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I can't give any numbers for the 70's, but I finished at a two year technical school in 1963 and went to work for IBM at a monthly pay of $420 or $5040 per year and that was decent pay then. With my first check , I bought a brand new 1963 Ford Falcon, standard shift, no radio, no AC for approximately $2450 and you couldn't buy any new car a whole lot cheaper except maybe a VW Beetle. I believe minimum wage then was $1/hr and I was making $2.63/hr. I suspect you may possibly buy a cheap new car today on one half years salary for an equivalent job. Of course I could be wrong as I haven't worked in a while.
Back then we thought everything was very expensive too.
people did not own they rented. $80 a month for my apt. my gas was 29 cents a gallon. groceries 7 a week.
i made 13.50 an hour at armco steel with lots of OT.
my tuition at U of Houston was $100 a semester.
Armco Steel in Middletown, Ohio? I grew up within sight of that mill in the 70s. Remember seeing the
coke trains with the specially designed coke cars all the time when I was a kid, read somewhere that fully loaded they were some of
the heaviest rail cars in history. For those not familiar with steelmaking coke in this context
refers to coal that has been specially processed to serve as fuel in a blast furnace, such as at a steel mill. They advised people living nearby not to put pennies on the
tracks to be flattened as the coke cars were so heavy that they could shoot any pennies left on
the rails out like bullets. I think they still use those cars on the interior tracks, but I haven't seen them
in decades..my own 70s memory lol. Employee had count at the mill is much much lower now.
I think relative to the incomes it was cheaper than now for sure. I don't remember people going on about how expensive cars, homes were, general COL like now. I lived in a small city in NY state. They did bit*h a lot about Rockefeller and his taxes, but maybe that was the late 60's?? I was a pre-teen to teen & everyone talked about "Rocky" and his tax increases. Heating oil wasn't cheap either. I guess those 2 items were the highest. Education wasn't that high; state schools like SUNY system weren't expensive at all relative to incomes.
I think relative to the incomes it was cheaper than now for sure. I don't remember people going on about how expensive cars, homes were, general COL like now. I lived in a small city in NY state. They did bit*h a lot about Rockefeller and his taxes, but maybe that was the late 60's?? I was a pre-teen to teen & everyone talked about "Rocky" and his tax increases. Heating oil wasn't cheap either. I guess those 2 items were the highest. Education wasn't that high; state schools like SUNY system weren't expensive at all relative to incomes.
Actually, as I've mentioned, the 70s were actually the watershed. Go back to the 60s and you see the dramatic difference.
I knew a service station owner in the 60s who bought a new Chevrolet sedan each year by emptying his pocket change at the end of each day into a jar. At the end of the 60s, a really nice brick home ran maybe $40,000 and 3% interest. By the end of the 70s, the same house was $100,000 at !5% interest.
Actually, as I've mentioned, the 70s were actually the watershed. Go back to the 60s and you see the dramatic difference.
I knew a service station owner in the 60s who bought a new Chevrolet sedan each year by emptying his pocket change at the end of each day into a jar. At the end of the 60s, a really nice brick home ran maybe $40,000 and 3% interest. By the end of the 70s, the same house was $100,000 at !5% interest.
The 2 things I remember being cheap (in the early 70's) were cigarettes and gasoline. Cigs were about 32 cents a pack and gas was 28 cents a gallon. Rent was cheap so it seemed; some duplex apts were as low as 65 dollars a month sometimes with gas and water paid.
Now what wasn't cheap were color tvs although cheaper than in the 60's, long distance, stereo equipment, some of these items.
The 2 things I remember being cheap (in the early 70's) were cigarettes and gasoline. Cigs were about 32 cents a pack and gas was 28 cents a gallon. Rent was cheap so it seemed; some duplex apts were as low as 65 dollars a month sometimes with gas and water paid.
Now what wasn't cheap were color tvs although cheaper than in the 60's, long distance, stereo equipment, some of these items.
For sure, electronics could be expensive back then, relative to other items. When I was in college, I used to work in a stereo shop. A person could easily spend the equivalent of a year's tuition at a state school on a pair of speakers. A good cassette deck? Tuition for a semester. Fast forward to the 80s and things were still expensive. Remember the first or second generation of personal computers? Just a hard drive could cost thousands. And yet today we can buy flash memory for a few dollars at the drug store.
Advertising is much more effective and is better aimed at the very young--creating a higher level of consumerism at a much younger age. When I was a kid in the 50s into the 60s, there weren't even that much television programming for children.
Advertising is much more effective and is better aimed at the very young--creating a higher level of consumerism at a much younger age. When I was a kid in the 50s into the 60s, there weren't even that much television programming for children.
So would you say consumerism is at and all time high now?
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