Contrasts

Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 5 months ago to Economics
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When one pays the price for a product or service we are usually used to paying the price, or a price close to it.We are usually only made conscious of it when the current price is contrasted with a price for the same product's cost many years ago. For example, 100 years ago a Delmonico Steak at Delmonico's famous restaurant 100 years ago in 1917 was 95 cents. Currently at one of our better steak houses here in Florida, is $16.95. But this is even more painful when the contrast is personal because it happened during one's lifetime. The other day, I was throwing out some ancient bills when I came across bills for my kids from the doctor for the first 10 years of their lives. A bell went off in the old skull and checked out the Vet bills for my beagle, as she just tuned 10 years old. Guess what? The Vet bills were three times the cost of the bills for BOTH boys over a 10 year period. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.


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  • Posted by term2 6 years, 5 months ago
    The value of the services probably didnt change much. BUT, the value of the dollar used to pay for it went down a LOT.. Inflation numbers have been low for a few years now because more and more stuff is being provided at lower prices from China. The items made here, or services provided by americans ( not illegal immigrants) cost a LOT more, reflecting the true drop in value of the dollar.
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    • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
      I think that the quality of service has dropped in proportion to the amount of dollars that have increased.The stuff from the far east is cheap because of lower labor costs, but also because of improved technology.
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      • Posted by jetmec 6 years, 5 months ago
        The difference is easy to see, go into a factory in England or America and find a machine less than 20 years old, go to China and find one over 20
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        • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
          Connect the dots for me. You're implying that the older machine helps make products cheaper, or by keeping it longer it becomes more cost effective?
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          • Posted by jetmec 6 years, 5 months ago
            Yes older machines get more cost effective with age, they also were out, new machines cost more and are more accurate, I would put money on the fact that there is not much difference in cost between a product made in China and one in the west
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            • Posted by LibertyBelle 6 years, 5 months ago
              Things made by slave labor in a totalitarian state are naturally going to seem cheaper to citizens in freer countries. Can the people in freer countries, in all good conscience, buy such things?
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              • Posted by jetmec 6 years, 5 months ago
                I would say no! But is there a choice?
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                • Posted by LibertyBelle 6 years, 5 months ago
                  I have a choice. I buy something else. It is some-
                  times very inconvenient. My phone, which I had been told (by the doctor in whose medical experi-
                  ment I participated; that's how I got the phone) had been made in Korea, conked out a few months ago, so I have been trying to get another one which will be acceptable. Maybe I can get a used landline phone. I'm hoping.
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  • Posted by Dobrien 6 years, 5 months ago
    This might make you cry 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge
    New $3888. One was auctioned for $688,000
    In the recent past at Sotheby's ,
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUSg2...
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    • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
      We were brand new Objectivists when my friend bought a GTO, and I bought a Dodge Charger with the 440 engine. We 'd go home from our meetings and pull up side by side and rev. the engines as if we were going to race. We never did. They were both '69's. I wonder what I'd get for that great hunk of iron? As I recall it cost $5,500 and change. It was my favorite car to this day.
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      • Posted by freedomforall 6 years, 5 months ago
        We had a '69 Chevelle 350 convertible that had way too much engine for its brakes. It was a blast to drive. Great G-forces! It was fall sale buy for $3,500. I inherited it from my Dad while I was at Tech. Had 2 beauties riding in "parade" mode through campus during the streaking craze in '73.
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        • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
          Wow, what a bunch of "bad" boys we have here in the Gulch.
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          • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 6 years, 5 months ago
            I was profiled by the local cops...and these kids today just don't get it. I deserved it but had a hard time convincing myself...laughing

            My 61 Starliner, 175.00 cost used, less than 2000.00 new, now would cost me 55K by the owner of my car now. We installed a 406 4sp from my friends smashed 62. The front tires would jump off the ground when the clutch was popped and easily did 11sec in the quarter mile...that earned me the right to be profiled.
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            • Posted by freedomforall 6 years, 5 months ago
              First 3 times I walked down the main street near Tech, I was stopped and hassled by the cops. I looked like a typical '72 college student, clean, not long haired. I gave them all the respect they deserved. I should have read it as a warning about the state, but it took me 20 years to wake up.
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              • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
                My oldest son was the one who always got hassled.He tinkered with whatever car he had and always looked as if he were speeding even when he wasn't. One time he actually got himself arrested because he didn't have the title in the glove box. I had to go and bail him out. Oh, The Shame Of it I I think he was 18. He's now 60 and drives a Ford 350 diesel.
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            • Posted by CaptainKirk 6 years, 5 months ago
              I was profiled. I drove a PoS car in a bad neighborhood late at night (worked at a bar as a busboy).
              I got pulled over a few times until they started to recognize me! It pissed me off at first, but then I realized... At least they care!
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      • Posted by mccannon01 6 years, 5 months ago
        By gawd golly gee, Herb7734!!! I had a '69 GTX with the 440! Wish I still had it!

        Edit: finally put headers with bullet mufflers and the sound was soooooooo naaaaasteeeeeeyyyy!
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        • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
          Then you know what it felt like to float along at 130mph. I got so many speeding tickets, I had to either sell the car or go to jail.
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          • Posted by mccannon01 6 years, 5 months ago
            Yes, but the rear end was changed out to 456s and it would top out around 95, but LORD-HAVE-MERCY it got there in a hurry! Left rubber draggin' all over town.

            Traded it in on a "family car" - don't go there - wipin' my weepin' eyes.
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            • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
              I would drive from Detroit to the upper peninsula. I75 all the way. There was a rise 50 miles outside of the Mackinac Bridge. I would run it up to 130
              mph + through it into neutral and coast all the way to Lake Superior.
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              • Posted by mccannon01 6 years, 5 months ago
                Though many memories may fade in time, it's wonderful that such experiences remain sharp and bring a smile in the mind. They are our own legends.

                Edit add: As many times I deserved it, I never got a speeding ticket with the GTX. However, my first car was a used '64 T-Bird and I couldn't help pushing that 390 until I got one, LOL. That car weighed 4400 pounds!
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                • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
                  Heavy metal, big engines, cushy suspensions, but most of all, a greater sense of freedom because of less regulation. Those were the good old days, and they'll never be seen again.
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  • Posted by peterchunt 6 years, 5 months ago
    I note that there is an absence of items that actually cost less, but give more. The prime examples are all things technical. Our smartphones have more power than the original computer that took us to the moon. I hesitate to think what that computer cost. Maybe a $1,000 for a new iPhone X is cheap. Cars do cost more but they are more reliable (at least my Porsches), are far more safe, more conveniences, and lots of technical add-ons to improve the handling.
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    • Posted by freedomforall 6 years, 5 months ago
      The used ones can be the real bargains- both computers and vehicles. Example: Dual Xeon 6-core Dell servers from 2010 are selling for $200-300 with 60 day warranty. Performance is remarkably good compared to current servers costing 20-30 times more. (No support from manufacturer and definite risk of failure, of course.)
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 6 years, 5 months ago
    Seems odd. When I was a child, the price of a postage stamp was 4 cents. (A purple stamp, side
    view of Abraham Lincoln). A candy bar could be had for 5 cents. I think it was 10 cents by the time I graduated from high school. There may have been a little inflation then, but I did not notice it much. I didn't buy things much until I left home and moved into Staunton (Va.--I thought Staunton was a big city), and had a job as a carhop. I started saving money, and things seemed to be mainly all right, until Nixon imposed those wage/price controls in 1971, and after that, things were never normal again.I believe the claim was that this was supposed to fight inflation. Ha ha, HA!!! I believe that it made things a lot worse.
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  • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
    This has become a topic hijacked by hot rodders.
    It wasn't my intention, but YAHOO, it sure reminds me of those days in the 60's and 70's when the bigger the V8 the better and it was cooler to have big wheels and a D.A. haircut than anything. You wouldn't find any snowflakes among that crew. I'm not saying they were good, but I bet they had fewer regrets than today's crop of almost adults.
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  • Posted by $ Stormi 6 years, 5 months ago
    The upside is, the house you paid the mortgage off on is now worth 2 1/2 times what your paid for it.
    The downside is my preference in cars has not changed, but the prices have soared. Nothing beats my first ,57 Chevy, originally about $3,000 loaded, now they are $50,000-$80,000 at auction. My first Camaro, 1978, sold for tens of thousands less than my current 5th generation Camaro. If we had only collected '62 /corvettes at less than $5,000! On the other hand,we have been able to end up with a Corvette, Camaro and Challenger (husband went to the dark side), in spite of Obama years. And hey, Hillary would have banned cars given a few years, and said she was stopping climate change. I just feel sad that kids don't know cars anymore, they fly around in those tin can tiny cars and don't connect to them at all.
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    • Posted by jetmec 6 years, 5 months ago
      I know what you mean! I now drive a 2000 Mustang, But I once owned a 1973 351ci convertible Mustang, I still have fond memories
      of that car and all the girls In it!!!
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      • Posted by $ Stormi 6 years, 5 months ago
        In high around "65, I had a .57 Chevy. My dad had bought a Corvair convertible which was supposed to be mine. I asked if I could have the old '57 Chevy instead. Dad drove a Caddy, and then the Corvair. I lived that '57, dual glass packs, dual antennas, Bel Air, A/C, just fun to drive. I still miss it. I went through a series of sensible Chevelles, a Friebird, but nothing bonded like a '78 Camaor (becasue it reminded me of the Trans Am in "Smokey and the Bandit", fun car to drive. When it was 25 years old, I followed the new generation of Camaros, and got a 2010, with which I am completely bonded. Love that car. I had at the time an '82 Corvette also which I had several years. Sold it and added a 2002 Corvette, love those long front ends. I see cars as fun, as artwork on wheels, as incredible technology, and I resent the government trying to tell us we should use mass transit, which does not exist here, or bike, (at my age!) just because of faux global warming.
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    • Posted by freedomforall 6 years, 5 months ago
      Kids might enjoy cars more if there was room on the roads to enjoy them (and if the fuel cost was 25 cents/gallon.)

      I've driven sports cars since '73 and although the performance today is better, the thrills are rarer.

      (Hondas and Camrys get outta the way!)
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      • Posted by $ Stormi 6 years, 5 months ago
        Maybe if kids put down the stupid cells, and tuned into the vehicle, they might see how cool and special the drive is. I am lucky, nice rural subdivision, with great lightly traveled road to and from town. You can almost feel infinity as you drive with the engine purring and the 70s-80s music on. In town, I have seen engine envy, esp. when some guy in a SUV tried to peel out at a light when I had the Vette. Not worth the effort to show him what horsepower is. School actually lead kids to feel cars are bad, no, teachers with no grasp of any particular subject, bad!
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        • Posted by freedomforall 6 years, 5 months ago
          You are so right! I drive to a friends house on occasion who is about 35 miles away on a rural route and its usually less traveled. It reminds me of drives of the past. No need to turn on the radio; just put the top down and enjoy the sounds of the car, the wind, and the road. Unfortunately I know it won't last long. On the other hand, I remember some pretty frustrating times in the 60s when road repairs intruded on idyllic drives;^) And I do appreciate that my current car is less likely to break down than a sports car was in the 70s (even though this car is 19 years old.) Which reminds me, I need to work on the brakes before my next trip. Thanks to the fed's inflation I will be doing it myself. (That will be in addition to the new radiator and tires this year. But that's all planned maintenance that I expected when I bought the car in 2014. A bargain compared to spending $40,000 for a new one.)
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          • Posted by $ Stormi 6 years, 5 months ago
            I had a '78 Camaro which never broke down in 25 years, ever. It had routine maintenance only, loved that car, until the unibody started going. The government and Hillary were crushing cars about then, and I did not want that fate for it, it went to someone who did their own resoroation. Hillary would have us all, except her, on bike paths if she had her say. We love cars at our house, and have passed that on to our grown daughter who drives a Charger. Every time I hear Agenda 21, I know they want to take our cars away. I was glad to hear you say the sound of the engine, isn't it great! Not sure the computers did much for repair avoidance, a module here, a module there, $1,000 bucks here and there. They are still trying to get my switchblade Camaro key from me, I get at least a recall notice every month! I would have to have six inch heels at least to ever bunch that key, more like 8 inch or more.
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      • Posted by 6 years, 5 months ago
        I got into BMW's hoping to get the thrill back. They were really pocket rockets, but some how no thrill. That old Dodge with the soft cradling suspension and the complete inability to go around a corner without a swing and sway with Sammy Kaye added to the thrill.They called it the Oroflow suspension, we called it the Overflow suspension.
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