What Decade Are You Living In, Ma'am?

[skeptic53]

One thousand square foot four bedroom brick tudor, built 1930, situated on a lot less than half again larger than the house itself, with crumbling plaster, ill-conceived updates, mishapen door frames, and ugly white vinyl-framed windows, in Seattle: $1500 a month.

Same house, in Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, $398,000 to purchase.

(This will bring out posts from folks in San Francisco, NYC etc where that would be a cheap price!)

[Gurndigarn]

CORRECTION: The cost of some things like consumer electronics have gone down, but the cost of necessities, like food, gas, utilities, and mortgages have gone up.

Yeah, but keep in mind that we're also getting more for what we spend the money on. We buy a hell of a lot more prepared food and do a lot less "real" cooking; utilities now include the costs associated with running AC, washer/driers, TVs, computers, internet and cable, etc.; and we travel more, so that we burn more gas getting places.

[Mark Healey]

I remember my first computer. It had 64K ram that I boosted to 128K, no hard drive, no monitor (I used my VCR as an rf modulator so I could use my TV), sound was done by alternating the rate of pulses to the speaker and the number of colors was in the double digits (with the memory expansion).

When people bitch about inflation they forget things like this.

[protege]

When people bitch about inflation they forget things like this.

Exactly. They just see dollar amounts. Slightly over 25 years ago, my father had his own advertising agency. One of the computers he had then was a large Xerox (8" floppies, no hard drive, daisy-wheel printer, slow as hell, monochrome monitor, etc.) That thing set his company back about $6,000! Fast forward roughly 25 years, and you can build a machine for about $500 that'll blow that thing away and then some Prices have come down. Not in "amount" but what you can get for it. That is, as technology changes, it simply becomes less expensive to access.

It doesn't stop there. Prices on cars have gone up too. However, that's mainly because of increased labor rates. However, cars built now are (technologically-wise) much better than things built years ago. Engines are more lighter, more powerful, more efficient. They're managed by computer systems that couldn't have been imagined in the 1970s, or even the '80s. Aluminum and plastics also figure into things now--both are being used to make parts that were once metal, or even wood years ago.

As to housing, well, the market in my county isn't doing much. Higher taxes, and the desire of mansions (even though the lots are *way* too small for the homes people are putting on them!) have driven many people across county lines. Because of this, you can get a decent place in the 'burbs for around $90-115k. Since many of the smaller homes take awhile to sell some owners will go down further. My house had been empty for a year, and was being used as storage. I made a (slightly) low-ball offer, and the owner literally pounced on it. They just wanted it gone. I can't complain too much, since the house is in great shape, and hasn't needed much work.

Also look at it this way: Around here, my mortgage payment isn't that much higher (about $30) more than renting an apartment. Because of that, I can't see why I'd get an apartment--I can write off the loan interest on my taxes...and I get to build up some equity.

[Sliceanddice]

lol oh man, im to young to remember cheap movies on tuesdays, but when a local theature started early bird weekend prices i took advantage, because being able to take three people to the movie and have them all get a drink for 30 bucks was good. who cares if the movie was before noon?
But do remember cheap gas, because i loved to read signs on the road when i was little. I remember whe it was 1.20..... i miss those days

[air914]

Sometimes, at the ripe old age of 54, I find myself thinking the "it used to cost only xxxxx!" thing to myself. For me it's an observation made out of frustration and wondering how things got so out of control in a relatively short time. How did that 5-cent loaf of bread become "worth" $1.50?

The loaf of bread became "worth" $1.50 b/c all of the ingredients in bread went up too.... that's why all prices of just about everything go up - baked goods go up b/c all of the ingredients, cost of renting a place (to bake in), electricity, etc. - they all go up too - wish it wasn't so

[Sofar]

Remember when a fifteen-inch color television set would set you back four hundred dollars?

[Rapscallion]

I remember my first computer. It had 64K ram that I boosted to 128K, no hard drive, no monitor (I used my VCR as an rf modulator so I could use my TV), sound was done by alternating the rate of pulses to the speaker and the number of colors was in the double digits (with the memory expansion).

My first computer was a ZX81. You could buy an expansion ram pack that would take it up to 1Kb of ram - woo! You plugged it into a TV and got two colours - one of them was white. Sound? Only if you threw it at someone and heard 'ouch!'.

Rapscallion

[Bloodsoul]

Wow, my Tandy 1000 seems futuristic in comparison.

I guess I can appreciate the local shoppes a little more; candy at our store is still $.39 and jeans are $10, while the arcade has a beautiful SNK Multi-video machine. In other words, pop in a single quarter and play one of four games (Metal Slug X, Bust-A-Move/Puzzle Bobble, Bomberman, and The King of Fighters '98). Heck, the guy who runs the arcade still sells his 20oz sodas for a dollar. Yay! ^_^

I remember looking through the attic and finding an issue of Tweety & Sylvester from the late 70s that cost $.10 (even came with an ad for Sea Monkies!). Now the price of comics today has pretty much turned me off of them completely, aside from the collected graphic novels or monthly issue of Shonen Jump ($5 for 300 pages feels so good). It actually scares me as to how much I'm going to have to charge for my own comics once I start printing...

[Andara Bledin]

My aunt had a Timex Sinclair.

The first thing I had when I got out of the house (it was my boyfriend's) was a dumb terminal, hooked up to a modem that was smarter. I can't tell you how much time I wasted on old BBSes.

^-.-^

[infavorofnaturalselection]

Well today's comics do tend to have a lot more colors and have a finish on them that sort of shows where the increased price goes to. I do have to say the quality of the comic books is also somewhat higher in general.

Electronics you do get a lot more bang for your buck in what it can do but man it doesn't last long.

A tv used to be able last a few decades now you are lucky if it lasts five years.

You used to be able to buy kits to build your own tv. Was for hobbyists but it was the exact same quality tv found in stores.

Video game prices are the same as they used to be thing is back then it was the carts that were responisble for the high price now it is video game development.
Carts cost 25 dollars to make (microchip costs as well as shipping one reason why Nintendo and SEGA controlled the cart making so they could reap all the benefits, game development was just a few houndred thousand for the most expensive NES games. Now cd-roms, dvd-roms cost .001 but game development is two -three million for most expensive wii games. Xbox 360 and PS3 game development is five-tweleve million most games.

[Gurndigarn]

My aunt had a Timex Sinclair.

Had one of those. I also had the opportunity to play on a mainframe... I had to do it after hours, because this was a serious work computer and the program I wanted (Zork) would slow the entire system down.

Electronics you do get a lot more bang for your buck in what it can do but man it doesn't last long.

A tv used to be able last a few decades now you are lucky if it lasts five years.

The TVs lasted longer, but you were continually taking vacuum tubes to the store to be tested.

[SongsOfDragons]

Well.......I did the maths a while ago, and I worked out that in England the comparative petrol price was actually $11 to the gallon.

So I don't know why I'm not complaining more.

[AFpheonix]

I remember looking through the attic and finding an issue of Tweety & Sylvester from the late 70s that cost $.10 (even came with an ad for Sea Monkies!). Now the price of comics today has pretty much turned me off of them completely, aside from the collected graphic novels or monthly issue of Shonen Jump ($5 for 300 pages feels so good). It actually scares me as to how much I'm going to have to charge for my own comics once I start printing...

Well, the superheroines have to pay for their boob jobs SOMEHOW....

[Gurndigarn]

It actually scares me as to how much I'm going to have to charge for my own comics once I start printing...

Well, my wife is doing hers in full, multi-million-color color (computer generated). So she figures that if she uses something like Lulu, the hardcover version would run about her about $40 print cost.

So if you see a comic running about $50 (reasonable profit) sometime around 2012 (her projected release date)...