FDR: The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself !!!
Stop and think what we are doing right now and compare that to these Comments Made in the year 1955!.... only 54
years ago (I was 12 years old, and remember them).
I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going
to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $10.00.
Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long
before $1,000.00 will only buy a used one.
If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. 20 cents a pack is ridiculous.
Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging 7 cents just to mail a letter!?
If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire
outside help at the store.
When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.
I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they
let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND,
it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.
I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have
some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.
Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract
for $50,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if
someday they'll be making more than the President.
I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would
be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.
It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few
married women need to work to make ends meet.
It won't be long before young couples will have to hire someone to
watch their kids so they can both work.
I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole
lot of foreign business.
Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government
takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are
electing the best people to government.
The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously
doubt they will ever catch on.
There is no sense going on short trips anymore for a weekend, it costs nearly $2.00 a night to stay in a hotel.
No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $15.00 a day in the hospital, it's too rich for my blood.
If they think I'll pay 30 cents for a hair cut, forget it.
I like Kris Kristofferson's version a little better...
"Freedom's just another word for nothing else to loose"
Assert Your Authority
Assert Your Authority
One thing to remember.
A two dollar a night hotel, considering that silver coins were used back in those days would be equivalent to about $28 a night.
30 cents for a haircut would be about $4.50 at today's rate in silver and $50,000 a year to play baseball would be around $750,000 dollars a year today.
In reality, when more people are working and producing more products, the price of everything including labor should go down. It's because of paper that the price of things go up.
grant
Don't forget
... you couldn't haul that much silver around on vacation unless you were going to an Iron Man Competition. The norm was paper currency (fiat). I never seen my dad pay for a motel in silver.
I do see your reasoning, but increased standard of living seems to wash some or all of that reasoning. I'm not defending FDR inflation, but is it really that bad, considering it is only adding zero's when necessary, sort of like coming up for air when you are underwater ?
study
You need to understand the way inflation works. It does not impact the economy evenly. It raises pirces near its entry point while salaries for those who are not close to the entry point stay the same or lag behind. Thus, government subsidized and credit driven components of the economy have huge price increases while everyone else struggles to keep up. This is why the real, inflation adjusted income of most people has gone down over the last thirty years.
Plus, inflation drives malinvestment which the market tries to correct when the bubble collapses.
Inflation cuases the boom/bust cycle that does so much harm.
I won't be here to see it,
but the poster in this thread that said they were born in 1970 wanted to know if these prices were real (back then). Remember where you heard it first - in 30-40 years from now when someone else can't believe these 2009 prices were real.
The more things change the more they remain the same no matter what kind of spin you put on them ! Just keep adding zero's.
You can't take it with you anyways.
I remember when doctors made House calls!
and a cocacola was 10 cents. You could buy 6 bags of groc for $20.00 (Paper Bags). When I was a kid, we lived in a 4 bedroom,2 and half bath,living room, dinningroom den, 2 car garage brick home. The House note was $68.00 a month. You could get 5 pieces of candy for a penny.
Are these prices for real??
I was born in the 70s, has the federal reserve really screw us up this badly in 60 years.
I used to pay
... a quarter for a haircut and a nickle for a bottle of coke, yes these prices are for real !
They have conditioned us
to be tolerant of inflation, to expect it and to pay more and more taxes to support this lifestyle.
Is your
... standard of living overall (1) better, (2) lower (3) same as 1955 ?
Mine is considerably better than my father's, and his father's.
Worse, definitely. Just
Worse, definitely. Just graduated College and can't find a job that pays all that well. My dad went to college pre-College bubble, graduated with no debt, and was able to find a great job even though he went to a bad school. His dad was an immigrant from switzerland with a PH.d. I think he was one of the pioneers of ritalin(dont shoot!).
Ventura 2012
I was around in '55
... and things are generally much better now. Sure, who wouldn't want a nice college job pushing a pencil in a cubical doing silly sh!t somewhere, but in the real world un-spoiled immigrant neighbors like mine - Mexican and Polish are a good example of blue collar workers, and if you had their money, you would throw yours away. A Puerto Rican neighbor just built two $400,000 + homes here and a Polish neighbor that can barley speak English out did him with a columned palace. True !
My dog groomer is a single mom who was laid off from a veterinarian grooming job now drives a Mercedes Benz. She charges me $45 every 6 weeks to groom my toy poodle. Every time I go there she has 6 to 8 dogs besides mine. Maybe you should get down to basics and roll up your sleeves to earn a living instead of depending on college to fulfill your pie in the sky college dream job ? Someone has to do real work. Right ?
Well, I'm going to law
Well, I'm going to law school next year to fight the good fight(praying I get into George Mason).
Real work? Spoken like a true socialist.
Ventura 2012
Hahaha
... Just what this country needs another lawyer. Remember where you heard it first, Socialism will always save Capitalism. Look around if you don't believe me (AIG).
Good luck in your studies, and better luck finding a job to put them to use.
invalid comparison
The average middle class family now needs TWO incomes to pay for what one income covered in 1960. The meteoric rise in the cost of housing, health care, and education (those goods and services most heavily impacted by inflated money) have made it nearly impossible for a family to survive on the earnings of one average worker. That is a HUGE decline in living standard.
Yeah and they bought into
... houses and cars they can't afford too. Invalid comparisons are everywhere. My cars and house are better than my fathers and his fathers. plus I bought both my teenage children brand new cars in H.S. Not bad for a H.S. drop-out who retired at 53. Sure I sacrificed, I worked hard and spent wisely while fools were dancing and laughing at me.
It wasn't luck, it was hard work. The Constitution doesn't guarantee you want to work, that's something you have to do for yourself.
Not to mention that in the
Not to mention that in the 1960's you could start up a business much easier than today, with less regulations. You need a license for pretty much everything otherwise you are an outlaw.
Standard of living in my book isn't the number of things a person has acquired. Increase production should be everyone working, working less and producing more. Not chasing after carrots on a string trying to own a house. Which back in the 60's a person could have buildt themselves. FDR made cartels out of everything. Try hiring a group of Amish to come and build you a barn, you can't! Besides the fact that if we were to look back before the 60's to the generation before, they had no income tax to pay, and many times very little if any property taxes. I know many retired folks who have to sell their homes, because they live on fixed incomes and cannot afford the property taxes. Inflation is never good, in fact I would prefer that prices go down, then my property taxes would go down, my cost of living would go down and then I'd even be happy with a lower salary.
grant
I started my business in the '80s recession
... no start up capital just being prepared when opportunity arose and being prepared. Incidentally mix that combination with hard work, and that is called lucky by those who are jealous. Retired at 53 (66).
Born in '67
but I would say better and worse. Better, in the fact that I have more access to finer things or more efficient equipment but worse because I have to fund an out of control federal government with Empire issues and no accounting skills.
My dad used to tell mom
... woman, you are crying with a loaf of bread under both arms with a roof over your head. Yes, it would be better to have good government, keep wishing.
A wise Philosopher once said to a student, here is a plain piece of glass, look what do you see. Student: Nothing. Philosopher: Put a little silver behind it, and now what do you see ? Student: Me.
Good Luck ;)