Push rock up hill. Rock rolls back. Keep pushing rock.

In the 4/16/09 WSJ “Currents” column, Gary Fields notes that data shows that “over the last 10 years, education costs have risen 5.91% annually, and health-care expenses have gone up 4.16% annually, while wages and income have risen only 3.7%.” The CPI has risen 2.4% annually during that period.

This is the big rock of assets that Americans have been pushing up the hill. That rock really rolled back last year. The Federal Reserve “found that U.S. households’ net worth dropped by $11T, a decline of nearly 18%, during 2008. The decline equaled the combined output of Germany, Japan and the U.K.”