"Inflation is a Thief": Hot Fudge Sundae

[Teach]

When I was a boy growing up in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood during the early-1950’s, one of my favorite treats was a hot fudge sundae. My mother would give me a quarter to go across the street to the drugstore (they had a soda fountain) to order one. A scoop of ice cream, usually vanilla, but chocolate chip if they had it, hot fudge, whipped cream and chopped walnuts. All for a quarter!

Recently, I wondered, "What does that hot fudge sundae cost today?"
One price I saw was $8.00. "Eight dollars," I thought to myself, "Years ago, I could have literally bought out the whole soda fountain.” That, my friends, is inflation, "the thief's" impact.

The question remains: “Are your wages keeping pace with inflation?" The minimum wage, at least here in MA is $15 @ hour. As someone who was born in 1942, I still can’t wrap my head around that. When I was a boy, if you made say $5,000 a year, that wasn’t too bad. You were no millionaire, but you could easily get by.

As I recall, the rent for our third-floor, two-bedroom Boston apartment was $100 per month. That tended to be higher than other suites in the building because it was a two-bedroom.

As I look back to my early-to-mid 1960’s, my BU college-days, I was then a commuting student. An hour in to BU's Comm. Ave. campus on the “T”, an hour back home. Yet I could afford the tuition, barely (I worked several part-time jobs). Each semester the tuition rate went up, but ever-so slightly. In those days, had the tuition risen drastically, I doubt I could have continued, at least as a full-time student.

That brings me to the present. The Fed is meeting today. They will announce their decision, at least as to interest rates, at 2 p.m. Fed Chair Powell will hold a press conference a half-hour later at 2:30.

As I continue, I must say that If I were going to college now (one of my grandsons is entering college this fall), I don’t think I could have afforded it (I recall looking at my grandson's first-year tuition. When I saw it, I nearly fell over).

What I’m getting to is that, in my opinion, in a nutshell, is that inflation “kills” the American dream, at least for some. It’s one thing to put a down payment on a modest home; it’s another to make the mortgage payments. How ‘bout a new car. Interest rates in financing a new car have skyrocketed. For many, even taking your family out to a restaurant can, for some, be a "budget-buster."

In that light, are we creating a two-tiered economic system - if one is not already in existence — the "average" American and the “well-heeled”?

At this juncture, let me make it clear, I’m not trying to create angst nor resentment. I'm just trying to state,at least in my opinion, what I believe to be accurate.

Moreover, from my perspective, it's getting harder and harder to “climb” the economic ladder. Its a lot like “running” on a treadmill. You’re exerting a lot of energy, but you’re basically going nowhere. For exercise, its great, but economically, it can be both disheartening and frustrating.

In concluding, I repeat that I see "inflation as a thief." It's not blunt, it's often subtle. It tends, in some instances to "fly below the radar screen"; yet, having said that, we all feel its effects, some more than others.

As for The Fed, what will they do? Your guess is as good as mine.

Oh, as for that hot fudge sundae. I still crave one. Be it for a quarter when I was a boy, or upwards of eight dollars in today’s world. Yet there’s one problem. It's not that I can't afford it (It would still stick me my craw that it costs so much). It's just that I’m borderline type 2 diabetic. My doctor has advised me to cut back on my sugar. So I guess it’ll just have to be a cup of coffee and a reduced-sugar cookie as I wait for the Fed announcement and Chairman Powell's subsequent news conference.