i'm not going to capatilise because i am tired and when i am tired i am also british
so i listen to the radio as i'm falling asleep and there was just a story on about The American Dream; interviewer talking to a couple who lost their source of income and are having to live on a budget now and may have to move out of their ridiculous house into an apartment. i didn't catch what they did, but it was implied that they were wealthy, framing their life stories as rising out of poverty, starting with nothing and working hard, etc. etc. that's cool for them, but, you know, too bad that shit rarely happens for most people, i think to myself. sure enough the lady - who dropped that she grew up during the 50s - starts disingenuously blubbering that her father only made $11,000 a year but yet saved enough and sent her to college, though nowadays poor people don't have that work ethic thanks to the maliciousness of our welfare state and kids these days, blah blah blah. now gee if only there were some way of factoring in what that salary would be in today's dollars. nah that can't be important, it just turns out that, back in the eisenhower days, making more than three times the national annual salary for workers, what would be almost $90,000/year in today's dollars, is clawing your way out of poverty. naturally the reporters doing the story don't bother to even examine the possiblity that cost of living and salaries rise along with this little known magical economic concept called inflation.