I can explain it, Kendall...anyone who has an interest in $$$..or £££, (read all of us), wants to position their company, project or personal finances in the best possible circumstances in the current economy, so they negotiate for a raise, tinker with the price of Twinkies, increase the cost of a hospital bed, DEcrease the amount of chocolate in a Hershey bar or, lord preserve us, charge a bit more for a music CD.

Then, everyone who DIDN'T raise prices on Monday notices that their basic expenses have gone up, and decides on Tuesday to 'compensate'...and by Friday, pennies aren't worth picking up off the ground!

Now, some people are not able to increase anything, so their basic position deteriorates, while others have found a formula that allows them to influence which prices rise, and then to position themselves in the money flow...(i.e., lawyers and drug manufacturers)....this has tended to create a widening gulf with some people having LOTS of $$$, (but never enough, huh?).....this then creates a class which is fairly disdainful of prices, and simply spend what they need to, and manipulate their income to meet needs. ..............THIS inspires providers of certain services and products to adopt a "what the traffic will bear" attitude instead of a "cost plus reasonable profit" attitude which used to be more common.

Now, you couple these tendencies with modern technology, in which LOTS of new 'stuff' is produced (and the media techniques to advertise it)...(digital gadgets, drugs tailored to grow hair, airplanes which get you to Paris in 4 hours), and the bunch with the $$$ thinks they HAVE to have all the new stuff, so.......

Add to all THIS, the tendency of juries to award billion $$ settlements to folks for moderately bad hangnails..(oh, the pain & suffering!)...and you get an economic version of the Oklahoma land rush!....and if you are on crutches or have a slow horse, look out!

yes, a lot of that is over-simplication, and I missed several threads of causality, but think about 100 years ago..., no fancy hospitals & drugs, no cars, no telephones, no TVs or radio....what could you spend money ON?...Houses, land and services...if you were rich, you could have servants and a big house and hire someone to sing for you. There were quack medicine schemes and such, but the average guy could eat 'ok' because you could usually hunt of fish or grow stuff....which brings up the final item in MY short list...TOO MANY PEOPLE,,,and thus too few fish, lobsters, cows, etc.....so prices rise for what IS available!!

next question please....*grin*.....