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Nov 13, 2007

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Charles @ ReformationUCC.org

I tend to agree with you on economics, but I believe that we are seeing the dollar's buying power at home and abroad wither through inflation. This is the effect of central bank intervention that - coupled with rising fuel prices that affect everything in the economy is hurting lots of people who used to feel they had some breathing room at the end of the month.

Michael W. Kruse

Central bank stuff gets a little too esoteric for what I want to focus on here at this blog. I'm not convinced that the central bank issues are among the top problems that face us right now how ever much I may not agree with certain practices.

Rob

Michael:

This is a great study. It would be interesting (and important?) to see who are the other 42% who have stayed in the bottom quintile over these 10 years. In working with the poor, I've seen the ravages that occur in people's lives that put them or keep them in poverty. Unfortunately, I've also seen the enabling type programs, originally meant to help, that too often also keep people there.

Thanks again. Great to see you writing, also.

Charles

Michael, I understand about not wanting to enter into discussions of central banking, but the issue of bank intervention through currency devaluation and inflation are related to your chart. The unanswered question is... did the buying power of the people represented as having improved incomes actually increase or did their tax brackets simply increase due to inflation?

Likely some of both. But without measuring inflation somehow, it's hard to know what the figures mean. That's my only point.

Michael W. Kruse

Charles, since the data is by quintiles I don't think inflation becomes an issue here. I certainly agree that measuring dollar amounts over and ten year period would require inflation adjustments but this is in quintiles.

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