You are missing my point...fuel and oil aside....which, in my opinion is here to stay.

How old are you? Whatever your age, when you get to retirement, within five years of that celebration, your wealth will have diluted 3 times.

What use to take 15 to 20 years for that amount of dilution....now happens in short order....and will get worse.

The above is just FWIW...

RE: oil....fuel cost

"about $1.25 a gallon in China'

actually, U.S. $1.25 China compared to U.S. $4.00 USA could mean the same thing.

What would that US$1.25 have been to the china-man looking back 2 years?

For us, it was 2.00, for them to make a comparative, it would have had to have been 1/2 of 1.25.

Was it have of 1.25? If it was, then they are under the same pressures we are under....if it wasn't then they are not under the same pressures.

From an 06 pr...

"The retail price of 93-octane gasoline is now 5.09 yuan (64 US cents) per litre, 0.44 yuan (5 US cents) higher.'

http://english.cri.cn/855/2006/05/25...

.64 x 2 = $1.28....pretty close....looks like they under the same pressure....of course that's for a litre....

FWIW....

2003

http://www.couplescompany.com/Featur...

It all comes down to a countries monetary policy and spending habits and the after effect of interest rates on the system.... how citizens are treated.

They're stealing from us at longer and longer clips to make up short falls through interest rate reductions.

doni