A recent reading of Richard Tedlow’s excellent biography of Andy Grove renewed my appreciation for Moore’s Law, which states that the number of transistors that can be placed on a chip will double every two years. This is why my latest MacBook Pro costs less than an Apple computer from 30 years ago.
Meanwhile, I have C-SPAN2 on right now televising the hearings on the latest Anthem Blue Cross rate increase. I say “latest” because I haven’t heard anyone mention that Anthem raised rates last year. I joined Anthem two years ago because my previous insurer, Healthnet, quadrupled my premiums over five years and then for a while terminated me after they lost (i.e. cashed without crediting me) my check, then after I complained to the State of California sent me a half-hearted apology blaming me for writing illegibly – which normally is a pretty valid accusation, except they addressed me as “Ralph Chu”.
I haven’t had a similar dispute with Anthem, but they did increase my premium immediately upon acceptance because I take cholesterol pills, and then another $2 per bill for not letting them automatically draft from my checking account, and then premium increase last year and the now much-publicized increase. Altogether, my premiums have doubled in two years (you can see why I didn’t allow them access to my checking account – they might decide it’s more efficient to empty the whole thing immediately).
Oddly, my cholesterol pills have gone up in price, nearly doubling in the last five years. Each batch is getting more expensive to make? (Apparently there’s a big pharma inverse to Moore’s Law).
Not everything has gone up. My car insurance has gone down over the years. As with computers, you get more car for the money these days, too (although not on the same curve as Moore’s Law – otherwise, we’d be commuting to work like George Jetson). Some costs have been volatile. Like real estate. I bought my condo in 2001 – it might list for 30% more now, but probably would take longer to sell. However, compared to three years ago, it’s a deal. Gas also has gone up and down, but I’d guess over the past decade it’s up at least 50%. I just read that college tuition has outpaced inflation over the last twenty years, which means it’s probably been doing that longer, since I went to college twenty years ago and I heard something similar then (business schools, heal thyself!)
The problem is that, as far as I can tell, pay hasn’t gone up, except for a Web 2.0 bubble a few years ago in Silicon Valley. As a contractor, I can get paid what I quoted ten years ago (with a bit of eye-rolling and hand-wringing), and a good way to avoid taking on more projects is to quote more. On the other hand, most of my work is in the game business, which isn’t notoriously high-paying. But the IGDA has stepped up and is now offering a group insurance plan, which was a timely factor in my recent membership renewal. It would be an interesting turn of events if people started entering the game industry for the benefits.