here, click here for regular link.
An early 2007 Washington Post article here.
A mid 2007 article about very large price increases here and here.
Education 5%+ College education has gone up 5-6% per year since mid '90s per here. 2005 - Increases in tuition, fees, room and board by the schools ranged from 4.3 percent at Ithaca, N.Y.-based Cornell University, which will charge $41,767, to 5.5 percent at Yale University…, which will cost $41,000… Harvard… raised its rate by 4.5 percent to $41,675. “The University of Colorado’s board of regents approved a 28 percent tuition increase for the 2006 fiscal year", the Denver Post reported.
Gasoline 20%+ Wholesale unleaded gas without any taxes in 2002 was about $.75 per gallon average. Late 2004 - $1.40.
Taxes -1% Tax freedom day remained about the same per the Tax Foundation.
New Cars 2.3% Per Edmunds's data, the increase from 2003-2004 was 2.3%.
"Other" -10%+ Many consumer items that are infrequent purchases like computers, clothing, DVD players & microwaves have gone down in price. But one doesn't buy them every week or month, and they are not essentials like food, housing, etc.
What is this on the inflation "core rate" which excludes food and energy too? Does someone seriously think that a broad price index should not include daily use items like food and energy? We fail to see any purpose for the concentration on it other than political and similar ones. If the concern is truly erratic changes in food and energy, just use a simple moving average.
http://nowandfutures.com/cpi_lie.html
How much tax do we really pay?
Total tax percentage paid by the above average US citizen, 2005 - 54.4%
http://nowandfutures.com/taxes.html
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