I am with you. A lot of the failure is our own doing. We could start naming and go on and on.
keeping up with the jones
not teaching our children about finiances in fact some of us never were.
credit too easy companie target kids in college
thinking my children are going to have better than i had with out realizing how many hours you were putting into working when faimly time and value would have served better than fancier toys and junk.
I have lived large and I have lived little and some of the happiest times in my life where when we were almost flat broke but close knit as a faimly.
Like I said ever one could keep adding to this list.

i think that you are definitely on the right track. all of us would do well to follow your example. and, i'm sure there are thousands across the country scrambling to downsize and save money just as you are doing.

read the stats on the chinese people. they live within their means and save tons of money. they are the opposite of we Americans.

There are two kinds of inflation, and two kinds of deflation.
Bad inflation, is where there is a shortage. The shortage creates demand. Demand increases the price. Or the government prints too much money.
Good inflation, is when there is a high amount of public liquidity to spend. The extra money creates higher demand, where businesses can increase profits and expands production and employment
Bad deflation, is where there is so little public liquidity, that producers have to lower their prices to sell and slow down production and cut employment. Or the government does not print enough money.
Good deflation is where the manufacturer has learned to create products more cheaper, through innovation.

Where I started rethinking was after reading a coffee table book "Creating The Not So Big House" by Sarah Susanka c2001 The Taunton Press.

The author talks about rethinking our concept of what are homes are by going to smaller square footage, more sensible entries, realistic expectation about entertaining and dining, and the idea of quality (craftsmanship) verses quantity.

Personally we do have some of the nicer "tech toys" but we enjoy them in less space.

The result of thinking down sizing was to seriously consider the clutter that we have collected and to re-evaluate what is important and what is not.

On thinking about "good" inflation, I struggle with that concept. Any inflation causes unrealstic value, often to the point of being immoral and economically destructive.

The results aren't immediate but the negative effect is inevetible. The government prints more money to put off the demise to the future. If I were to operate my own personal economics in this manner my conscious would warn me that I was engaging in something immoral.

I like mike1954's straight forward explainations.
Basiclly in economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. The term "inflation" once referred to increases in the money supply (monetary inflation); however, economic debates about the relationship between money supply and price levels have led to its primary use today in describing price inflation. Inflation can also be described as a decline in the real value of moneya loss of purchasing power. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. A chief measure of price inflation is the inflation rate, which is the percentage change in a price index over time.
Inflation can cause adverse effects on the economy. For example, uncertainty about future inflation may discourage investment and saving. Inflation may widen an income gap between those with fixed incomes and those with variable incomes. High inflation may lead to shortages of goods as consumers begin hoarding them out of concern their prices will increase in the future.
Economists generally agree that high rates of inflation and hyperinflation are caused by an excessive growth of the money supply. Views on which factors determine moderate rates of inflation are more varied. Low or moderate inflation may be attributed to fluctuations in real demand for goods and services, or changes in available supplies such as during scarcities, as well as to growth in the money supply. The consensus view is that a sustained period of inflation is caused when money supply increases faster than the growth in productivity in the economy.
The task of keeping the rate of inflation low is usually given to monetary authorities that establish monetary policy. Generally today these monetary authorities are the central banks that control the size of the money supply through the setting of interest rates, through open market operations, and through the setting of banking reserve requirements. Inflation is usually measured by calculating the inflation rate of a price index, usually the Consumer Price Index. The Consumer Price Index measures prices of a selection of goods and services purchased by a "typical consumer". The inflation rate is the percentage rate of change of a price index over time.
Thanks to Wikipedia.

For inflation data;
http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/
CPI homepage;
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/

You can find answers to many of your questions on this site. Inflation is actually good. It indicates that the economy is moving. Right now we are said to be in a state of "deflation". This is true if you consider the price of gasoline only. I have noted no excessive deflation elsewhere, like in the grocery stores!

http://inflationdata.com/inflation/Consumer_Price_Index/HistoricalCPI.aspx

Ya know, you can keep defending the status quo and nothing will ever change.

I'm not ignorant as to how the current system uses and defends inflation. I'v had my share of economics classes and I have friends that are into economics and marketing. So thanks for the "references."

What I'm after is a discussion that is creative and willing to look at the existing system as troubled and flawed because of its inherent and built in weaknesess.

No I don't want to go back to "the way it was" you can say "burnt once, twice shy!"

I have no use for a system that justifies lusting after greed, self promotion at the expense of others and the lust for control and power over others.

Recover this system and it will take us back to this exact same place. History is full of support for this. If you want to continue to repeat the same shameful history by supporting the same shameful system, I guess that's your choice.

I think there's a better way, in fact I think theres lots of better ways but they all include having a humble and honest view which I'm fully aware is not popular. No inflation is not good when it elevates the cost of something to a false value.

I agree with the kind of competion that increases value based upon working harder, smarter and more efficiently. I do not agree with increasing cost just because you took advantage of someones foolishness and you got away with the inflated price without earning it. That, my friends is the very system of inflation that you are defending.

No thank you.

Lets find a better way that's based upon increasing the value of the individual (training, education, skill improvment, mutual cooperation, etc.) so that what the individual delivers is genuinely worth more. If that is what you want to call inflation, then I'm all for it.

Hi Geomar, I have alsays wished anflation would move much, much slower. It is not in tune with most peoples lifes. I cannot understand why we can not live at a certain level for up to 5 yrs. let say. But it works both ways, workers would not get raises either, we just flatline for a bit. Maybe that is were we are at now?

Excuse spelling mistakes I am on Meds today for pain for MS

Flat line for a while?...hmmm I guess that will help a little, but stagnet growth is not good either. I want to see growth stimulated by a true increase in value not because of creative marketing. Marketing to me is like lobbyist, we allow them all the while we hate them and what they do.

Ultimately, growth comes from the ground up, not the top down. It is demand and supply. People have to be given opportunities to be productive. If that productivity is fairly rewarded, it creates demand for goods and services. If the jobs are sent away to foreign countries, or Americans are replaced by foreign workers, then there is no fair exchange of reward for productivity. The grand plan is to turn us all into third world refugees in our own country. That way, all the wealth goes to the top. It will create deflation, so those who have money will be even richer. They are being very brazen about it. They think the have the technology to control the masses. There is no country on earth that has nothing but rich and poor, that isn't dealing with some form of revolution. A strong middle class stabilizes the political system. The us an them is going to get very bad. Obama man better take strong action. If he is a Carter, or Clinton clone, there is going to be trouble.
Inflation is good or bad based on what is driving it. If it is driven by American productivity, that is very good. If it is driven by printing too much money or a lack available goods and service, that is bad. I think deflation is what we have to fear the most. The thieves will be robbing the bank with out using a gun, key, or note. They will just sit back and watch there money be worth more, and poor people in debt, will keep watching their debt grow, while their wages shrink. The demand for goods and services disappears. The rich will have a separate economy that will not include the masses. The lucky few will be house slaves. They will be able to go to all green farming practices, because people will be cheaper than tractors. Just as long as we can watch Jeopardy and play video games, we will do anything they say. If they can push religion on us, we will fight to the death defending them. We will even drink their cool aid when the time is right.
Well, there are many out there that have been sipping on Bro. Jones cool aid for awhile now. They serve this cool aid in our schools, on TV, and in our churches. This cool aid gives you a slave mentality. Yesum Boss. Yo wrat Boss. What eva you say Boss. You smart Boss, I's stupid as you say so. Most black people have been smart enough to turn away from this mentality, but white people have been freely making slaves of themselves. Brown people do, out of necessity. White people have become the most stupid race in this country. Obama has too many of them in his new administration. I am white and ashamed of my race.
If the rich paid you for what they thought you were worth, you would have to pay them for the honor of working for them.
The only times when we have had a stable, Capitalist, Democracy, is when a large portion of our workers were Unionized. Huh Oh! Cool aid drinkers don't like the sound of that word. Well, they will keep trying to serve you cool aid in the church, on Fox TV, and especially on AM radio. They might even sneak a little cool aid on NPR. Don't drink the cool aid. Join an Union, start and Union, Organize and Union.
Communicate
Agitate
Educate
Organize
You have the legal right to.