The hamsters ate the last post I made on this so this one will be shorter. (Actually it not only didn’t post, it closed my window, shut down the Internet, and turned off my computer…so I’m a bit nervous)
My first house: $24,800. My income at the time: $8000/year. This was the guideline: 3X your income for your total purchase.
At the time, $8000/year was by no means a lavish income, but it was well above minimum wage.
The house today (and somebody else owns it, I sold it in 1991) is worth $350,000, and it’s the same house–it’s the lot that’s worth the $$$. The same crappy house, in other words. Who will buy it today? Someone who makes 1/3 of $350,000? It’s worth more than TEN TIMES what it was worth in the mid-70s.
There may be a 24-year-old with an $80,000/year income who can buy this house. It’s sure not a family home. It may look like an old Victorian fixer-upper but it’s only a one-bedroom; it’s a starter home. A $350,000 starter home. (Or, a $100,000 starter home on a $250,000 lot.)
I don’t really think this can be accounted for by economizing on tuna casseroles, and while someone might want a smaller home, and be willing to pay for it, what’s happening to the smaller homes in many neighborhoods here are, they’re being bought by RE speculators and torn down to build McMansions.
Amen. You think you can’t do it on one income, but that’s because most people think they have to have the DVD’s the HDTV, the cable, the esspresso machine, 2 cars, regular vacations to Vegas or Mexico, monthly salon haircuts, new clothes, etc. You pare down or cut out a lot of that stuff you’d be surprised how cheap it is to live and still splurge occainsionally.
Anything handcrafted. Can you imagine some of the old cathedrals being build today? It would never happen. The labor costs for the windows/stoneworks/plasterwork/statues etc would keep it from happening.
I guess that actually boils down to time. Used to be time was cheap, materials were expensive. That’s mostly flip-flopped now.
In the companion thread, a lot of items have found competition in modern times and droped in price. Surprisingly, the exact opposite happened to medicine.
Here again, you’re getting a lot more today than you were yesterday. For example, hospitals have a lot more equipment available today than in years past, and they have to pass the cost on to the patient/insurance company. There are a lot more tests that can be run, to better diagnose and treat the patient. As for drugs, again, there’s LOTS more drugs available now. I had an MSRA infection a few years ago, and after trying me on several antibiotics, I was put on a very new and very expensive antibiotic. But it saved my arm.
On the other hand, when I need an antibiotic, I can sometimes take one that costs less than $3 for 30 pills. My thyroid supplement costs less than $5 for 30. The newest drugs generally cost more, but they’re more effective, too.
The Anglican cathedral in my city is just being completed now. It is Gothic in style, with stone vaulted ceilings. It was started a century or so ago, true, but there was a long hiatus in the building until the 1960s, when there was a bit of a spurt, and then nothing more till recent times. They finally got their act together to finish it, using the old masonry techniques and methods. When finished it will be a remarkable thing. So it can still be done.
ISTR my dad paying some ridiculously low amount in the sixties ($40/year for one car). Now I pay way more than 3% inflation can account for. (Exact comparison is difficult, due to more cars and teen drivers in the house).
Cars. My first brand new Toyota cost $1,600 in 1967. My last one (of 4) cost $2,800 in 1970.Magazines. OMOg, I wanted to buy one yesterday at B&N, to read about the cover story, “Recession”, but it was priced at $4.95. I read it anyway, and put it back on the shelf. I swear, that place is the neighborhood branch of the county library system. I did buy a spinach/feta pretzel and iced vanilla venti skinny latte for $7, though, but that’s another example.My hourly rate of pay. I started out at $0.85 and now, 9 jobs and 54 years later, I get just over $25.
Birth. When cleaning out my folks’ home of 65 years, I found the receipt for my Mom’s 3 day hospital stay for my birthing = $3.50. Truly.
Cars. My first brand new Toyota cost $1,600 in 1967. My last one (of 4) cost $2,800 in 1970.Magazines. OMOg, I wanted to buy one yesterday at B&N, to read about the cover story, “Recession”, but it was priced at $4.95. I read it anyway, and put it back on the shelf. I swear, that place is the neighborhood branch of the county library system. I did buy a spinach/feta pretzel and iced vanilla venti skinny latte for $7, though, but that’s another example.
My hourly rate of pay. I started out at $0.50 and now, 9 jobs and 54 years later, I get just over $25.
Birth. When cleaning out my folks’ home of 65 years, I found the receipt for my Mom’s 3 day hospital stay for my birthing = $3.50. Truly.
The US Dept. of Labor says this is $10,377.58 in 2008 dollars. I grant that the cost of a new Toyota has outpaced inflation, but it’s a heck of a lot more car. Stereo, airbags, automatic seat belts, and it will probably run three times longer before being fit for the junkyard. In dollars per usable mile, the new cost has almost certainly dropped since 1967.