Funeral Cost has been a problem in the United States of America for quite a while. It was not a major issue in pre-civil war days but since then-
Lack of Jobs in Economy causes funeral cost problems
AMONG certain ancient tribes it was the custom to throw upon the funeral pyre the clothing, jewelry, and money belonging to the deceased. Occasionally a widow or a slave was thrown in for good measure. We in the United States do nothing so foolish. We merely throw into the grave annual……. We throw it in in the form of bronze caskets, flowers, stone cases, silk paddings, gold handles, and mausoleums……
The corpse does not know the difference. Most of the American people if asked indi-vidually whether or not they wanted an ostentatious funeral would reply that they cared nothing whatever about what happened to their bodies after death. Yet the extravagant funeral is always with us. In fact, the United States has the most extravagant funeral practices in all history and they seem to be getting more costly every year.-this was written in 1928-READ MORE
It is true that most Americans still want an ostentatious funeral- but this is changing as the economy is forcing folks into lower cost funerals. This was what happened after1928….
Now the NFDA, National Funeral Directors Association is predicting you will have to pay more for funerals(It is not the case):
What’s more, funeral prices will rise faster than living costs in the next few years, predicts John Fitch Jr., an NFDA official in Washington, because prices of caskets and funeral supplies are escalating.
Funeral Industry|Funeral blog by Your Funeral Guy
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Tags: american, blog, corpse, cost of living, funeral, funeral cost, funeral history, funeral industry, john Fitch, National funeral directors association, NFDA
Bill on 
on 
Here in the UK there is a growing trend towards pre-paid funerals – all as a result of the reasons you cite above across the Atlantic.