7.5%
That’s the year-over-year inflation rate the government reported this morning.
That’s the highest number reported since 1982 back when I was a kid.
The big contributors to that number, they say, are food, electricity and housing.
Not much to argue on that point; trips to the grocery store bring new surprises every week…
“That costs how much now?”
But even as bad as that number is, the truth is worse.
I know I’ve told you this before, but the government has changed how they calculate inflation over the years.
And surprisingly enough, it’s to make them look better. To make inflation seem lower. It saves them money on cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security payments, government pensions and the like.
(And both parties and several administrations have been party to this…it isn’t just the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.)
The good folks over at Shadow Government Statistics (shadowstats.com) calculate inflation using the formulas the government used to use.
The more accurate number?
Inflation is running at 15.6%
The highest number in 75 years.
And really, my purpose isn’t to say that the country is being run by idiots.
That’s been true for decades.
The reason I’m saying this is because I’m beating a familiar drum… if you’re relying on your job to keep up with your expenses, you’re delusional.
I bet dollars to donuts (and I’ll take the Donuts because they’re worth more than a dollar nowadays) but you’re not looking at anything close to a 15% raise this year.
If you’re getting less than 155 you’re falling behind.
The only way to keep your head above water in this kind of economy is to outproduce the bastards.
You need to earn enough money to stay ahead of inflation so that your lifestyle doesn’t crater like the dollar about to.
Now you can join me in business and start making some extra money and padding that income of yours or you can get involved in something completely different. That’s not the important part.
You could, I suppose, get another job; but that isn’t going to outpace inflation either.
You can follow any of the paths to making money online.
There are lots of them and for the most part, they’ll all work
The important part is that you start doing something now.
Stop putting it off.
Every day that goes by the paycheck you bring home is worth less and less and less.
If you’d like to take a look at what I’m doing, I’d be glad to show you. You can look here, if you want.
What we’re doing works.
But if you think you have a better solution for yourself, I’m all for it. I just want to encourage you to do something to give yourself a shot at keeping up with the disaster that will be the US economy for the next couple years.
