The Death of the Dollar Menu shows Fed's Wage Erosion

American Thinker ^ | 05/13/2014 | Nicholas Arnold

[SeekAndFind]

“Got a buck? you’re in luck!” This jingle was a staple for you ever since your parents started giving you an allowance. At the time, you got maybe $5 a week to spend or save as you pleased. Although this was a fortune as far as you were concerned, a fiver tends to evaporate quickly, and your snack options were limited. One of the few exceptions to this was McDonalds.

For just a dollar and change you could get a double cheeseburger or even hot fudge sundaes. Fast forward 5 years. You’re paying a lot for college, so the Dollar Menu is still a frequent order for you. It’s changed now: the sundae is gone, and the double cheeseburger has been replaced with a “McDouble” featuring fewer pickles and less cheese.

Today, the Dollar Menu is dead. They say it’s the Dollar Menu “and more” but the only “more” is going into the cash register. Even the substandard McDouble has been hiked by almost 60 cents. Hopefully, you make enough that you don’t need go there much anymore, but what about your kids? Assuming you pay them the same allowance, it’s not going as far as yours did just a decade ago. It’s not just happening in the fast food industry either: working Americans are feeling the pinch everywhere from grocery prices to gas, and are being forced to put less in savings for retirement so they can buy essentials today.

So why are our wages shrinking? Some politicians argue that corporations are fattening their bottom line.

Probably true, but at most, only half the story: in the late 90s, the “Dollar Menu” era if you will, most of our policies on taxes, trade, and regulation were, for most Americans, the same as they are today.

[SeekAndFind]

The sad part is the rising prices aren’t even acknowledged by government officials, since the Consumer Price Index (which measures official inflation) excludes the cost of food and energy, things every worker needs to buy.

[Dr. Sivana]

since the Consumer Price Index (which measures official inflation) excludes the cost of food and energy

It also excludes medical, housing and college. These are all things the feds have increased their involvement in.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I don’t know where this guy lives, but it’s still mostly around a dollar here, same with Burger King and Wendy’s.

[milagro]

When did this happen?

[BenLurkin]

My first allowance was 10 cents a week. I was thrilled when it bumped up to a quarter.

[evaporation-plus]

Very few items on the menu are a dollar anymore where I live.

[phormer phrog phlyer]

The CPI is a totally meaningless number, has no relevance to reality.

[PghBaldy]

That’s not true. That is only the “Core CPI.”

[Axenolith]

Were they Barbers???

[BenLurkin]

No but they were real money — at first. Before LBJ debased our coinage, with the “sandwich” tokens we use today.

[Dr. Sivana]

Wow. I thought I had it bad because my allowance was 50 cents, bumped up to 63 cents (pegged to the cost to get 104 pages of comic books.)

[tet68]

Actually if you order the McDouble with lettice, tomato
and mayo, with extra onions and pickles it’s a pretty
good burger and runs around a buck and a half here in
Georgia.

[2ndDivisionVet]

In New York? How surprising! I’m just North of Dallas/Ft Worth.

[2ndDivisionVet]

We’ve had 20 Chicken McNuggets for $5 here for several months, that’s usually what I get when I can afford it.

[Buckeye McFrog]

As an astute FReeper posted on these threads, the Government now has a built-in incentive to lie about food and fuel inflation. They have a vested interest in keeping the Fed rates low, and consequently the interest rates on the massive, burgeoning Federal Debt.

I don’t expect they’ll ever tell the truth about food inflation again in my lifetime, regardless of the party in power.