The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. Things are better now.

http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq

The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.
Jerry


http://community.webtv.net/awoodbutc...oodWorkingPage

On 12/26/2010 6:04 PM, Jerry - OHIO wrote:
And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.
Jerry



In '65 heating oil was 15 cents a gallon but when I was a teenager in
the '50's, 18 cents would get you either a gallon of gas, a quart of
milk, a loaf of bread or a pack of smokes.

On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:04:18 -0500, (Jerry - OHIO)
wrote:

And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.

Gasoline wasn't all that different.
http://www.inflationdata.com/inflati...tion_chart.htm

If you're a smoker, blame your government. Tobacco is incredibly cheap;
taxes, not so much.

On 12/26/2010 5:22 PM, Frank wrote:
On 12/26/2010 6:04 PM, Jerry - OHIO wrote:
And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.
Jerry



In '65 heating oil was 15 cents a gallon but when I was a teenager in
the '50's, 18 cents would get you either a gallon of gas, a quart of
milk, a loaf of bread or a pack of smokes.

Back in '71 gasoline was 22 cents per gallon at rural service stations,
the name brand stations in town were charging 35 cents per gallon. This
was in Northeast Alabamastan. :-)

TDD

On 12/26/2010 5:34 PM, zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:04:18 -0500, (Jerry - OHIO)
wrote:

And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.

Gasoline wasn't all that different.
http://www.inflationdata.com/inflati...tion_chart.htm

If you're a smoker, blame your government. Tobacco is incredibly cheap;
taxes, not so much.

You may fin this interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxFrZCl-0Ig

TDD

dadiOH wrote:
Dean Hoffman wrote:
The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. Things are better now.

http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq

The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

Certainly true for appliances and electronics. However, for a nickel (each)
I used to be able to buy...

A coke
I think the pop bottles were 8 oz. way back then. Does a buck
fifty sound right for the sixteen ouncers now?
A candy bar
Don't know the price on these.
A phone call
Did you mean a nickel a minute? That's one thing on your list
that has gotten cheaper. Fifteen cents a minute even on my prepaid cell
phone.
A cup of coffee. With refills.

I think a buck something at McDonald's for the large one.

A nickel then requires about $0.40 now. Got any of those items for $0.40
recently?

"dadiOH" wrote in message
...
Dean Hoffman wrote:
The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. Things are better now.

http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq

The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

Certainly true for appliances and electronics. However, for a nickel
(each) I used to be able to buy...

A coke
A candy bar
A phone call
A cup of coffee. With refills.

A nickel then requires about $0.40 now. Got any of those items for $0.40
recently?

A better comparison might be instead of comparing dollars comparing the
number of minutes working to earn the cost of the various items.

Charlie

On Dec 26, 1:38*pm, Dean Hoffman wrote:
* * The links are to the Carpe Diem site. *It's written by an economics
professor. *He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. * Things are better now.

* *http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

* *http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq

* *The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

Mr. Mark J. Perry should take off his idiot cap and compare how many
hours we have to work to buy the same EXACT things we use today with
the same EXACT things we used then. You can no longer buy the same
exact appliance you used then; in fact I wish you could because it
lasted ten times longer. Here are some examples of some things that he
REALLY should have compared instead:
A five pound bag of Potatoes
A pound of 20% fat Ground beef
A pound of plain rice
Seeing a doctor
Seeing a dentist
Seeing a lawyer
Trash pick-up service (once a week)
A kilowatt of electricity used
A cubic foot of water used
A cubic foot of natural gas used
All these have stayed exactly the same.

On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 17:13:38 -0500, "dadiOH" wrote:

Dean Hoffman wrote:
The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. Things are better now.

http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq

The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

Certainly true for appliances and electronics. However, for a nickel (each)
I used to be able to buy...

A coke

A buck and a half a sixpack (12oz.).

A candy bar
A phone call

Long distance = $0

A cup of coffee. With refills.

A nickel then requires about $0.40 now. Got any of those items for $0.40
recently?

Coke and phone calls, certainly.

"Dean Hoffman" wrote in message
:

The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. Things are better now.

http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq

The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

True.

The two major items whose prices have outpaced inflation are health care
and education.

When I went to Columbia U. in the mid 1970s, a year of tuition cost me
$6,800. Today, even allowing for inflation, that's only about 3 months'
worth of tuition.

In the last 50 years, the inflation-adjusted cost of health care has
risen several hundred percent. Of course, health care today is better
than it was 50 years ago. Diseases that were death sentences back then
are now treatable.



-- Steven L.

"Dean Hoffman" wrote in message
...

A phone call
Did you mean a nickel a minute? That's one thing on your list that
has gotten cheaper. Fifteen cents a minute even on my prepaid cell phone.


No he meant talk as long as you want for a local call. And a young man could
go to the matinee at the movie house for 15 or 20 cents at the same time.
Heck 50 cents would get you in most movies, a bag of popcorn, a drink and a
nickel left to call for a ride home.

Let's see, last week the cheapest first run movie was $4, the popcorn was
5.50, a small drink 3.75 and there were no pay phones to use so without cell
service you were SOL. A prepaid plan cost about 25 cents a minute but you
have to buy ahead.

Tell the professor to get his head out of his A** and visit the real world.

Colbyt

On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:07:28 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 12/26/2010 5:34 PM, zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:04:18 -0500, (Jerry - OHIO)
wrote:

And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.

Gasoline wasn't all that different.
http://www.inflationdata.com/inflati...tion_chart.htm

If you're a smoker, blame your government. Tobacco is incredibly cheap;
taxes, not so much.

You may fin this interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxFrZCl-0Ig

How about, instead of the lower taxed states reducing the tax *differential*,
the higher taxed states reducing the *tax*. All predictable and really dumb.

On 12/26/2010 13:38, Dean Hoffman wrote:

The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. Things are better now.

Manufactured goods are cheaper now due to production automation and
manufacture in countries with cheaper labor. Taxes and other threats to
liberty by government, along with a litigious society, have lowered the
standard of living -- but it's safer now.
--

On Dec 26, 7:19*pm, "Colbyt" wrote:


No he meant talk as long as you want for a local call. And a young man could
go to the matinee at the movie house for 15 or 20 cents at the same time.

Movie admission .09
Pop corn .10
Soft drink .05
candy (2ea.) .01

Grand total .25

That was how I spent my weekly allowance every Saturday morning.

The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 12/26/2010 5:22 PM, Frank wrote:
On 12/26/2010 6:04 PM, Jerry - OHIO wrote:
And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.
Jerry



In '65 heating oil was 15 cents a gallon but when I was a teenager in
the '50's, 18 cents would get you either a gallon of gas, a quart of
milk, a loaf of bread or a pack of smokes.

Back in '71 gasoline was 22 cents per gallon at rural service stations,
the name brand stations in town were charging 35 cents per gallon. This
was in Northeast Alabamastan. :-)

TDD


The cheapest gas I remember my dad buying was a dime a gallon. That
was for farm use (no tax) and during a price war. It was probably in
the mid 1960s but I don't remember for sure.

On 12/26/2010 7:24 PM, zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:07:28 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 12/26/2010 5:34 PM, zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:04:18 -0500, (Jerry - OHIO)
wrote:

And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.

Gasoline wasn't all that different.
http://www.inflationdata.com/inflati...tion_chart.htm

If you're a smoker, blame your government. Tobacco is incredibly cheap;
taxes, not so much.

You may fin this interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxFrZCl-0Ig

How about, instead of the lower taxed states reducing the tax *differential*,
the higher taxed states reducing the *tax*. All predictable and really dumb.

Isn't it amazing how that works. If the states would operate on the
principle of put a tax on it that we can get away with, things would
work a lot better. In a free enterprise system, a merchant understands
that consumers vote with their feet and the selling price has to be low
enough to prevent a customer from going elsewhere. Are you going to
drive 50 miles to the state line to save 25 cents on your pack of
smokes, or even drive to the next city to save the same quarter? If I
was a smoker, I might drive to the next city if the if the price was
2 or 3 dollars less a pack and buy enough to last a while. $5.00 tax
a pack and I would get together with friends and make a road trip to
pick up a case or three. If I was really ambitious, I would rent a
U-Haul and fill it up. :-)

TDD

On 12/26/2010 8:17 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 12/26/2010 5:22 PM, Frank wrote:
On 12/26/2010 6:04 PM, Jerry - OHIO wrote:
And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.
Jerry



In '65 heating oil was 15 cents a gallon but when I was a teenager in
the '50's, 18 cents would get you either a gallon of gas, a quart of
milk, a loaf of bread or a pack of smokes.

Back in '71 gasoline was 22 cents per gallon at rural service stations,
the name brand stations in town were charging 35 cents per gallon. This
was in Northeast Alabamastan. :-)

TDD


The cheapest gas I remember my dad buying was a dime a gallon. That was
for farm use (no tax) and during a price war. It was probably in the mid
1960s but I don't remember for sure.

Oh heck, I forgot about the no tax of tractor gas. My dad had a 50gal
drum with a hand crank pump on it and every now and then we took it
to the local service station to fill it up. He got a bit cross with me
for pumping gas into my 66 Doge Dart when I wanted to go on the prowl.
Of course back then, the little 6 cylinder car would go forever on a
dollars worth of gas. :-)

TDD

When I got my first job, in 1980. The min wage was 2.35 an
hour. Gasoline, can't remember. I think about 80 cents.
Figure about 20 minutes wage for a gal of gas.

Now, the min wage is about 7.75 an hour, and gas is 3.25 a
gal. Using these numbers, it's about 25 minutes to a galon,
now.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Charlie"
wrote in message
...

A better comparison might be instead of comparing dollars
comparing the
number of minutes working to earn the cost of the various
items.

Charlie

When was this?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Red" wrote in message
...

Movie admission .09
Pop corn .10
Soft drink .05
candy (2ea.) .01

Grand total .25

That was how I spent my weekly allowance every Saturday
morning.

On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 20:34:28 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 12/26/2010 7:24 PM, zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:07:28 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 12/26/2010 5:34 PM, zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 18:04:18 -0500, (Jerry - OHIO)
wrote:

And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.

Gasoline wasn't all that different.
http://www.inflationdata.com/inflati...tion_chart.htm

If you're a smoker, blame your government. Tobacco is incredibly cheap;
taxes, not so much.

You may fin this interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxFrZCl-0Ig

How about, instead of the lower taxed states reducing the tax *differential*,
the higher taxed states reducing the *tax*. All predictable and really dumb.

Isn't it amazing how that works. If the states would operate on the
principle of put a tax on it that we can get away with, things would
work a lot better. In a free enterprise system, a merchant understands
that consumers vote with their feet and the selling price has to be low
enough to prevent a customer from going elsewhere.

Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania are learning that people vote with their feet. That goes double
for Ohio and New York.

drive 50 miles to the state line to save 25 cents on your pack of
smokes, or even drive to the next city to save the same quarter? If I
was a smoker, I might drive to the next city if the if the price was
2 or 3 dollars less a pack and buy enough to last a while. $5.00 tax
a pack and I would get together with friends and make a road trip to
pick up a case or three. If I was really ambitious, I would rent a
U-Haul and fill it up. :-)

I've been known to drive across the border (to New Hampshire) to save sales
tax. No need anymore, there's always the Internet and UPS. ;-)

?
"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
When I got my first job, in 1980. The min wage was 2.35 an
hour. Gasoline, can't remember. I think about 80 cents.
Figure about 20 minutes wage for a gal of gas.

Now, the min wage is about 7.75 an hour, and gas is 3.25 a
gal. Using these numbers, it's about 25 minutes to a galon,
now.

--

When I got my first real job in 1963, minimum wage was about 1.35 and a
gallon of gas was 25¢. Damn, that was much cheaper.

?
"Molly Brown" wrote

Mr. Mark J. Perry should take off his idiot cap and compare how many
hours we have to work to buy the same EXACT things we use today with
the same EXACT things we used then. You can no longer buy the same
exact appliance you used then; in fact I wish you could because it
lasted ten times longer.

So you'd really rather have a 19" B & W TV instead of a flat screen HD with
a 47" screen? My family lives better with more air conditioning,
computers, bigger and better refrigerators.


Here are some examples of some things that he
REALLY should have compared instead:
A five pound bag of Potatoes
A pound of 20% fat Ground beef
A pound of plain rice
Seeing a doctor
Seeing a dentist
Seeing a lawyer
Trash pick-up service (once a week)
A kilowatt of electricity used
A cubic foot of water used
A cubic foot of natural gas used
All these have stayed exactly the same.

But since we can more easily afford appliances, we can more easily afford
that bag of potatoes. The $5 doctor visit is now $150+ though.

"Colbyt" wrote in message
m...

"Dean Hoffman" wrote in message
...

A phone call
Did you mean a nickel a minute? That's one thing on your list that
has gotten cheaper. Fifteen cents a minute even on my prepaid cell
phone.


No he meant talk as long as you want for a local call. And a young man
could go to the matinee at the movie house for 15 or 20 cents at the same
time. Heck 50 cents would get you in most movies, a bag of popcorn, a
drink and a nickel left to call for a ride home.

Let's see, last week the cheapest first run movie was $4, the popcorn was
5.50, a small drink 3.75 and there were no pay phones to use so without
cell service you were SOL. A prepaid plan cost about 25 cents a minute
but you have to buy ahead.

Tell the professor to get his head out of his A** and visit the real
world.

Colbyt

I'm 62. We got a half a buck (wish I would have saved those silver Liberty
halves), admission was fifteen cents, popcorn and drinks were a dime, candy
bars were a nickel.

Today's dollars would be about $17 for the same things.

Steve

"The Daring Dufas" wrote in message
...
On 12/26/2010 8:17 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 12/26/2010 5:22 PM, Frank wrote:
On 12/26/2010 6:04 PM, Jerry - OHIO wrote:
And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.
Jerry



In '65 heating oil was 15 cents a gallon but when I was a teenager in
the '50's, 18 cents would get you either a gallon of gas, a quart of
milk, a loaf of bread or a pack of smokes.

Back in '71 gasoline was 22 cents per gallon at rural service stations,
the name brand stations in town were charging 35 cents per gallon. This
was in Northeast Alabamastan. :-)

TDD


The cheapest gas I remember my dad buying was a dime a gallon. That was
for farm use (no tax) and during a price war. It was probably in the mid
1960s but I don't remember for sure.

Oh heck, I forgot about the no tax of tractor gas. My dad had a 50gal drum
with a hand crank pump on it and every now and then we took it
to the local service station to fill it up. He got a bit cross with me for
pumping gas into my 66 Doge Dart when I wanted to go on the prowl.
Of course back then, the little 6 cylinder car would go forever on a
dollars worth of gas. :-)

TDD

That Dart with the slant six was a damn good car. My buddy had one. It
wasn't the hot rod of the day, but it had wheels, and the heater and radio
worked. Life was good. We didn't have to ride the bus. Wish I had one
today.

Steve

On Dec 26, 8:57*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
?
"Molly Brown" wrote



Mr. Mark J. Perry should take off his idiot cap and compare how many
hours we have to work to buy the same EXACT things we use today with
the same EXACT things we used then. You can no longer buy the same
exact appliance you used then; in fact I wish you could because it
lasted ten times longer.

So you'd really rather have a 19" B & W TV instead of a flat screen HD with
a 47" screen? * My family lives better with more air conditioning,
computers, bigger and better refrigerators.

Here are some examples of some things that he

REALLY should have compared instead:
A five pound bag of Potatoes
A pound of 20% fat Ground beef
A pound of plain rice
Seeing a doctor
Seeing a dentist
Seeing a lawyer
Trash pick-up service (once a week)
A kilowatt of electricity used
A cubic foot of water used
A cubic foot of natural gas used
All these have stayed exactly the same.

But since we can more easily afford appliances, we can more easily afford
that bag of potatoes. *The $5 doctor visit is now $150+ though.

Ed Pawlowski wrote:

So you'd really rather have a 19" B & W TV instead of a flat screen HD
with
a 47" screen? My family lives better with more air conditioning,
computers, bigger and better refrigerators.

The point that I was trying to make was that his evidence supporting
his postulate that things are better now is faulty for the exact same
reason that you stated of appliances being “more, bigger, better” In
other words he is comparing apples with oranges. We did not have
computers or color TVs then but we also didn’t have to call the repair
person or mechanic almost every day when those so called “better”
appliances and cars crammed with more and more idiotic“ amenities” or
“water and energy saver” features break down. Did you include the cost
of what you pay to the service technician or the parts supplier or
store for renewing every two years that cheap made in China garbage
when you said “But since we can more easily afford appliances, we can
more easily afford that bag of potatoes. The $5 doctor visit is now
$150+ though”?
I think not.
When I said I wish I could buy the same appliance I used then I wasn’t
referring to a TV set, computer or microwave oven but a range,
dishwasher, clothes washer, dryer or the early self defrosting
refrigerators which were substantially durable than what we have now.
I can even make a point about color TVs, computers and text messaging
cell phones which have killed social skills, conceptual thinking and
the English language if you like. The last genius we had was Einstein
with E=MC2. I dare you to name one Shakespeare, Beethoven or Da Vinci
since then. You don’t even see anymore polymaths like our founding
fathers anymore. What we have are bored so called “professionals” who
only want to go home and play SimCity or Call of Duty. Why do you
think that is?

On 12/27/2010 12:25 AM, Steve B wrote:
"The Daring wrote in message
...
On 12/26/2010 8:17 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 12/26/2010 5:22 PM, Frank wrote:
On 12/26/2010 6:04 PM, Jerry - OHIO wrote:
And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.
Jerry



In '65 heating oil was 15 cents a gallon but when I was a teenager in
the '50's, 18 cents would get you either a gallon of gas, a quart of
milk, a loaf of bread or a pack of smokes.

Back in '71 gasoline was 22 cents per gallon at rural service stations,
the name brand stations in town were charging 35 cents per gallon. This
was in Northeast Alabamastan. :-)

TDD


The cheapest gas I remember my dad buying was a dime a gallon. That was
for farm use (no tax) and during a price war. It was probably in the mid
1960s but I don't remember for sure.

Oh heck, I forgot about the no tax of tractor gas. My dad had a 50gal drum
with a hand crank pump on it and every now and then we took it
to the local service station to fill it up. He got a bit cross with me for
pumping gas into my 66 Doge Dart when I wanted to go on the prowl.
Of course back then, the little 6 cylinder car would go forever on a
dollars worth of gas. :-)

TDD

That Dart with the slant six was a damn good car. My buddy had one. It
wasn't the hot rod of the day, but it had wheels, and the heater and radio
worked. Life was good. We didn't have to ride the bus. Wish I had one
today.

Steve



In 1973, I bought a used 1967 Renault 10 from a guy I worked with. It
had 4 cylinder 1108cc water cooled rear engine, 4 wheel disk brakes,
independent suspension, rack and pinion steering and a curb weight
of 1,730lbs. I wound up rebuilding the engine and transmission while
I owned it and had a lot of fun with it. I could pull the engine by
hand and carry it to a workbench and it was really easy to service.
It had the skinny 15 inch wheels like The VW Beetle but only three
lug nuts per wheel. With the tiny engine and four speed manual
transaxel, the little car got really good gas mileage. If I was in
a tight parking spot, I could grab the front bumper and drag the
car around so I could pull out. I would love to have one today, it
was a simple inexpensive mode of transportation. Mine was dark blue. :-)

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au...ifications.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMQ359twQv4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU9Cm1V-tYc

TDD

Dean Hoffman wrote:
The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. Things are better now.

http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq

The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

Yeah, well, it's my impression that sex is cheaper today.

In my day, it took a lot of effort and patience. Girls - then women - almost
wouldn't KISS you on the first date. I had one woman tell me recently that
she and all her girlfriends almost never have SEX on a first date.

I understand the current advice given women is to carry a condom in their
purse because, well, you never know what might happen. Last year I had a
date with a woman of a certain age who carried LEVITRA in her purse because,
well, you never know what might happen.

And no, I don't think the current crop of college men are getting any more
than I did when I was in college; but I'm damn sure they didn't have to work
as hard for it.

In article ,
"Steven L." wrote:

The two major items whose prices have outpaced inflation are health care
and education.

Probably the two things the Government has its fingers the furthest
into. Coincidence? I think not.


In the last 50 years, the inflation-adjusted cost of health care has
risen several hundred percent. Of course, health care today is better
than it was 50 years ago. Diseases that were death sentences back then
are now treatable.

Until it became too interesting, they used to cut healthcare
inflation into three pieces: the underlying inflation (CPI), the case
mix inflation (sicker people as you noted, more people) and the excess.
Most of what many people were calling excess (anything above CPI) was
taken up by the case mix inflation. Still a bunch of excess inflation,
but not nearly the same headline.

--
"Even I realized that money was to politicians what the ecalyptus tree is to koala bears: food, water, shelter and something to crap on."
---PJ O'Rourke

My Dart was the first year they had electronic ignition,
1974. Wouldn't run when it was wet. Needed a starter every
year and a half. The 8 cylinder 318 engine got about 10 1/2
MPG. My Mom's car, a plymouth with slant 6, got about 18
MPG. I liked the slant six engine. Also easier to work on,
with the starter on top.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Steve B" wrote in message
...

That Dart with the slant six was a damn good car. My buddy
had one. It
wasn't the hot rod of the day, but it had wheels, and the
heater and radio
worked. Life was good. We didn't have to ride the bus.
Wish I had one
today.

Steve

Yow, that's dated. Did he drive a 1931 Edsel?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Earl" wrote in message
eb.com...


But since we can more easily afford appliances, we can
more easily
afford that bag of potatoes. The $5 doctor visit is now
$150+ though.



I remember the doctor making house calls.

On 12/26/2010 4:38 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s with
what we can buy now. Things are better now.

http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq


Ah technology. They really have figured out how to make things cheaper.
Those TVs were all handwired and had lots of large components and little
plastic. Look at all the woodworking!

No doubt that the oven was built tougher too.

But that is the way it is, they figure out how to minimize materials
and costs and the price falls due to competition. It's rather dramatic.
When you first make a new product you want it to work (and it is
overbuilt), later you want to beat/match your competitors on pricing.
There is always a premium on new.

Now for things where the amount of US labor has remained relatively
constant, it's a different story. Bread, eggs and coffee shop coffee
being often cited.

Jeff



The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

And in the meantime, God in Heaven hasn't changed his view
on fornication.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"HeyBub" wrote in message
m...

Yeah, well, it's my impression that sex is cheaper today.

In my day, it took a lot of effort and patience. Girls -
then women - almost
wouldn't KISS you on the first date. I had one woman tell me
recently that
she and all her girlfriends almost never have SEX on a first
date.

I understand the current advice given women is to carry a
condom in their
purse because, well, you never know what might happen. Last
year I had a
date with a woman of a certain age who carried LEVITRA in
her purse because,
well, you never know what might happen.

And no, I don't think the current crop of college men are
getting any more
than I did when I was in college; but I'm damn sure they
didn't have to work
as hard for it.

On 12/27/2010 1:25 AM, Steve B wrote:
"The Daring wrote in message
...
On 12/26/2010 8:17 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 12/26/2010 5:22 PM, Frank wrote:
On 12/26/2010 6:04 PM, Jerry - OHIO wrote:
And in '64' gas was 32.9 and smokes were $ . 32 a pack.
Jerry



In '65 heating oil was 15 cents a gallon but when I was a teenager in
the '50's, 18 cents would get you either a gallon of gas, a quart of
milk, a loaf of bread or a pack of smokes.

Back in '71 gasoline was 22 cents per gallon at rural service stations,
the name brand stations in town were charging 35 cents per gallon. This
was in Northeast Alabamastan. :-)

TDD


The cheapest gas I remember my dad buying was a dime a gallon. That was
for farm use (no tax) and during a price war. It was probably in the mid
1960s but I don't remember for sure.

Oh heck, I forgot about the no tax of tractor gas. My dad had a 50gal drum
with a hand crank pump on it and every now and then we took it
to the local service station to fill it up. He got a bit cross with me for
pumping gas into my 66 Doge Dart when I wanted to go on the prowl.
Of course back then, the little 6 cylinder car would go forever on a
dollars worth of gas. :-)

TDD

That Dart with the slant six was a damn good car. My buddy had one. It
wasn't the hot rod of the day, but it had wheels, and the heater and radio
worked. Life was good. We didn't have to ride the bus. Wish I had one
today.


You say that now! I still have one, a 70 Dart with the slant six. When I
get that magic combo of time and money it may go back on the road. Could
use a sway bar as the suspension is a little primitive, and no AC of
course, but one hell of an air vent. Did the upgrade to disk brakes...

I have a friend who blew up his slant six, threw a rod and I know it
had good oil and was running well. Not sure how that could happen, but
he may have been flying.

Jeff


Steve

On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 07:52:13 -0500, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

My Dart was the first year they had electronic ignition,
1974. Wouldn't run when it was wet. Needed a starter every
year and a half. The 8 cylinder 318 engine got about 10 1/2
MPG. My Mom's car, a plymouth with slant 6, got about 18
MPG. I liked the slant six engine. Also easier to work on,
with the starter on top.

I had one and no problems starting when wet, and never replaced a
starter.
Karma.
But no amount of karma kept the entire back end from rusting out.

--Vic

On Sun, 26 Dec 2010 17:13:38 -0500, "dadiOH"
wrote:

Dean Hoffman wrote:
The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. Things are better now.

http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq

The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

Certainly true for appliances and electronics. However, for a nickel (each)
I used to be able to buy...

A coke
A candy bar
A phone call
A cup of coffee. With refills.

A nickel then requires about $0.40 now. Got any of those items for $0.40
recently?

You'd probably burn up $10 worth of gas looking for a pay phone in my
neck of the woods. But can you imagine telling someone they could
pay $30 a month for a phone they could carry around with them- and
talk coast to coast for as long as you wanted for whatever the
average hourly pay was in those days? [$3-4?]


About the time all those things were a nickel, I got my first job.
$.60 an hour planting trees. I bet that job pays $8.00 now.

*These* are the good *new* days.

Jim

"Steve B" wrote:
-snip-

That Dart with the slant six was a damn good car. My buddy had one. It
wasn't the hot rod of the day, but it had wheels, and the heater and radio
worked. Life was good. We didn't have to ride the bus. Wish I had one
today.

I had to retire my '66 in 1985. The drive train had another 100k in
it-- but the body had pretty much turned into O2. [even the Fe part
was gone.]

Jim

Circa 1950

On Dec 26, 8:54*pm, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
When was this?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

"Red" wrote in message

...

Movie admission *.09
Pop corn * * * * * *.10
Soft drink * * * * * .05
candy (2ea.) * * *.01

Grand total * * * *.25

That was how I spent my weekly allowance every Saturday
morning.

?
"Molly Brown" wrote
Ed Pawlowski wrote:

So you'd really rather have a 19" B & W TV instead of a flat screen HD
with
a 47" screen? My family lives better with more air conditioning,
computers, bigger and better refrigerators.

The point that I was trying to make was that his evidence supporting
his postulate that things are better now is faulty for the exact same
reason that you stated of appliances being “more, bigger, better” In
other words he is comparing apples with oranges. We did not have
computers or color TVs then but we also didn’t have to call the repair
person or mechanic almost every day when those so called “better”
appliances and cars crammed with more and more idiotic“ amenities” or
“water and energy saver” features break down.

I recall changing tubes in the old TVs frequently while the newer ones go
for many years with no repair. I typically drive my cars over 150,000 miles
and change spark plugs one time at 100k. Maintenance on newer cars is a bit
more complex, but it is needed far less. I remember cleaning spark plugs
every 5000 miles and replacing them at 10,000 miles, along with point and
maybe wires. And resetting the timing along the way and adjusting points
after a few thousand miles. No thanks, I'll keep my newer cars that are
cheaper to operate than any of my older cars.

My other appliances are just as good as they were in the past. You can buy
a decent basic gas or electric range for about $400 to $500. You can also
get better quality for $4000 if that is your desire.


Did you include the cost
of what you pay to the service technician or the parts supplier or
store for renewing every two years that cheap made in China garbage
when you said “But since we can more easily afford appliances, we can
more easily afford that bag of potatoes.

The last time I had an appliance serviced was about 20 years ago. Maybe you
need to buy better brands. I did just replace my dryer that was 29 years
old and a few years ago, we opted for a new gas range rather than fix the 25
year old one.


When I said I wish I could buy the same appliance I used then I wasn’t
referring to a TV set, computer or microwave oven but a range,
dishwasher, clothes washer, dryer or the early self defrosting
refrigerators which were substantially durable than what we have now.

I'm not so sure. Other than your perception, do you have evidence? Seems to
me that appliances did go through a stage about 5 to 10 years ago where they
were less reliable, but they seem to have rebounded. That is my
perception, not something I can prove.


I can even make a point about color TVs, computers and text messaging
cell phones which have killed social skills, conceptual thinking and
the English language if you like. The last genius we had was Einstein
with E=MC2. I dare you to name one Shakespeare, Beethoven or Da Vinci
since then. You don’t even see anymore polymaths like our founding
fathers anymore. What we have are bored so called “professionals” who
only want to go home and play SimCity or Call of Duty. Why do you
think that is?

While I agree with you there, it has nothing to do with reliability and
quality of a refrigerator. Many do say that TV has destroyed the human
species. That would be a different thread though.

Dean Hoffman wrote the following:
dadiOH wrote:
Dean Hoffman wrote:
The links are to the Carpe Diem site. It's written by an economics
professor. He is comparing what Americans could buy back in the 60s
with what we can buy now. Things are better now.

http://tinyurl.com/2bal4ta

http://tinyurl.com/3y79pgq

The stuff in his examples are used in the home.

Certainly true for appliances and electronics. However, for a nickel
(each) I used to be able to buy...

A coke
I think the pop bottles were 8 oz. way back then. Does a buck
fifty sound right for the sixteen ouncers now?

1940s - Pepsi Cola - 12 oz - .05 cents + 2 cent bottle deposit
Coca Cola - 6 oz. - same price and deposit as above
Pepsi jingle.
"Pepsi-Cola hits the spot. Twelve full ounces, that's a lot. Twice as
much for a nickel, too, Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you."
Times were tough back then so we kids always bought the Pepsi.
Today, it's Coke.


A candy bar
Don't know the price on these.
A phone call
Did you mean a nickel a minute? That's one thing on your list
that has gotten cheaper. Fifteen cents a minute even on my prepaid
cell phone.
A cup of coffee. With refills.

I think a buck something at McDonald's for the large one.

A nickel then requires about $0.40 now. Got any of those items for
$0.40 recently?




--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @