cdelena

You are comparing untaxed 1981 prices to taxed 2006 prices. The point of the article is that gasoline itself has not gone up in real terms when compared to 1981 prices, but gasoline taxes have.

Twenty years of slumping oil and fuel prices let a whole generation of people get used to low fuel prices, but world demand has ended the slump.

wannabuy

Gotcha gotcha. My bad on the taxes. Still though it sucks for the average American. The difference in what people get paid is still $3.16 cents per hour less than inflation if they are lucky enough to make $10 per hour. That is around $6572.80 less than they need just to break even with 1981. That is horrible. No wonder everyone has problems.

To relay on the t.v.'s and toys that most people have is all thanks to credit card debt. Something that wasn't mainstream in 1981.

Thanks for the chat cdelena. Most educational.

-Chris

rai

I'd like to point out that a lot of things are cheaper now.

DVD players used to cost $200 or more now you can get one for under $50.

My first computer in 1993 cost me about $1700 which would be (?) about $3K today and you can get a 10x better computer now for ~$600.

cars are better or cost less today. My first new car cost me $8K in 1988. That would be about $15K in todays dollars. My car was a 82-hp VW Fow with 15" wheels, no radio, 4-speed MT, non-power brakes or steering, non-power windows etc.. you'd be laughed at nowadays if you wanted to charge $15K for such a car. More likely you'd be expect to pay the same $8K for a similar equiped car.

SheDrivesIt

I was in Japan (in and around metro Tokyo and around Mt. Fuji) for 2 weeks in February of this year. Gas was running around 120 to 125 yen/ liter for regular. With exchange rates at that time, it was about 4.10 to 4.25 per US gallon for regular. Not too bad. Far less than I expected it to be. It might seem somewhat high to us but with the average wage being far higher in Japan, and with the typical JDM car fuel economy it wasn't rediculous. I spoke to people about it and they didn't like the prices but weren't freaking out about it either. Kind of like here.

CG

Many of us live in areas where you just can't do that. We made the choice to move to a rural farming area and like it much better than the city life. we have fair sized cities

BPUKiller

I'm about 99% sure you are wrong on both accounts. You also have to factor in the loss of the value in a dollar. People can no longer get by on one income earner, and I'm not talking about inflation here but just how a currency works(floats) since we got off the gold standard.

Sam

wannabuy

Here is a couple websites to help things out for those that need more info into this whole thing.

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/ Consumer index
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ Inflation and other related items.
http://inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflati...nCalculator.asp
Just for comparison.


-Chris

gsolman

[QUOTE=CG,Jun 23 2006, 03:14 PM] Many of us live in areas where you just can't do that. We made the choice to move to a rural farming area and like it much better than the city life. we have fair sized cities

Chris Stack

People no longer WANT to get by on one earner, because they "need" their 2 new $30k cars, their flat-screen TVs with satellite hookups, their fast food 8 times a week, their $50 cell phone plans and $200 phones, etc.

The standard of living has gotten so high for all but the absolute poorest people (homeless) that they have long ago forgotten the difference between "need" and "want."

Does it suck going without all that stuff? Sure. But don't tell me they CAN'T get by without it, and without the 2nd job to pay for it, because they could. They just don't WANT to.

s2kpdx01

My wife and I do just fine on my one income. I have made sure since we got married that we can always get by on my one income. I belive in most cases Chris is exactly correct. Now that I have a kid coming I'm really glad we can get by on one income.