A Story, Money and Pain.

      When I was a young fellow in rural Stead Manitoba, the wages for farm labour were 50 cents an hour. After doing Grade 12, I quit school, moved to the city, Winnipeg, paid $15 Week for board and room, worked for a grocery wholesaler, and got paid $1.10 per hour, $8.80 per day. One hours labour paid for three packages of Tabacco. Today, three packages of the same stuff cost $90.00. Today, unskilled labour earns about $15.00 per hour, purchase power of 1/2 package of tobacco, per hour. To simplify 1 hour of work in 1960 purchased as much as 6 hours work today,  Jan 2017. Progress? 

     About 1963 I moved to BC and worked in sawmills, with a whooping $2,15 per hour. A whole $17.20 a day. Walking to work one day in Nanimo, I saw a small house, two bedroom, nice looking condition, on a big lot, fruit trees, garden, for sale $4500. For a single person, two years, maybe three, earning $2.00 per hour, it was possible to pay for the house, with half your wages. $15.00 per hour today, to buy the same house, using half  your wages, it would 10 to 15 years to pay down the principle, and as many more to pay the interest. More likely, a life time to paid off that same house with wages of $15.00 Hour. Progress.

    Deduction; wages for most of the population of Canada are 1/6 of what they were in 1960. 

     Deduction; a few people are very rich in assets, a small group of people have excess of needs, the rest have debt, or nothing much. And everybody is on pain killers. Progress.

     Cleaned up the garden today, tomorrow, Apple tree pruning, ate my last two apples today, making progress.