Where does it all go?

What2Say2Day? I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday about how in the last 12 or 15 years it seems as though the price for everything has doubled. Gas (here in Hawaii) is over $4 a gallon, a gallon of milk is close to $8. The cost of a single family home 10 years ago was in the mid $300,000 - it's in the mid $600,000's now. So the price of everything we buy has risen at a rather steady rate. In contrast the wages we get paid have only gone up an average of 10% to 15% in the same time. As a result many of us are forced to take on part time jobs just to make ends meet. So, my question is, where does it all go? Not my income; I know where that goes - mortgage, electricity, water, phone, TV, credit card payments, car payments, food, gasoline, etc. I want to know where the monies we pay for our "necessities" go. I mean, seriously, where. As far as I can tell somewhere between us paying it and it getting paid back to us a lot of it seems to disappear. Jobs are being taken away (or given away) and the items we buy are of a lesser quality so I'm assuming they cost less make. So, please, someone tell me where it's going. Here in Hawaii it's said we pay one of the highest income taxes in the States. Yet our roads are cracked and pot-holed (if that's a word) and our schools are in complete disrepair. So, where does it all go? I hear similar stories from around the Nation; higher taxes, lower qualities of life, higher costs of living, lower qualities of life. If I may offer this as a suggestion - stop worrying about where it all goes. All we really need in this world is trust in our God, good friends, and true love. A while after my wife and I began dating (when I was sure she was "the one") I told her, "If we lose everything in this world, our home, our jobs, even our hair, and have to live under a bridge, as long as I'm with you none of that would matter." Now, before you think, "I don't have that special person on my life", I want to tell you that yes you do. Jesus is the best friend you will ever have, he is the one friend who will never leave you and will love you no matter what. Jesus is the one person who wants - wants - to live with you under a bridge. All you have to do is say ok to his love and begin to build that relationship. So, in answer to my question, where does it all go?, as for the riches of this world - who cares. As for hope, peace, love and joy - it will always be in you and with you for as long as you let it live.