Are Thing Really More Expensive???

[tabbycat31]

I wouldnt want to go back to old technology. I like having a private phone that I have on me all the time. I like being connected. It also could be a generational thing too.

[JanH]

I love having a cell phone. I hardly ever use it, but I love being able to travel and able to call if I need help. With four people going in four different directions, the cell phone has been a wonderful thing.

[BCHGRL]

I'm going to go a different route on this. My husband and I spend about 140 hours a week at work. This doesn't include the time we spend in school or studying either. I have a career that I find fulfilling personally and financially. I don't want to go back to the 50s, but anyone who does is welcome to do so. Thanks to the feminist revolution, women have the choice to pursue any lifestyle that they choose.

I don't have time to use a typewriter , chop wood, or even cook. Thank goodness for the microwave or I would starve. A computer and central heat/air is not something the evil media has convinced me that I need; rather, it is representative of my modern lifestyle.

Yes, most things cost more. Housing is exhorbitant. Many people spend irresponsibly on things that are excessive. That doesn't mean we need to throw out the baby with the bath water. I, for one, would not like to live in a society where my only choices are being a wife, a teacher, a nurse, or a secretary (no offense to anyone in the aforementioned professions).

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by tabbycat31

Same with cellphones (and they're not the size of a brick either)

I saw a show on History or Discovery recently about this. The first mobile phone cost just under $4,000 and calls cost $1-2/minute! Compare that to today when for $30/month, you can talk for hundreds of minutes and they give you the phone for free.

[disneysteve]

I wasn't around in the 50s, but did come to be in the early 60s. This is an area that I've always been interested in and I actually published an article in a national financial magazine several years ago. These numbers are now outdated, but I think they are still relevant to this conversation.

The average home is twice as large as it was in 1950. This is despite the fact that the average family is 13% smaller.

A new car purchase takes fewer month's worth of family income than it did in 1950. The number of cars per US adult is 50% higher than it was then.

In 1960, Americans spent 15% of their income on groceries vs. only 7% today. Our downfall is eating out. In 1990, 42 cents of every food dollar was spent in restaurants, twice as much as a generation earlier.

Each year, over 16 million Americans travel to foreign countries. In 1950, the number was 680,000.

The average American consumes more than twice as many goods and services as he did in 1950 and ten times more than in 1929.

So while many things seem more expensive, the real problem is we use more stuff, buy more stuff, demand/expect bigger better things, travel more, own more cars, etc. If you were living the exact same lifestyle today that someone led in 1950, I think you'd find that costs haven't gone up all that much and might even be lower.

[tabbycat31]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I saw a show on History or Discovery recently about this. The first mobile phone cost just under $4,000 and calls cost $1-2/minute! Compare that to today when for $30/month, you can talk for hundreds of minutes and they give you the phone for free.

Sounds like an interesting show. I remember in the 80s they were huge, and only the real elite had them (think of the movie Wall Street and the brick that he had). Then they started getting more popular.

I first got mine in 2000, and I wound up giving up the landline in 2002. I pay no more than $40 each month for it, and I get peace of mind, security, and I know that anyone can reach me (or text me as my friends do) whenever they want to.

[tinapbeana]

Originally Posted by shelbylovesmelby

I really think not only is the consumer manipulated by mass media & marketing but so many of us are trying to "keep up with the jonses" & going into severe debt for it!

the joneses can just bite my toe for all i care, i've got enough debt as it is

[lrjohnson]

I was conceived in the seventies.

I would go back to old technology if it meant overall less consumerism and debt and corporate mayhem. I could do with the microwave easily, don't have a dishwasher or cell phone, i line dry, blah blah blah. I'd miss the 'net and that whole pool of technology, yes. Trade offs, trade offs.

[sweeps]

You can have my microwave, maybe even my cell phone, but don't take away my dishwasher!

[tinapbeana]

i definitely don't mean to step on anyone's toes here, but let's think about this for a moment...

have you seen a restored victorian era house? movies set in the 20s? read history about the french revolution, chinese monarchies, or crusades?

conspicuous consuption is an ever present thread in human history. if technology allows me the knowledge and information to lead what i see is a better way of life and consume less in the process, give me technology, hands down.

hooray for internet!

[sakigt]

The "modest" 27 inch screen of today was the "luxury" of yesterday. VCRs used to cost hundreds of dollars now people on this board think a DVD player isnt THAT big of a splurge. Im not sure todays expensive gadgets are any different than that of yesterday.

I think the things that have made us more efficient (machines, technology) have also turned the middle class into the lower class. I remember hearing supermarket cashiers could buy a house and raise a family on their pay!

Additionally, with globalization comes increased competition of foreign markets. Increased competition means lower prices for consumers, but lower fixed costs, like salaries.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by sakigt

VCRs used to cost hundreds of dollars now people on this board think a DVD player isnt THAT big of a splurge.

Our DVD player was $35 at Wal-Mart. So no, I don't consider that to be a big splurge.

I remember hearing supermarket cashiers could buy a house and raise a family on their pay!

My uncle worked as a cashier at Acme supermarket for a few decades. Yes, they had a house, a car, took vacations each year, etc. That was in the 60s, 70s and early 80s.

[bjl584]

I'm only 28, but I know that things are more expensive today than they were in the past. However, people made less then too. My Grandfather made 21 cents an hour when he started working for the railroads after WWII. Of course, you could do all of your weekly shopping at the grocery store for $1. A lot of what people complain about as being more expensive is often a result of our lifestyles today. In the 50's there was no cable tv, internet, cellphones, Ipods, etc...... People got their entertainment by going outside and playing not by playing video games. Playing outside is free. Video games are $50 a piece. I guess that the consequense of living in a technologically advanced society are high expenses. My ancestors grew up on a farm. They had no money and made no money. But they were happy. We just live in a different world today, with different priorities, and different ways of looking at things. Different things are valued, different things are deemed to be important and/or necessary to maintain our lifestyle. Today, materialism and consumption often override things that were once commonplace in the world. Things like family, or appreciating the little things, or being happy with what you had and not wanting more and more. Those are just my thoughts on the matter.

[Ima saver]

Actually, the first VCR we looked at cost $1200, we bought one when they came down to $400. It cost $120 to repair it. Now, we throw them away!
I worked for 33 cents an hour at my first job when I was 12. Yes, a cashier could raise a family. My mother got her first job after my father died. She made about $25 a week, working 6 days a week. She had to support 3 people on that. that was about 1956!
You could not do all your weekly shopping for $1. Steak was $1 a pound, hamburger 3 pounds for $1. Bread was 2 loaves for 25 cents.
When I first got married, I budgeted $12 a week for groceries, I made $1 an hour.