SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF PREPPERS ON THE RISE!

"Obama Meets New Saudi King Salman"

Why The Damage To The Economy Caused By The Oil Crash Is Going To Get Progressively Worse

We are really starting to see the price of oil weigh very heavily on the economy and on the stock market.  On Tuesday, the Dow was down 291 points, and the primary reason for the decline was disappointing corporate sales numbers.  For example, heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar is blaming the “dramatic decline in the price of oil” for much lower than anticipated sales during the fourth quarter of 2014.  Even though Caterpillar is not an “energy company”, the price of oil is critical to their success.  And the same could be said about thousands of other companies.  

That is why I have repeatedly stated that anyone who believes that collapsing oil prices are good for the U.S. economy is crazy.  The key to how much damage this oil collapse is going to do to our economy is not how low prices ultimately go.  Rather, the key is how long they stay at these low levels. 

 If the price of oil went back to $80 a barrel next week, the damage would be fairly minimal.  But if the price of oil stays at this current level for the remainder of 2015, the damage will be absolutely catastrophic.  Just think of the price of oil like a hot iron.  If you touch it for just a fraction of a second, it won’t do too much damage.  But if you press it against your skin for an hour, you will be severely damaged for the rest of your life at the very least.

So the damage that we are witnessing right now is just the very beginning unless the price of oil goes back up substantially.

When the price of oil first started crashing, most analysts focused on the impact that it would have on energy companies.  And without a doubt, quite a few of them are likely to be wiped out if things don’t change soon.

But of even greater importance is the ripple effects that the price of oil will have throughout our entire economy.  The oil price crash is not that many months old at this point, and yet big companies are already blaming it for causing significant problems.  The following is how Caterpillar explained their disappointing sales numbers on Tuesday…

“The recent dramatic decline in the price of oil is the most significant reason for the year-over-year decline in our sales and revenues outlook.  Current oil prices are a significant headwind for Energy & Transportation and negative for our construction business in the oil producing regions of the world.  In addition, with lower prices for copper, coal and iron ore, we’ve reduced our expectations for sales of mining equipment.  We’ve also lowered our expectations for construction equipment sales in China.  While our market position in China has improved, 2015 expectations for the construction industry in China are lower”

We also learned on Tuesday that orders for durable goods were extremely disappointing.  Many analysts believe that this is another area where the oil price crash is having an impact…

Orders for business equipment unexpectedly fell in December for a fourth month, signaling a global growth slowdown is weighing on American companies. Bookings for non-military capital goods excluding aircraft dropped 0.6 percent for a second month, data from the Commerce Department showed. Demand for all durable goods − items meant to last at least three years − declined 3.4 percent, the worst performance since August.

Let’s keep an eye on the durable goods numbers in coming months.  Usually, when the economy is heading into a recession durable goods numbers start declining.

Meanwhile, a bunch of other big companies reported disappointing sales numbers on Tuesday as well.  The following summary comes from the Crux…

Microsoft lost 9.9 percent as software-license sales to businesses were below forecasts. Caterpillar plunged 7.3 percent after forecasting 2015 results that trailed estimates as plunging oil prices signal lower demand from energy companies. DuPont Co. dropped 2.8 percent as a stronger dollar cuts into the chemical maker’s profit. Procter & Gamble Co. and United Technologies Corp. declined at least 2 percent after saying the surging greenback will lower full-year earnings.

What the economy could really use right now is a huge rebound in the price of oil.

Unfortunately, as I wrote about the other day, that is not likely to happen any time soon.

In fact, a top executive for Goldman Sachs recently told CNBC that he believes that the price of oil could ultimately go as low as 30 dollars a barrel.

And hedge fund managers are backing up their belief that oil is heading even lower with big money…

Hedge funds boosted bearish wagers on oil to a four-year high as US supplies grew the most since 2001.

Money managers increased short positions in West Texas Intermediate crude to the highest level since September 2010 in the week ended January 20, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Net-long positions slipped for the first time in three weeks.

US crude supplies rose by 10.1 million barrels to 397.9 million in the week ended January 16 and the country will pump the most oil since 1972 this year, the Energy Information Administration says. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, the new ruler of the world’s biggest oil exporter, said he will maintain the production policy of his predecessor despite a 58 percent drop in prices since June.

Sadly, the truth is that anyone that thought that the stock market would go up forever and that the U.S. economy would be able to avoid a major downturn indefinitely was just being delusional.

Our economy goes through cycles, and every financial bubble eventually bursts.

For example, did you know that the S&P 500 has never had seven up years in a row?  The following comes from a CNBC article that was posted on Tuesday…

Doubleline Capital founder Jeff Gundlach, more known for his bond prowess than as an equity market expert, pointed out that the S&P 500 has never had seven consecutive up years.

Of course, records are made to be broken, and each year is supposed to stand on its own.

But in a market that faces an uncertain future regarding monetary policy, the specter of a global economic slowdown, and an oil price plunge that is dampening capital investment, Gundlach’s little factoid sparked a lot of chatter at ETF.com’s InsideETFs conference in Hollywood, Florida.

Hmm – that reminds me of the seven year cycles that I discussed in my article yesterday.

If the price of oil stays this low for the rest of 2015, there is no way that we are going to avoid a recession.

If the price of oil stays this low for the rest of 2015, there is no way that we are going to avoid a stock market crash.

So let’s hope that the price of oil starts going back up.

If it doesn’t, the damage that is inflicted on our economy is going to get progressively worse.

Credit to Economic Collapse

The Shinar Directive -- Part 10

Dimensional Portals, Vile Vortices, And Their Ley Lines

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by Dr. Michael Lake

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Over the past century, the Elite have been influencing key world leaders and initiating them into luciferianism. From the United Nations to the Bohemian Grove, the signature of paganism and luciferianism can be clearly seen.

The UN Meditation Room

There is a special meditation room at the United Nations into which its leaders can go to meditate and pray. It is a starkly bare room—no symbols are there to identify the faith it represents. In the middle of the room is a jet-black altar made of iron. To the uninitiated, it would appear to be a peaceful place where all faiths can come to pray for world peace.

Here is the dedication that Dag Hammarskjöld, UN Secretary-General (1953–1961), wrote regarding this special room:

We all have within us a center of stillness surrounded by silence.

This house, dedicated to work and debate in the service of peace, should have one room dedicated to silence in the outward sense and stillness in the inner sense.

It has been the aim to create in this small room a place where the doors may be open to the infinite lands of thought and prayer.

People of many faiths will meet here, and for that reason none of the symbols to which we are accustomed in our meditation could be used.

However, there are simple things which speak to us all with the same language. We have sought for such things and we believe that we have found them in the shaft of light striking the shimmering surface of solid rock.

So, in the middle of the room we see a symbol of how, daily, the light of the skies gives life to the earth on which we stand, a symbol to many of us of how the light of the spirit gives life to matter.

But the stone in the middle of the room has more to tell us. We may see it as an altar, empty not because there is no God, not because it is an altar to an unknown god, but because it is dedicated to the God whom man worships under many names and in many forms.

The stone in the middle of the room reminds us also of the firm and permanent in a world of movement and change. The block of iron ore has the weight and solidity of the everlasting. It is a reminder of that cornerstone of endurance and faith on which all human endeavour must be based.

The material of the stone leads our thoughts to the necessity for choice between destruction and construction, between war and peace. Of iron man has forged his swords, of iron he has also made his ploughshares. Of iron he has constructed tanks, but of iron he has likewise built homes for man. The block of iron ore is part of the wealth we have inherited on this earth of ours. How are we to use it?

The shaft of light strikes the stone in a room of utter simplicity. There are no other symbols, there is nothing to distract our attention or to break in on the stillness within ourselves. When our eyes travel from these symbols to the front wall, they meet a simple pattern opening up the room to the harmony, freedom and balance of space.

There is an ancient saying that the sense of a vessel is not in its shell but in the void. So it is with this room. It is for those who come here to fill the void with what they find in their center of stillness.[iii]

Notice that the United Nation’s desire is to fulfill a Messianic promise of turning swords into plowshares—only without Jesus! However, there is a clue to the origin and purpose of this room that any Freemason (or member of any esoteric society) would recognize. The symbol is the room itself; it is trapezoid in shape. The room serves as a Masonic altar and represents the unfinished work of Nimrod. World leaders go there to meditate on how they can serve in the ongoing Masonic work of completing Nimrod’s plan on the earth.

Pieces to the Occult Puzzle Still Needed

In The Shinar Directive, I write many chapters outlining the unfinished work of Nimrod including the final pieces of the occult puzzle. These final pieces are necessary to complete the work, and the Elite are pouring billions of dollars into research through the various nations they control around the world.

We may have a significant clue as to what Nimrod had in mind, when he constructed the Tower of Babel, and why the Elite have pooled the resources of the planet to continue his work. That clue is found in a book in the Apocrypha, the Book of Jasher:

And they all went before the king, and they told the king these words, and the king agreed with them in this affair, and he did so.

And all the families assembled consisting of about six hundred thousand men, and they went to seek an extensive piece of ground to build the city and the tower, and they sought in the whole earth and they found none like one valley at the east of the land of Shinar, about two days’ walk, and they journeyed there and they dwelt there.

And they began to make bricks and burn fires to build the city and the tower that they had imagined to complete.

And the building of the tower was unto them a transgression and a sin, and they began to build it, and whilst they were building against the Lord God of heaven, they imagined in their hearts to war against him and to ascend into heaven.

And all these people and all the families divided themselves in three parts; the first said We will ascend into heaven and fight against him; the second said, We will ascend to heaven and place our own gods there and serve them; and the third part said, We will ascend to heaven and smite him with bows and spears; and God knew all their works and all their evil thoughts, and he saw the city and the tower which they were building.

And when they were building they built themselves a great city and a very high and strong tower; and on account of its height the mortar and bricks did not reach the builders in their ascent to it, until those who went up had completed a full year, and after that, they reached to the builders and gave them the mortar and the bricks; thus was it done daily.

And behold these ascended and others descended the whole day; and if a brick should fall from their hands and get broken, they would all weep over it, and if a man fell and died, none of them would look at him. (Jasher 9:22–28, emphasis added)[iv]

For those involved in hermeneutical or exegetical studies, it is common to examine extrabiblical texts, whether to gain a better understanding of word usage within similar historical periods or to gain insight into how biblical stories were mythologized within those cultures. The Book of Jasher has significant weight in the minds of many researchers, since it is referred to twice in the Word of God—in Joshua 10:13 and 1 Samuel 1:18. This is not to say the writings of the Book of Jasher (or any of the books of the Apocrypha) are inspired. I am simply pointing out that our inspired Scriptures recognize the validity of the history contained within the book and, therefore, should be considered in our research.

The Book of Jasher seems to indicate that Nimrod aspired to become much more than just a hunter “before the Lord.” Nimrod aspired to become a hunter of the Lord! This concept can be seen in both the Book of Jasher and in the esoteric concepts of apotheosis and ascension. The mystery religions seek to transcend into godhood; they seek to displace Almighty God with themselves. No wonder God intervened!

The Book of Jasher also shows God’s contempt for the tower itself:

And they ceased building the city and the tower; therefore he called that place Babel, for there the Lord confounded the Language of the whole earth; behold it was at the east of the land of Shinar.

And as to the tower which the sons of men built, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up one third part thereof, and a fire also descended from heaven and burned another third, and the other third is left to this day, and it is of that part which was aloft, and its circumference is three days’ walk.

And many of the sons of men died in that tower, a people without number. (Jasher 9:37–39)[v]

Could the Elite’s final attempt lead to even a greater response from Almighty God—the final battle in Armageddon?

More than Height at Work

The story of the Tower of Babel is not God’s judgment against the first man-made skyscraper. There are now towers on the earth so tall that one can see the curvature of the earth from their top floors. The tallest tower in the world, which has 163 floors and stands 2,717 feet tall, is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

One could also ask, “If Nimrod wanted more height, why did he build his tower in the middle of a plain, rather than on the top of a great mountain?” The answer may be found in the theory that many physicists have regarding the multiverse and the reality of dimensional portals.

Welcome to the Multiverse

When science fiction writer H. G. Wells proclaimed in 1895 in his story, “The Door in the Wall,” that there were portals or doors to others worlds, universes, or dimensions, was he revealing a secret the mystery religions have known since Nimrod? Some researchers believe that Wells was both an Illuminatist and a Freemason. Although we can possibility connect his involvement with the Illuminati through his work entitled The New World Order (as well as how the Elite have followed many of his suggestions in the book), there is little evidence that he was a Freemason.[vi] However, like many of the science fiction writers of his era, he possibly received inspiration for many of his stories through the esoteric teachings of one of the many mystery religion groups throughout Europe. (Freemasonry is just one of many such groups and we have included 15 of their books on a DVD we are giving away with the release of The Shinar Directive [read more about that here].)

Today, with the concepts of Superstring Theory, M Theory, and many others, physicists are beginning to realize that our universe many be one of many, each contained within in its own dimensional bubble.

In an article entitled, “Multiverse Controversy Heats Up over Gravitational Waves,” Clara Moskowitz shares in March of 2014:

The multiverse is one of the most divisive topics in physics, and it just became more so. The major announcement last week of evidence for primordial ripples in spacetime has bolstered a cosmological theory called inflation, and with it, some say, the idea that our universe is one of many universes floating like bubbles in a glass of champagne. Critics of the multiverse hypothesis claim that the idea is untestable—barely even science. But with evidence for inflation theory building up, the multiverse debate is coming to a head.

The big news last week came from the Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization 2 (BICEP2) experiment at the South Pole, which saw imprints in the cosmic microwave background—the oldest light in the universe, dating from shortly after the big bang—that appear to have been caused by gravitational waves rippling through the fabric of spacetime in the early universe. The finding was heralded as a huge breakthrough, although physicists say confirmation from other experiments will be needed to corroborate the results.

If verified, these gravitational waves would be direct evidence for the theory of inflation, which suggests the universe expanded exponentially in the first fraction of a nanosecond after it was born. If inflation occurred, it would explain many features of our universe, such as the fact that it appears to be fairly smooth, with matter spread evenly in all directions (early inflation would have stretched out any irregularities in the universe).

Inflation might also mean that what we consider the universe—the expanse of everything we could see with the most perfect telescopes—is just one small corner of space, a pocket where inflation stopped and allowed matter to condense, galaxies and stars to form, and life to evolve. Elsewhere, beyond the observable universe, spacetime may still be inflating, with other “bubble” universes forming whenever inflation stops in one location.

This picture is called eternal inflation. “Most inflationary models, almost all, predict that inflation should become eternal,” says Alan Guth, a theoretical physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who first predicted inflation in 1980.[vii]

The concept of other dimensional realities or other bubble universes has been known to the occult for millennia. 

1. Noted occultist Dr. John Dee was able to open a portal to another dimension and commune with what he believed was an angel. This communion resulted is his formation of Enochian Magic. This form of magic is now studied by any serious occultist today.

2. Satanist supreme, Aleister Crowley, opened a portal in which he released a being from another dimension known as Aiwass, which claimed to be a messenger of Horus. Aiwass then dictated the work that became known as The Book of Law.[viii] This book is extremely anti-Christian, and this spirit announced to Crowley that the end of Christianity was near and that mankind would be entering into a new age called “The Age of the Fascinating Child.” This new age would release an age-old secret held by Freemasonry and many other mystery religions—a system to gain eternal life through sexual vampirism of children…in other words, an age of homosexual pedophilia to extend one’s life and to enhance one’s occult powers.

3. Between January and March of 1946, occultists Jack Parsons, L. Ron Hubbard, and Marjorie Cameron conducted the Babylonian Working. This ritual was essentially designed to manifest an individual incarnation of the archetypal divine feminine called Babalon.[ix] Parsons and Hubbard were not as adept in opening dimensional portals as their mentor, Aleister Crowley, was. They accidently ripped the portal wide open. The men never shared what they saw, but it terrified them. Hubbard abandoned such occult workings after that event and went on to create Scientology. Parsons continued with his research as a rocket scientist, but later died in a horrific accident at Jack Parsons Laboratories in June of 1952. It is an interesting fact that the Roswell incident happened the following year, 1947. UFO sightings in the US and around the world have become much more commonplace since then. It leaves many researchers to speculate the connection of Roswell with the Babylonian Working of Hubbard and Parsons.

The Ten Vile Vortices

In researching dimensional portals, the reader will find interesting a reference by Perry Stone in his book, Secrets from Beyond the Grave:

The Bermuda Triangle is one of two places on the earth where a magnetic compass does point toward true north. Normally it points toward magnetic north. The difference between the two is known as compass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as twenty degrees as one circumnavigates the earth. If this compass variation or error is not compensated for, a navigator could find himself far off course and in deep trouble. Strange, glowing white water and green fog have been spotted there from satellites. The Bermuda Triangle has a deep trench near San Juan measuring twenty-seven thousand feet deep.

Another area where the same strange phenomena occur is the Devil’s Sea. The sea is located on the other side of the world, opposite the Bermuda Triangle. The area is located east of Japan between Iwo Jima and Marcus Island. The Japanese government labeled this area as a danger zone. Near Guam is the world’s largest underwater trench, measuring thirty-six thousand feet deep. It is unknown why these areas have such strange magnetic fields, and this book will not detail research related to these incidents. However, there are numerous places in the world where there is odd magnetic activity that occurs on a consistent basis, including areas where the compass actually goes in the opposite direction.

A man named Ivan Sanderson, a professional biologist who founded the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in Columbia, New Jersey, claims to have discovered twelve electromagnetic vibrations around the world, called by some the “Ten Vile [Strong] Vortices.” In 1972, Sanderson wrote an article in Saga Magazine calling his discovery ‘‘The Twelve Devil’s Graveyards Around the World.” Sanderson had researched the areas around the world where ships and planes had allegedly disappeared and discovered ten regions of the world, spaced equally apart, that experienced these strange phenomena.[x]

Perry’s brief description regarding the Vile (Strong) Vortices piqued my interest, and I began conducting my own research. Although Sanderson originally believed there were twelve of these vortices around the world, other researchers have concluded that there are only ten (yet others that there are 72!). The vortices appear to come in pairs and are similar to magnetic poles in that the corresponding vortices will appear on the exact opposite side of the planet. A well-known example would be the Bermuda Triangle. Few realize that the Bermuda Triangle has a twin portal known as the Devil’s Triangle on the opposite side of the planet, near Japan.

Researchers have discovered that “if the earth is mapped out as an  icosahedrons (or dodecahedron) grid, these are all equidistant geometric points (vortices) of intersecting (ley) lines.”[xi] Ley lines have always been important to the occult. They are defined by Wikipedia as “hypothetical alignments of a number of places of geographical interest, such as ancient monuments and megaliths. Their existence was suggested in 1921 by the amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins, whose book The Old Straight Trackbrought the alignments to the attention of the wider public.”[xii]

In the mystery religions, such ley lines are considered sources of power and are very important to their work. In the documentary entitled Riddles in Stone, documentarian Chris Pinto points out that the original thirteen colonies in the United States and Washington, DC, are constructed on a ley line that leads directly to Stonehenge in Great Britain.[xiii]

Could the intersecting of certain ley lines, along with variances in the magnetic fields on our planet, provide a catalyst for the opening of dimensional portals, whether into Heaven or to the lower dimensions of Sheol—or worse?

TO BE CONTINUED...

Credit to Raiders News Update

Moscow Promises 'Unlimited' Response if SWIFT Limits Operations in Russia

Russia’s reaction will be “unlimited” if the SWIFT payment system is used as an instrument against the country, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday.

“Yet again discussions have started in limiting the so-called SWIFT payment system. We’ll wait and see what happens. Of course, if these decisions are made, I would like to note that our economic reaction as with any other reaction will be unlimited,” Medvedev said during a meeting.

In September 2014, the European Parliament urged EU member states to consider excluding Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system, which provides the infrastructure for $6 billion of interbank operations daily.

In response, the Russia's Central Bank said the country might introduce alternative channels of interbank communications to replace SWIFT.

On The Verge Of War

If this seems like hyperbole, consider that one of the reasons Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because the U.S., which was the world's largest oil producer at the time, had cut off oil sales to Japan — a move that clearly signaled which side of World War II the U.S. supported.

U.S. And NATO Break Historic Agreement

Supporting this position is the fact that when the Soviet Union dissolved in late 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had a verbal agreement with the United States and NATO that there would be no encroachment. The U.S. reneged on that promise by building military bases in several former Soviet states, some of which have become members of the European Union and NATO.

Then there is Sevastopol, where the Russian navy ports its Black Sea Fleet. Sevastopol is as important to the Russian navy as the Norfolk and the San Diego naval bases are to the U.S. Navy.

A year ago, Russia engineered the uniting of the city of Sevastopol and Crimea, and immediately annexed them, in a historic referendum. Russia claims Crimea and Sevastopol as parts of the Russian Federation, while Ukraine, the United States and most of the international community consider Crimea still a part of Ukraine.

U.S. Oil Companies Pushing For War

Making the situation even worse is the fact that oil is involved. Here is the key: On May 17, 2014 the New York Times ran a lengthy piece about the offshore drilling rights that came with the annexation of Crimea. This includes an oil field that could rival the prolific oil-producing North Sea! An Exxon Mobil-led consortium, which included other major oil companies, had already explored the Black Sea under an agreement with Ukraine. This is why Ukraine is so strategically important.

Redividing the Black Sea

Russia’s annexation of Crimea also gives Russia control of a large swath of the Black Sea, including deep oil reserves.



Russia is actively supporting the separatist movement not with just equipment but most likely with troops. The U.S. and NATO assert that Crimea is not a part of the Russian Federation. The bottom line here is that big oil wants its oil fields back. This is why the Ukrainian situation is so explosive. And the Russians, important enough to have been invited to the recent World Economic Conference in Davos, are now say that shutting Russia out of SWIFT would be an act of war.



Credit to Sputnik and KWN

Nunez Report

US Dollar losing an enormous amount of purchasing power since 1938.

People have a hard time understanding how inflation erodes their purchasing power.  Little by little the cost of everything goes up and people simply assume this is normal in an economy.  The $2 movie ticket becomes a $8 movie ticket.  That can of tuna just got smaller but the price remains the same.  

The cost of going to college went from manageable to needing large student debt merely to complete a four year degree.  Inflation is argued to be a purely monetary outcome.  You have too much money, in the form of cash or credit in today’s case, chasing fewer goods.  In our current economy, debt is the fuel accelerating inflation.  You can see this in items like housing, cars, and college where debt is the primary fuel driving prices higher.  The big problem today is that incomes are simply not rising fast enough to keep up with the rise in other expenses.  Over time, inflation has a big destructive power.  I thought it would be useful to look at the cost of typical items in 1938 and compare them to where things stand in 2015.

Comparing 1938 to 2015

Over a year ago, we looked at some old data and found this to be useful to readers.  I thought it would be helpful to update the data and see where things stand today in 2015.  Someone sent this snapshot of the cost of living in 1938.  It really is fascinating looking at inflation over a very long period of time.  In this case, we are looking at spending pre-World War II.  Most Americans probably have no sense as to what the cost of living was back then since they are mired in thefight of living paycheck to paycheck.

Take a look at the cost of living in 1938:

Source:  Reddit

What is important is to look at income in relation to the cost of living.   A new home was about twice the annual average income.  Today, with the median household income being $50,000 and your typical new home costing $298,000 we are definitely on the more expensive side (6 times annual income versus 2 back in 1938).  Look at the new car costs.  A new car cost about $860 or half of annual income.  Today, a regular car can cost $32,000 and most will need to finance it.  Tuition to Harvard was $420 per year and today Harvard tuition is nearly $62,000 with room and board:

Source:  Harvard website

In other words, the typical family of today would need to use all their annual income to send their kid to Harvard plus go in debt while in 1938, your average family had income to send 4 kids to Harvard per year.  The most inflated of all categories is college tuition.

Looking at various costs adjusting for inflation

I put this table together and adjusted for inflation to give you a better perspective:

I wanted to update some of this data for 2015 as well:

New house:                        $298,000 (Source: Census)

Average income:              $28,000 (Social Security)

New Car:                             $32,000 (Bankrate)

Average Rent:                   $950

Tuition to Harvard:          See above

Movie ticket:                     $8

Gasoline:                             $1.99

US Postage Stamp:          $0.49

So basically every single category is up besides gasoline given the crash in oil prices in 2014.  But this is a small drop in the bucket given what consumes the biggest portion of your budget:

Housing, food, medical care, transportation, and education make up the biggest expenses.  Housing by far consumes the biggest portion.  And look at how fast prices have gone up since 2000:

Medical care is up over 70 percent.  Housing is up over 40 percent even with the crash in the housing market.  Basically the only items that held steady were apparel and recreation.  But look at how incomes are doing:

You wonder why you feel like you have less purchasing power?  You feel poorer because you are thanks to the slow eroding power of inflation.  The Fed would like to argue that there is no inflation but just look at housing costs, medical care, college tuition, and grocery bills and tell theregular working American family that there is no inflation.

Credit to My Budget 360