I was first exposed to the Catholic school athletic program thing when I was in grad school in Cleveland. I'd never experienced that before. Catholic high schools would actively recruit and compete over star athletes; I was blown away. My kids' K-8 school doesn't have formal athletics, but the high school they'll likely go to certainly does; and I wouldn't be surprised if they were actively recruiting athletes as well.
But our kids' K-8 school definitely gives a lot of money in financial aid, which is one of the reasons we love the school so much; it's drastically more diverse from a socio-economic standpoint than our neighborhood public school--and it's why we dedicate a big chunk of our charitable giving to the school, on top of the tuition we're paying. No doubt our kids will always have a spot at their school, no matter what happens to us financially. But thankfully, thanks to Ramsey, and then MMM, and now my flailing attempt at ERE, it would take a pretty drastic medical or related catastrophe to torpedo us, at least in the short term (knocking on wood).
Thanks everyone for your help as DW and I worked this issue out!
I was first exposed to the Catholic school athletic program thing when I was in grad school in Cleveland. I'd never experienced that before. Catholic high schools would actively recruit and compete over star athletes; I was blown away. My kids' K-8 school doesn't have formal athletics, but the high school they'll likely go to certainly does; and I wouldn't be surprised if they were actively recruiting athletes as well.
At my HS, there was only one such athlete during my time, he was a freshman my Sr Year, went on to University of Wisconsin on athletic scholarship and did well on and off the court. It's been much more common during the last 20 years.
And I'm not sure how much they had/have to recruit. The public schools in my hometown, by the mid 1990s, were a train wreck and so bad the federal government stepped in and took them over for a time (and why to this day property tax rates there are among the highest in a state where they are among the highest in the country--there is still a 25-year-old "temporary" special levy for the public schools which, not surprisingly, are still pretty bad). The Catholic HS, with a fraction of the budget, provided a more disciplined environment and better academic opportunities. A lot of the kids that matriculated up had been in the parochial system since the first grade. But not all.
Back in my more purest libertarian days in my 20's I used to buy into these shadow stats. Not anymore, because they don't even pass the smell test. I'm old enough now to remember how much things costed 20 years ago. My anecdotal inflation experience is nowhere near what these shadow sites proclaim and tends to match up pretty close to CPI type numbers.
Back in my more purest libertarian days in my 20's I used to buy into these shadow stats. Not anymore, because they don't even pass the smell test. I'm old enough now to remember how much things costed 20 years ago. My anecdotal inflation experience is nowhere near what these shadow sites proclaim and tends to match up pretty close to CPI type numbers.
I also took a look at that site and couldn't believe the stats about prices going up 10% per year or whatever. And yet... I do clearly remember the cost of certain goods and services from when I was a child because I had to pay for them with my own pocket money, and some of them have increased pretty dramatically. Of course this is limited mainly to stuff like ice creams and toys! It's also pretty undeniable that housing and energy costs have gone up by a lot more than CPI, and actually wasn't CPI invented specifically to exclude the housing costs which were included in RPI? Certainly in the UK that's what happened. So although I totally agree about the whole conspiracy theory point, it's not inconceivable that governments might want to undercook the stats. Even on the mainstream news I've heard that the official rate of inflation is much lower than people's experiences on the streets, and although that's always about what's happening in other places like Venezuela, there's no particular reason to trust any government without question.
I'm not arguing CPI is perfect, but these shadow stats show near double digit inflation year over year, always. That means something I paid for 25 years ago (like my first apartment at 18) should be about 12X more expensive today. I can literally go on Zillow and look at units in that complex to see that's clearly not the case. Obviously that's a single price point, but I can give many similar examples. I don't think anyone in their 40's believes we've had double digit inflation over the past 20 years.
I'm not arguing CPI is perfect, but these shadow stats show near double digit inflation year over year, always. That means something I paid for 25 years ago (like my first apartment at 18) should be about 12X more expensive today. I can literally go on Zillow and look at units in that complex to see that's clearly not the case. Obviously that's a single price point, but I can give many similar examples. I don't think anyone in their 40's believes we've had double digit inflation over the past 20 years.
Not quite that much, but actually housing is 10x more expensive in many areas of the UK compared to 20 years ago. This is hard to believe for people who don't live there or have direct experience, but we have our own version of Zillow called Rightmove where you can look up historical selling prices from 20 years ago. Having said that, the cost of renting has probably only increased by a max of 3x or 4x over the same period, although that's obviously still not counted in CPI.
And those ice creams are at least 5x the cost, although that was more than 20 years ago now
OTOH many things have got a lot cheaper - second hand cards and music playing spring to mind. And then you have technological advancements, so it's definitely a nuanced argument. Perhaps we need a less OTT alternative index as I do find it hard to believe the official stats, even if Chapwood is clearly nonsense.
