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Continuous inflation without raised salaries means exactly the opposite of this. I ran a python script the other day using the French state data on pricing. Mi

Continuous inflation without raised salaries means exactly the opposite of this. I ran a python script the other day using the French state data on pricing. Minimal wage was about 1000 euros after tax in 2003, and is 1300 in 2023. But 1000 in 2003 is about 2300 euros in 2023 according to the same official data. I don't know a single vital thing in my life that is not more expensive now than when I was a kid: food, water, energy, shelter, clothes, health... They are all more expensive. Now sure, internet access is less expensive and better, but you can't eat wifi.

stuaxo 2y ago
Unchecked capitalism trys hard to turn into feudalism.
- formerly_proven 2y ago
  France, a state with famously unchecked capitalism bordering on libertarian anarcho-capitalism.
lotsofpulp 2y ago
Why would one expect those things to not be more expensive? Governments explicitly and intentionally manipulate currency so that prices (overall) are on an upward march. Also, comparing changes in income deciles over time would be more useful than minimum wage changes, as legislatures are not necessarily reacting in real time. > food, water, energy, shelter, clothes, health Many of these are things where technological advances resulting in greater and greater economies of scale plateaued, or where technological advances mean that your expectation of the quality of goods or service greatly increased. The former would be water/energy/shelter/food/clothes. The world has a lot more people competing for these resources, but there was no commensurate increase in supply. The latter would be health, where the healthcare from your childhood is a greatly different product (at the advanced levels, not necessarily the routine checkup or flu visit).
- BiteCode_dev 2y ago
  Given that prices for health in the US are exorbitant because they are based on the free market and the prices in France much cheaper (even when you pay 100% of of pocket) because the market is state controled, I have a hard time to take your comment seriously. But I'm sure you will find a reason while health is an exception.
  - lotsofpulp 2y ago
    > But I'm sure you will find a reason while health is an exception. Pretty easy to find an exception when you start with a false premise. > Given that prices for health in the US are exorbitant because they are based on the free market
  - xscott 2y ago
    We'll never know if prices would be exorbitant under a free market in the US because we've got a nasty mix of corrupt insurance companies, healthcare administrators, and political lobbying (bribery) keeping it from being a free market. Generally we can't even ask the price of a procedure with which to compare providers, and for most insurance, you can't even choose your provider anyways. Does that sound like a free market to you?!? As the other poster pointed out: Your logic is flawed because your premise is wrong. If the US had state controlled medical, I have no doubt our politicians would figure out some way to ruin that too.

stuaxo 2y ago

Unchecked capitalism trys hard to turn into feudalism.

formerly_proven 2y ago
France, a state with famously unchecked capitalism bordering on libertarian anarcho-capitalism.

lotsofpulp 2y ago

Why would one expect those things to not be more expensive? Governments explicitly and intentionally manipulate currency so that prices (overall) are on an upward march. Also, comparing changes in income deciles over time would be more useful than minimum wage changes, as legislatures are not necessarily reacting in real time. > food, water, energy, shelter, clothes, health Many of these are things where technological advances resulting in greater and greater economies of scale plateaued, or where technological advances mean that your expectation of the quality of goods or service greatly increased. The former would be water/energy/shelter/food/clothes. The world has a lot more people competing for these resources, but there was no commensurate increase in supply. The latter would be health, where the healthcare from your childhood is a greatly different product (at the advanced levels, not necessarily the routine checkup or flu visit).

BiteCode_dev 2y ago
Given that prices for health in the US are exorbitant because they are based on the free market and the prices in France much cheaper (even when you pay 100% of of pocket) because the market is state controled, I have a hard time to take your comment seriously. But I'm sure you will find a reason while health is an exception.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  > But I'm sure you will find a reason while health is an exception. Pretty easy to find an exception when you start with a false premise. > Given that prices for health in the US are exorbitant because they are based on the free market
- xscott 2y ago
  We'll never know if prices would be exorbitant under a free market in the US because we've got a nasty mix of corrupt insurance companies, healthcare administrators, and political lobbying (bribery) keeping it from being a free market. Generally we can't even ask the price of a procedure with which to compare providers, and for most insurance, you can't even choose your provider anyways. Does that sound like a free market to you?!? As the other poster pointed out: Your logic is flawed because your premise is wrong. If the US had state controlled medical, I have no doubt our politicians would figure out some way to ruin that too.