[K-Dog]

IN2013DOLLARS.COM • 2025-11-05

Something that was priced at $990 in 2008 costs $1,489.70 today.

Playing with the math :

1498.7 / 990 => 1.514  How much would the median wage have to increase to reduce this price ratio increase down to 1.317 ?  The answer is 1.514 / 1.149 => 1.317 to yield an increase of 31.7% in real prices I need a wage increase of 14.9% for my math to work.  How much did the median income actually increase?

Real median household income (Census, expressed in 2024 C-CPI-U dollars): ↑ 18.73%.  Applying the two data sources to create the ratio is :  1.514 / 1.187 => 1.275 for an increase of 27.5% in real prices.

Sources: The above article and FRED.  So now you can take your AI and go fuck yourself with it.  You whittled my 31.7 % down to 27.5 % with some hard facts.  Big Deal.  The misery is slightly less quantified with this pair of data sources.  Other sources can be used, YMMV.

For the average American prosperity caught the last train for the coast quite a while ago no matter how much you want to complicate this.  No easy answer is bullshit, and that is exactly what your AI gave you.  The answer is the result of a simple ratio, and there is nothing complicated about it.

In some ways AI is the madness of crowds.

* Depending on which metrics are used real living standards have fallen from  ~27 to ~35 % since 2008 using the ratio presented.  I may have been closer the first time.

[K-Dog]

JACKBOWMAN.SUBSTACK.COM • 2025-10-26

The Chart of Doom

The stock market rising, and the number of job openings in America declining.

[RE]

No Worries.  Concerned Amerikans will pass out sandwiches and Church Pantries will pop up like mushrooms. Plus there is plenty of nutritious food left free for collection every day by restaurants and supermarkets.



https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/15/food-stamps-snap-trump-one-big-beautiful-bill-impact-00653447

Food stamps are back, but millions will soon lose benefits permanently

RE

[RE]

Trump's implicit message to the hungry and the sick – which might be summarized as "I'm starving you because the Democrats won't let us take your healthcare away"

Come home, America! The Republicans will give you a cardboard box to sleep in and a nice hot bowl of gruel.

While food pantries stocked their shelves for the coming crisis, the president ate truffle dauphinoise and pan-seared scallops at a Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago and posted photos of the renovated marble-clad Lincoln bathroom.

While alleging there is no affordability crisis, the president tosses out dumb ideas to address it: a $2,000 tariff dividend to everybody except "high-income people"; 50-year mortgages; direct payments to people to buy health services, instead of the "bad healthcare provided by Obamacare".

Between this and Epstein, unless Trumpolini rigs the 2026 elections the Repugnants will get creamed.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/13/republicans-are-scrambling-to-reclaim-affordability-good-luck-with-that

Republicans are scrambling to reclaim affordability. Good luck with that

RE

[K-Dog]

Eugene starts by emphasizing that applying the movie 'Hunger Games' to the current state of things in America sounds dramatic, but actually is an accurate assessment of the American situation.  I agree.

CAROLINAPOLITICALREVIEW.ORG • 2025-05-05

The Politics of Control: The Hunger Games, MAGA, and the Rebranding of Dissent

The greatest form of control isn't censorship, it's the illusion of freedom.

[K-Dog]

CHASINGTHESQUIRREL.COM • 2025-11-26

The Bottom

Alligator Alcatraz proposed for Utah.

I wrote the above here in the Diner using an enhanced toolbar which I just got working.  As it is part of a larger plan, nobody but I can see it for now.  It will be used to redo the comments editor that is below the article.  The version I just got working is only for writing articles on the main page.  Launched by a special button only members of an authors group can see.  I will be the only member of the group for a while as I get things working.  Since I just published on the Doomscroll I have to adapt the calendar which was below the comments button to use the new article system which is now part of the forum under the hood.  Then I can publish a new article with the calendar able to load previously published articles.  Until then I can only edit this article.