Inflation: Why you’re not getting a raise this year:
If you’re like most Americans, don’t count on a raise this year. The Los Angeles Times reported on Monday: “For the first time in 14 years, the American workforce has in effect gotten an across-the-board pay cut.”
In other words, inflation is back. The cost of living, measured by the federal government’s consumer price index, rose 2.7 percent in 2004 and the first two months of this year. Wages rose an average of only 2.5 percent, according to the Los Angeles Times. A Wall Street Journal article, also on Monday, gave a slightly better figure: white collar workers received a 3.4 percent raise.
Libertarian tech-columnist Declan McCullagh suggests that the CPI is [gasp] bunk and manages to quote everyones favorite Austrian economist. Be sure to check out one of the comments from ‘Neo Con.’
