Stretching your Jackson ain't what it used to be...

[MrScorpio]

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Yes, but

you can still have fun with your Johnson.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Don't be evin' rude.. n/t.

[Laelth]

3. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[Cha]

4. K&R!

[Cleita]

5. In 1961, I could buy groceries for the month on that.

It wasn't luxurious meats and all, but chicken and fish were very cheap as were fresh vegetables and fruits back then and they weren't franken food either. Also, we didn't have to take our chances on food from other countries like China. I have been sick this last week from a parasitic infection going around that comes from fresh fruit, no doubt imports, because they don't have the restrictions on the fertilizers they are grown with that our home grown food is supposed to have. Yet I can't afford to be picky.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. It's gotten to where the only produce a person on a fixed income

can afford is potatoes. Much of the produce is poor quality, too. We've got to find a way to bring the cost down so everyone can afford it. There are a lot of overweight people in this country, but many of them are malnourished because all they can afford is junk. You can eat a lot of food and still not get fat; what you eat is more important than how much you eat.

[Link Speed]

13. I remember the first time my Mother spent $20 at the grocery store

She cried all the way home.

[Cleita]

16. I had the same reaction the first time I had to spend

that to fill my gas tank.

[hobbit709]

6. And that's not even counting what it costs for rent.

When I first came to Austin in 1974 you could work 25 hrs/wk at minimum wage and pay your rent, eat and go out once a week with the money you made.
Now if you work 40 hrs/wk at minimum wage, you're sleeping under the overpass because that won't even pay the rent.

[Major Nikon]

9. The problem is not food price inflation

The food part of CPI has kept pace with overall inflation or less. The problem is that the minimum wage hasn't and it isn't even close.

[KG]

10. even my Johnson don't stretch as far as it used to...

[Cryptoad]

11. I all for a living wage , now

but your image is not Truthful. It weakens our argument for a living wage!

[Heywood J]

12. What's in the cart?

Is that a deck of cards?

[gollygee]

14. I don't recall being able to buy a cartful of groceries for $20 in 1998

I agree with the general idea - our money doesn't stretch as far as it did and particularly not as far as food goes, but I don't think 1998 was a year when you could buy that many groceries for anywhere near $20.

[Uncle Joe]

17. I agree on all counts, that graph is stretching it a bit. n/t

[PowerToThePeople]

15. It appears a little exagerated.

You could not get that much in '98 for 20 bucks. I think prices have approximately doubled since that time.