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  #1  
Old 06-01-2011, 01:44 PM
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"Things Ain't What They Used to Be

And Probably Never Was"


Ah yes, the good old days. When gas cost pennies per gallon, you could rent genuine Shelby Mustangs from Hertz, and the cops didn’t have radar. When Toyota was still an obscure Japanese automaker, Hyundai was still in the construction business, and Motown still dazzled the world with brazen displays of power and performance and style. When sex was safe, and racing dangerous.


Okay, but how much will that Taurus or Versa be worth in 50 years?

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Old 06-01-2011, 05:42 PM
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If you think gas was cheaper in 'the good old days' check again.

http://www.usnews.com/news/slideshows/the-10-priciest-years-for-gas/11
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Old 06-01-2011, 06:05 PM
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I remember quite well the expense of gas in the early 80s. I was still driving my 70s era gas guzzlers - a 72 Plymouth fury 4 with a 360 and a 4bbl and my toe in it... and the price of gas made a dent in my wallet. Today is much better - at least the E320 consistently gets 25 mpg.
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Old 06-01-2011, 06:09 PM
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The thing people, esp. old timers, forget is that it is not the dollar amount that the gas costs it is the hours that you have to work to get it. Basing gas prices on hours labor is more realistic than on adjusting the price for inflation. I read recently that the average blue collar worker has not had a meaningful wage increase since the late 1960s. So we have actually lost money in those years. That coupled with inflation has really put us in the hole.
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Old 06-01-2011, 06:12 PM
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I also remember gas prices being painful in the 70s; the price was 1/8 of the current amount, but my income was about 1/50. The problem is that the low end of the income scale never keeps up with inflation, so small increase in fuel prices is painful.
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Old 06-01-2011, 07:22 PM
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Nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

My first meaningful employment was a "straight commission" job. My draw was $175 a week.

I paid all my own expenses on the road. I traveled and spent four nights a week in hotels. Gas was .19 a gallon. In a typical small town Iowa cafe, a plate of food that could feed two normal humans cost .75 cents.

OK. What year was it?

[hint] The Everly Brothers', "Wake up little Suzie", was big.
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Old 06-01-2011, 08:09 PM
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Had to be around 61-63.
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Old 06-01-2011, 08:22 PM
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The past always looks pretty good, but I like the present.

Now I can buy a C300 4matic that can do stuff that would put my old W126 in the ditch for 1/3 of the cost.

Progress is good!
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Old 06-01-2011, 08:36 PM
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Old 06-01-2011, 10:04 PM
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It was '57.

My ride was a '52 Chevy Club Coupe. I soon traded it on another Chevy because I didn't want to spend the $35 to have the valves ground.
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Old 06-01-2011, 10:18 PM
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQFaI6O5zaw&feature=related

Old stuff is pretty fun though, a Shelby Cobra is my all time favorite car! I want one with to much power, a 4 spd, and straight exhaust out the side that will burn the skin off my ankles when I get out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lhPNw0fcJQ&feature=related
What a great way to end up in jail. 600hp in a sub 2500 pound car = about as much fun as you can have with your pants on.
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Old 06-02-2011, 05:17 AM
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Someone once said that the good ole days was when bread was 10 cents a loaf......
But you didn't have 10 cents.

With the dollar inflation since we left the gold standard, you cannot simply compare the cost of anything. Better is to figure the hours worked to buy stuff as was mentioned above. Things haven't changed all that much, nor should you expect them to.
Lake Wobegon where ALL the children are above average---it simply doesn't exist. In the same way, we cannot ALL be above average wage-earners, either.
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Old 06-02-2011, 12:15 PM
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I have never found a real way to compare our earlier years to the present. The purchasing power per hour worked is not really all that meaningful. Although I freely admit it has a limited value.

Generally speaking in a complex way the average person is better off today. It is complex though as there are other components that exist today that were not as much as a factor if any back then.

The future on the otherhand is going to be different as well is pretty certain.
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Old 06-02-2011, 03:29 PM
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Ever notice how when folks talk about the good old days, it's usually from an economic standpoint?

No one sheds any light on the social, medical, legislative, and other advances made over the same period.

The survival rate of cancer patients, for instance.

The action taken to address what used to be either "status quo" or we "looked the other way", such as sexual harrassment, child molestations, discrimination, spousal abuse, etc.

Remember when smoking was common in public and private buildings!??

How about the processes that used to be required to get something accomplished that is now just a mouse click away?
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  #15  
Old 06-02-2011, 04:25 PM
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I agree, we can always "go back" in time by choosing to live more simply; but we can't go forward at will. I simply could not do my job with the technology that existed 20 years ago. I can choose to drive around in a 30 year old car, but I'm glad that current medical technology exists. The economics are probably about the same for the "average" person in terms of how much of their income goes to housing, food, clothes, etc.

However, part of the difference is that we've raised our expectations significantly; how many of us really need four cars and a house that's twice the size of our childhood home? I currently pay about $300 per month just for cell phones and data plans, and another $300 for cable TV and home internet/phone service; all of which I consider a necessity. Can you imagine someone of our parents generation being willing to pay an equivalent amount just for home communications? I never took a commercial airline flight as a kid, now most of my daughters schoolmates are frequent flyers. I drove used cars in high school that my kids wouldn't be allowed to even think about getting into. We stop off and eat whenever it's more convent than eating at home; a generation ago, going out to eat in a restaurant was considered a special occasion, now it's just what you do when you didn't have time to go shopping or to cook. The examples go on indefinitely...

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