Hold on to your wallets. The cost of everything continues to rise! Since 2020, pork is up 27%, chicken has risen 40%, beef has gone up 50%, coffee is up 58%, sugar is up 63%, frozen orange juice jumped 80%, and the price of eggs has jumped from $1.53/doz. to $6.23/doz. That is a 307% increase!
We all remember 2020 for COVID. But do we also remember that gasoline was $1.77/gallon? Today, it has increased by about 70%.1
Stamps are getting ready to surge again, jumping from 73 cents to 78 cents per stamp. The cost hike takes affect July 13 so now is the time to stock up on your Forever stamps to avoid the rising cost.
July 1, 1885, saw the lowest cost in stamps. Can you imagine paying 2 cents to mail a letter? Since then, we’ve seen a 3800% increase in cost. In 2019, stamps cost 55 cents. By 2021, the cost was 58 cents. A year later, the cost went to 60 cents. Just six months later, another 3 cents were added, bringing the cost to 63 cents. Another six months and another 3 cents took the cost to 66 cents. The next 6 months saw the price jump to 68 cents, then another 6 months and the cost was 73 cents. Each 3-cent jump was roughly a 5% increase.2
Evidently, that wasn’t sufficient. The jump from 73 cents to 78 cents is a 7% jump. When will it end?
I’m getting to some good news, honest! But can I dig the hole a little deeper first? In 2020, the average income was $67,521/year. In 2024, the average income was $64,368, a -4.7% decrease. It gets worse. With the current projections for 2025 based on four full months of income, the expected average income for 2025 is $61,984, a -3.7% decrease from last year and a -8.2% decrease since 2020.
Since the income range for middle class is $49,715 to $149,1603, the middle income of that range is $99,437.50. That means the average income for 2025 puts most people in the lower middle income range.
Does anyone feel the need to throw up right now? Does this shock you?
Well, let me give you four extremely positive rays of sunshine to brighten your day. That’s the least I could do since I threw out all the dark clouds.
- God’s Word is still free and available in abundance. The Bible is still the #1 best seller and free copies are readily available. Gideons freely give away Bibles as do other organizations. If someone came to our church asking for a Bible, we would give it free of charge.
Now, the problem is that we have to read and obey it. James 1:22 says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
- Salvation is still free. Romans 5:15-18 says, “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. (16) And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. (17) For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) (18) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”
- God is still the same. Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” This unchanging God cares for His children and has promised to care for them. God has promised to supply our needs,
not our greeds. And every day, we can honestly say that God takes good care of us. - This world is not our home. For a few years, we may struggle financially. We may never leave our lower middle class status – and might even drift lower. But this isn’t the place of our reward. The trinkets of life fade and are left behind when we die. Something far greater is waiting on the other side.
Don’t let the financial news discourage you. Instead, hear it and rejoice that our life isn’t about income and investments, stock markets and savings, or portfolios and profits. Put these two verses together, realizing how good we’ve got it! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ…Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (Ephesians 1:3; 2 Timothy 4:8)
1https://www.cbsnews.com/news/price-tracker/
2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_postage_rates
3https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/economy/what-is-median-income-for-upper-middle-class/
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