Here's the inflation-adjusted price of gasoline every years since 1978 to 2021.

[ultrarunner]

My parents raised four children in a 900 square foot house and had only one car for the first 20 years they were married. Nothing was financed. They bought used cars and furnished the house with handed down furniture. People don’t need two incomes to “make ends meet”, they need two incomes to go to Disney World and buy 80 inch TVs and live in 2000 square foot homes with two financed, new cars sitting in the driveway.

Everything I’ve ever bought I first figured the cost in “hours at work”, it really dampens the spending urge.

I’m still that way having learned many things come to those that are patient.

Aside from a new mattress… nothing in the house bought new.

It does help having older friends with good taste downsizing and leaving California…

Regularly receive calls asking if they have something I could use…

Is America a wealthy country or what?

 

[jyoutz]

My state is doing the same here, except I believe that it's going to be $850. I'm not sure where the money is coming from but it's an election year...

We had a $1.6 billion budget surplus this year due to increased oil and gas production and increased prices, so the legislature had plenty to work with.

 

[LD1]

I dont disagree with what you’re saying and generally think your posts are of sound judgement. However, why is it that most households now have 2 working adults, many in debt and still cant make ends meet?
Either wages & salaries arent keeping up with expenses, or the mentality of Americans has changed from the virtues of saving money to spending everything you have to have more material wealth and “keep up with the Jones’s”
When I was a dependent, I had one primary working parent and the other worked part time to “get out of the house and make a little extra money”. We lived very comfortably on my fathers salary alone and he was self employed (taxed more). My parents were able to write a check for a new car or vacation and send us to a decent college. Now, it seems as if people will finance a lawn mower.

I think that is the answer.

Most people I know that have two working adults in a houshold.....that actually work a career type job are living comfortably. Not something like mom is a cashier at DG for $9/hr and dad works for a landscape company mowing lawns for $13/hr....Then have a $300/month internet/TV bill, a $1000 cell phone every year with a $150/mo phone bill, eat fast food or takeout all the time, kids have to have the latest nike or underarmor shoes and clothes, and they pay $1200/mo rent and never build equity in a home.

People like that also existed in the 70's to some extent. Just didnt hear about it as much because they were greatful for what they had....and didnt have social media to constantly see how better everyone else has it. Then today....rather than try and better themselves they would rather whine about how life isnt fair and hold out their hand waiting on a handout.

Take the average price of anything back in the early 70's.....simply move the decimal one notch right and its right on par with today. Same for wages.

I think one of the largest differences is work ethic. Back then, even those less fortunate had no shortage of wanting to work hard and earn what they had. And they had a desire to better themselves. Learn a skill or trade, get a good paying job. Now it seems people would rather sit on the couch with their nose in their phone. And have to be cautious about making "too much" because it might cut back their stamps, vouchers, free insurance, etc. They have no desire to transcend their dependency on others paying their way.

Dunno.....just saying on paper.....thing are simply no different than 50 years ago in a monetary sense. whatever percentage the cost of goods and services and real-estate, a comparable job's wages have also increased an equal percentage

 

[jyoutz]

California had said same but will be means tested…

Our legislature vetoed proposals for means testing, saying every resident should share in the profits.

 

[MossRoad]

True, but your MIL is smart in ways you dont understand.
By driving across town and paying .20 cents less/gallon, she is “rewarding” the cheaper fuel station with her business and not giving it to the more expensive gas stations. That, in turn makes the less expensive gas station more profitable and helps his business compete more favorably with the others charging more per gallon.
If lots of folks do this, it’ll force the more expensive guys to drop their prices and the whole town gets rewarded with cheaper gas.

Something maybe your don't understand is that just like one company owns about 50 McDonalds around here, about 7-8 companies own most of the gas stations.

Gas stations make very little profit from gas sales. It's all to get you into their convenience store to make more purchases, like soft drinks, snacks, milk, and a car wash.

Gas station prices on this side of town are always about the same from station to station, usually within a penny. Gas station prices on the other side of town are always about the same in regards to each other as well. The two sides of town do not compete with each other in any manner.

 

[Hay Dude]

Something maybe your don't understand is that just like one company owns about 50 McDonalds around here, about 7-8 companies own most of the gas stations.

Gas stations make very little profit from gas sales. It's all to get you into their convenience store to make more purchases, like soft drinks, snacks, milk, and a car wash.

Gas station prices on this side of town are always about the same from station to station, usually within a penny. Gas station prices on the other side of town are always about the same in regards to each other as well. The two sides of town do not compete with each other in any manner.

Your wise and knowledgeable MIL sure seems to think they compete against each other. She drives right past the closer, more expensive ones to reward the cheaper ones.
I actually do the same thing, and notice many of my neighbors do the same.

Even if Sunoco owns all the gas stations in my town, each franchisee posts what price he wants. The expensive ones dont last.

Heck, Im just glad we still have the freedom to chose in this country. I chose to reward people who sell for less and still feel good I’m helping a nearby business.

 

[sixdogs]

Here's an inflation calculator. Plug in the years and amounts and presto...

Inflation Calculator | Find US Dollar's Value From 1913-2025

Easily calculate how the buying power of the U.S. dollar has changed from 1913 to 2025. Get inflation rates and U.S. inflation news.

www.usinflationcalculator.com

 

[LD1]

According to the average us inflation calculator......$1 in 1970 would be like $7.41 today. So not quite 10x but close
A loaf of bread was $0.25 then.....now it is 7-10x that
A can of pop was $0.10, now it is 7-10x that
A stamp was $0.06, now it is $0.55....so about 9x
A new car was $3500.....now.....yup....7-10x
Average anual income was $9800. Now its about $70k for the country. still in that 7-10x range

There are exceptions to everything.....but by and large on average I think things are pretty similar. IE: if you work a good factory job, 40hrs per week....you can support a family just as easily today as you could back then. If you flip burgers for a living and have no desire or drive to succeed.....you are failing today just the same as you would have back then

 

[Diggin It]

We drove to Chicago on Sunday for a pleasure trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. I noticed the freeway was packed, the toll road was packed, the museum was packed, Millennium Park in Chicago was packed, restaurants were packed, the gas stations had customers, there were people waiting for the trains, etc. There was no indication that anything was amiss.

Despite prices being up, inflation, etc., people seem to keep spending their money, which would indicate someone still has money to spend. Prices will keep increasing and supply will keep decreasing until people stop buying things. That hasn't happened yet, so prices will continue to rise.

Another indicator that people will keep spending... Amazon is building a warehouse about 15-20 miles to my east. It will employ 1000 people. They're building it in a county with a current unemployment rate around 1.5%, in a state with an unemployment rate under 2.5%. They don't know where they're going to get workers from, but they're building it.

Amazon is supposed to open over 90 of these huge warehouses nationwide in 2022-2023. People keep buying.

The economy is booming. Demand is outweighing supply which is driving prices up

I dont disagree with what you’re saying and generally think your posts are of sound judgement. However, why is it that most households now have 2 working adults, many in debt and still cant make ends meet?

Either wages & salaries arent keeping up with expenses, or the mentality of Americans has changed from the virtues of saving money to spending everything you have to have more material wealth and “keep up with the Jones’s”

It's the second part. People spend every dime they have and lots of dimes they don't. One (of many) things overlooked in these discussions is the stuff people buy now that didn't exist then. A$20 phone bill was expensive back then and you couldn't buy phones ... you rented one from MaBell. Now, people have six or seven expensive phones, computers, $1,000 TVs and pay hundreds of dollars a month for the service to use them.

Y'all'd be amazed (or appalled) and what I live on each month, but I budget in ways that I have a little extra to buy some wants also. I squeeze eleven cents out of every dime ... twelve in a good month.

 

[Hay Dude]

According to the average us inflation calculator......$1 in 1970 would be like $7.41 today. So not quite 10x but close
A loaf of bread was $0.25 then.....now it is 7-10x that
A can of pop was $0.10, now it is 7-10x that
A stamp was $0.06, now it is $0.55....so about 9x
A new car was $3500.....now.....yup....7-10x
Average anual income was $9800. Now its about $70k for the country. still in that 7-10x range

There are exceptions to everything.....but by and large on average I think things are pretty similar. IE: if you work a good factory job, 40hrs per week....you can support a family just as easily today as you could back then. If you flip burgers for a living and have no desire or drive to succeed.....you are failing today just the same as you would have back then

Agree with most of that.

How about higher education? (except Purdue, which is amazing and seems to defy all universities)
I see that as higher than the 7-10 “rule”