I don't think your read my post very carefully.
I read your entire post very carefully which is why I simply presented you with the actual statistics above from the Dept. of Labor.
Why don't you go look up what the consumer price index includes and how it is figured and then compare it to what the middle class and lower people have to spend to maintain their lives. I gave a very precise example from my own life, and everyone I know concurs that their situations are similar.
So you think that your person budget and the people you personally have talked to present more accurate statistics than those provided by the Department of Labor.
You've got to be kidding.
According to you, if you and all of your friends are layed off that therefore makes the unemployment rate 100%. LOL. Forget what the Dept of Labor stats show.
You can believe whatever figures are fed to you by the overlords as you wish, but most people are going to look at their personal conditions to determine if their wages have actually gone up or not.
The Dept. of Labor stats show that American wages are increasing in general.
They don't tell YOU that therefore your personal wages are among those that have increased. Anybody knows this.
I'm sorry to hear that you and your friends are not keeping up with national average in wage increases.
Personally I have exceeded the 3.8% rate. My wages have increased an average of 10% each year for the past 7 years.
You are aware that the Bureau of Labor Statistics specifically states that their CPI is not a cost of living index? They're the ones that made it up, they have a right to say what it does not represent, so why do you insist on using it as if it were a representative cost of living index?
I'm sorry to hear that you and your friends are not keeping up with national average in wage increases.
Another example of your failure to read my posts and then replying to something you think I said even though I didn't say it. I didn't mention how well myself or my 'friends' are doing wage wise at all. The truth is, I don't know what most of my 'friends' wages are doing as I hven't discussed it with them, cost of living comes up as a topic of discussion in conversations much more frequently than wage increases (or lack of them). I only mentioned real cost of living increases, something supported by other posters BTW. Try reading before replying please.