Tag Archives: Tuition

In our household, we measure inflation with the "Burrito Index": How much has the cost of a regular burrito at our favorite taco truck gone up?

Since we keep detailed records of expenses (a necessity if you’re a self-employed free-lance writer), I can track the real-world inflation of the Burrito Index with great accuracy: the cost of a regular burrito from our local taco truck has gone up from $2.50 in 2001 to $5 in 2010 to $6.50 in 2016.

That’s a $160% increase since 2001; 15 years in which the official inflation rate reports that what $1 bought in 2001 can supposedly be bought with $1.35 today.

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The cost of higher education has skyrocketed in recent decades. The average cost of tuition is up over 1,000% since the 1980s, far outstripping price inflation and most other goods and services.

Yet despite the accelerated cost, the value of a college degree has been diminishing, both in the terms of quality of education received, as well as future employment prospects.

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• Cyprus bail-out: savers will be raided to save euro in future crises, says eurozone chief
• Spain's central bank offers grim economic forecast
• Mr Yen cautions on Japan's 'unsafe' debt trajectory
• House To Propose College Tuition Increase
• California State Treasurer emphasizes shrinking retirement savings
• Portugal to contract 2.3% in 2013: central bank
• Bernanke rejects competitive devaluation worries
• Cyprus bailout: Banks to stay shut until Thursday
• Recession keeps Italy's banks at risk: IMF

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The truth is: The three adult generations in the U.S. are suffering, and their burdens are likely to increase with time. Each is experiencing a squeeze that is making it harder to create value, save capital, and pursue happiness than at any point since WWII. At that point, we were a creditor nation with an economy exploding into dominance on the world stage. Now, however, the U.S. is the largest debtor nation and our economic hegemony is increasingly at seige across a number of fronts.

A continuation of the status quo is a decision to sleepwalk face-first into the constraints hurtling towards us.

Instead, shouldn't we stop fooling ourselves and ask: What should we be doing differently?

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• Iran reportedly uses snipers to tackle Tehran's rat problem
• SEC shares expertise with FBI on algorithmic trading
• Billionaires Dumping Stocks, Economist Knows Why
• John Williams Exposes Government Lies
• Scary New Satellite Pictures Of China's Ghost Cities 
• No down payment? No problem
• Haunting images at the heart of Detroit’s financial emergency
• Saving Detroit City Council from Itself
• Housing fuels record $7.33-billion bank profits
• ‘We are angry’: Quebec students return to streets for nighttime protest against tuition increases, 50 arrested
• How Tiny Cameras Have Become Big Business
• Junior miners in survival mode, bracing for industry-wide culling
• Fiat Monetary Theory: The Gamblers
• Beware The Dow Jones Nominal Record High
• 30 Facts About The Coming Water Crisis That Will Change The Lives Of Every Person On The Planet
• Maine Town Declares Food Sovereignty
• The children going hungry in America
• CDC sounds alarm on deadly, untreatable superbugs
• Fending off the ‘nightmare bacteria’

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