Dollar's purchasing power

Don't want to sound like an economist because I have almost no formal education in that field but from what I have read and understood, prices of everything is going up while the value of the US dollar is going down.

It started with the housing bubble as home prices shot up much faster than income due to greed and some creative financing from Wall Street . As it turned out, without a rise in income, there's no way these mortgages could be paid. The results were mortgage defaults and a fall in home prices. This resulted in a credit crunch were no one wanted to lend money to anyone because of fear of not getting their money back. To stave off a financial breakdown, the US Federal Reserve decreased interest rates to almost negative rates(real rates considering inflation) at a time when Oil was already trading at record highs. The smart money saw what was coming and invested out of dollars and into anything that is real and necessary. Oil, metals and lately food commodities have all risen in prices as a result.

I also don't want to sound political but I believe Oil prices are also a derivative of the Iraq occupation but this is where we stand now. Take a look at the chart below to compare what $1 in 1800 means today and more particularly the steep decline in the recent past.

Decline in the U.S. dollar's purchasing power (1800-2005)
Source: Barron's

So, you may ask what this has to do with immigration to US? Well, it only means that the purchasing power of the dollar is decreasing as each month goes by while the salaries are staying the same (actually going down considering inflation). So, consider this when you make the financial decision to relocate to a new job here.