Cleaning out some old papers yesterday. Receipt from honeymoon in 1972. 5 days in lodge at nice state resort park...$119.05 total. Receipt from purchase of a new 1977 Chevy Nova in 1976...$4,101.45. Receipt from Jeremy's birth at Riverside in Columbus in 1977...4 day stay...$818.60 total. Insurance covered all. No deductible. No copay.
That would probably cost a young family today thousands in medical deductibles and co-pays. That single issue is going to hold our economy back no matter who is elected president. Yet only one side of the aisle really seems to give a crap about it.
Why that's the side that passed the ACA bill relying on the stupidity of the American voters. Since voters for one side of the aisle bought their story, I wonder who they were referring to as "stupid."
Stu, I'll bring it back into focus. How about 1966, fresh out of college? The cost of my first car, a 1962 Chevy Corvair convertible = $1,200. I got a one-year loan and had to have my dad co-sign because I had no credit references. I'm sure we all have stories like that. Today's cost of living is a reminder to me how many years I've lived.
1975 We bought our first home. It was a brand new Pulty home. Cost: $39,000. We put $3,000 down and got a $36.000 mortgage. Moved 2 1/2 yrs. later when our 3rd child was born. Sold it for $68,000.
When I graduated from Dental School I had an old banger of a Rambler that I drove to the Naval Station in San Diego, it was in bad shape and when I got married that fall we got a new car, since we were both working and earning the princely combined income of 25K, we went for the top dollar Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme which was around 4500$. My Dad told me I was crazy to spend that much money on a car!! The best part was that on 25K we were able to save quite a bit of money every month, you know shopping at the Px for food and all.
Beer Blast Night at The Agora on High Street in Columbus Ohio in 1973. Admission: $2.25 All the shitty beer you can drink
How about tuition? In 1984 when I started at A&M I paid $4 per credit hour plus various fees. The total for my first semester was $450. My step daughter starts at Stephen F Austin this fall and its one of the cheaper schools in state. Her first semester tuition and fees will sting us for $4000. :shock:
McSorley's Tavern in the Village in NYC. One mug of ale 25 cents. 2 ales for 35 cents. No one ever ordered just 1.
Tuition? To contribute to my tuition and room & board at Notre Dame, I worked as a life guard for the 4 summers following my senior year in HS (1962) through the summer preceding my ND senior year (1965). I also received $1.00 cash for each 15-minute private swim lesson. I normally worked 60 to 72 hours per week (12 hours per day) with 1-2 days off. I earned roughly 25% of the average $2,500 per year total cost for tuition and R&B. For spending money during the school year, I worked as a busboy in the South Dining Hall, starting at .95 per hour and working up to $1.05 per hour by my senior year. Today, the total annual cost is approximately $58,000. I wonder if students could even dream of earning 1/4 of that amount ($14,500) during the summer. That's what inflation has done to the cost of education over the past 50+ years. To be fair, there is infinitely more financial aid available than when I was in school, thanks in large part to the long-running NBC TV contract for football home games. Still, it's a steep price that few families can afford.
8) Jimmy's Gas Station in Montclair, CA 1968. Gas was 0.18 cents per gallon. You could fill up a Volkswagen Beetle or an MG for under $2 bucks and ride around the valley raising hell all night. We would usually stop at Hustler's Billiards on Holt Blvd and win $5 bucks shooting pool, then head out...
My summer job in college was working vacation relief for American Airlines at LaGuardia airport. (Dad knew someone.) I was a member of the TWU (Transit Worker's Union) and Was making 4.50 an hour. When planes came in, we'd clean them out before they went out again. We'd take papers and scrap out of the pockets behind the seats. We emptied the ash trays (remember when they smoked on planes?) and occasionally we'd have to clean the rugs if someone upchucked. We'd clean out the cockpits, clean the windshield, put plastic cups in the galley and put paper towels, toilet paper and and soap in the lavatories and change the garbage cans. Since OT was time and a half, I put in for it all the time but it was assigned on a seniority basis. My favorite shift was 2-10pm. It was perfect for a college kid in NYC. I was in the bar (drinking age was 18) by 10:45 when things were beginning to hop and I didn't have to get up until after noon for work. After graduation, I was teaching school until 2:45 and working at the airport from 4 to midnight. Since I was off during the week at the airport, I worked every day of the week. I was making enough to buy a Buick Skylark for $4,100. (dad still had to co-sign.) I was still working the 2 jobs when I got married in Dec. However, I had my 6 mos. in and qualified for an employee pass on an airline. Went to Greece on my honeymoon because it was actually cheaper than Niagra falls.
As someone who somewhat recently had a baby, I'll chime in and then let you guys resume your trip down memory lane. Had we used my insurance, the 4 day stay and the souvenir baby would have cost us a grand total of $200. Since we used Brittney's insurance, it cost nothing...and we got to keep the souvenir baby.
I was able to pay my tuition at Texas in the Fall Semester from my earnings in the summer. But back then you could enroll for 15 hours and fee's, for less than 500$. I made min wage at the time which was around 1.50/hour I think. I worked in retail, for the store where my dad worked. I finished college and dental school with out having a student loan to pay off. Back in those days even dental school was a bargin, tuition was less than 2K/year. An orthodontist gave me a part time job I could do easily and earn enough to cover a lot of my tuition and fees. My parents did help of course and for dental school I lived at home so that was a huge money saver.
This is a great topic. It certainly amplifies the economic differences in the generations. Those of us in my generation (the old guys :wink: ), although we lived far apart throughout the U.S., pretty much had the same experiences re: cost of education, housing, transportation, beer. My Dad saved the papers from all my family's 5 home purchases, starting in 1946 in Dallas ($6,750) and ending in 1961 in Indianapolis ($30,200). In between was St. Louis, Chicago, and South Jersey. It's another real life example of the impact of inflation over almost 70 years.
Glanced at an article on the front page of a boat trade publication and it is basically sounding the warning bell for the boating industry. The baby boomer generation is the most significant group presently who own boats and consequently toward whom marketing is directed. However.... as that group ages there is no replacement as yet. Millenials are the biggest group numbers wise but they aren't necessarily interested in boating and to go a step further they are the generation most likely to be devastated with rising costs such as healthcare and transportation while also saddled with stagnant wages and a growing gap bewteen the wealthiest one percent and the rest of America. Somehow we have evolved into a country that forgets how the middle class used to have purchasing power..... used to be able to buy boats and new automobiles, etc. It's becoming impossible for the middle class to retain that purchasing ability and the math just doesn't support the numbers in the top 1% keeping the necessary pace to sustain industries like boating where purchases are so discretionary.