[Xichekolas]

How can you say prices have stayed the same or gone up? In 1996 I paid $2300 for a 486 with 16mb of RAM. A month ago I paid only $1700 for a Core 2 Quad with 4gb of RAM. Seven years ago a 50 inch plasma cost $10k.

Even outside electronics, which experiences persistent price deflation (and hence rising volume), prices are not rising as fast as wages. In constant 1990 dollars, gasoline cost $1.10/gal in SF in 1987. This rose to $1.66 (1990 dollars) in 2007. (http://www.mtc.ca.gov/maps_and_data/datamart/stats/gasprice....) Median wages in the same period rose from $14,498.74 to $23.962.20. (http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/central.html) $1.66/$1.10 = ~1.51 ... $23,962.20/$14.498.74 = ~1.65. Even gas is getting cheaper.

As random anecdotal evidence on food. My dad told me he started his career 33 years ago at $4.10/hr, and finished it in 2006 at closer to $40/hr, at the same company, without climbing into upper management. When he started, a week's worth of groceries cost him about $25-30. Now, they cost around $75-100. A threefold increase in the cost of food, but a tenfold increase in his income.

Sure, the sticker price may go up, but over the long run in a growing economy, wages increase just as fast, if not faster.