Could we live now like it was the 1960's?

[James]

Except in California where gas is REALLY expensive! We are always shocked at how much cheaper it is everywhere else. Of course, apparently our gas is cleaner and helps with our *ahem* air quality problem. It's probably true. I came to LA in the early 70's and it was much worse than now. Of course, it's still pretty bad - but progress, right?

You're in the expensive zone.
$0.35 (1966) = $2.76 (2019)

 

[KingGrump]

View attachment 75525
You're in the expensive zone.
$0.35 (1966) = $2.76 (2019)

What they don't say is how much greater. When I left Mammoth at the end of May, premium was $5. Regular wasn't much cheaper.

All that pales in comparison to my experience at Lake Louise. Pull up to the pump. Looked at the price. Thought $2.84 for premium wasn't bad. Then I realized it was per LITER.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

^^^ The "cheap" gas seems to be in the $3.85ish range and premium is North of $4.00 for sure. A good portion of that is taxes - federal, state, local, .... We learned a long time ago that you don't gas up in Mammoth! Bishop is much cheaper.

 

[Ken_R]

I googled up some numbers:
$6,900 1965 family income (usually 1 person working)
$2,752 1965 new car (only need 1) 145 days of work
$20,700 1965 house cost 3 years of work
$62,175 2018 average income (usually two people working)
35,742 2018 car cost (need 2nd car for wife to drive to work) 210 days of work
240,000 2018 house cost 3.8 years of work
Gasoline 31 cents per US gallon in '65.

Most folk were better off then.
CEOs are better off now. 843,000 then versus 15,600,000 now.

Thanks. Numbers dont lie.

 

[Ken_R]

What they don't say is how much greater. When I left Mammoth at the end of May, premium was $5. Regular wasn't much cheaper.

All that pales in comparison to my experience at Lake Louise. Pull up to the pump. Looked at the price. Thought $2.84 for premium wasn't bad. Then I realized it was per LITER.

$3.05 per Gallon for Premium here in Denver Today.

 

[newfydog]

Bringing it back to skiing. Groups of families would rent an old farmhouse in Vermont for a winter ski base. They'd cook up a potluck for dinner. Now, the motels in Granby Colo, just minutes from the slopes are empty in mid-winter. Its got to be slopeside ski-in ski-out or nothing. Those Granby motels once held skiers, but skiers have changed.

 

[ScotsSkier]

lived in a cardboard box at bottom of yard, walked 5 miles to school barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways......but we were lucky. ..

 

[François Pugh]

Aye you were lucky! We lived for three months in a rolled up newspaper in a septic tank.

 

[Philpug]

Aye you were lucky! We lived for three months in a rolled up newspaper in a septic tank.

You were lucky too, we didn't even have the rolled up newpaper.

 

[Jim McDonald]

Septic tank? We were just lucky to have enough feces for insulation!

 

[Wilhelmson]

To see why things are better now one only needs to look at maternal mortality chart. Things seem so much different now but the changes are minute in the larger scheme.

If I had to gripe about one thing it would be how few kids work these days. I think it embodies them with a sense of independence and financial responsibility. But that ship has sailed for the most part. Imagine seeing a 12 year old lumping some plywood or setting up a ladder on a job site.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

lived in a cardboard box at bottom of yard, walked 5 miles to school barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways......but we were lucky. ..

We dreamed of having a cardboard box!

 

[James]

Imagine seeing a 12 year old lumping some plywood or setting up a ladder on a job site.

Uh, that's illegal?
Yeah, all those drugged out long hairs from the sixties grew up to become _?

McRaven: Anyone who calls millennials 'soft' has clearly never seen them in a firefight
https://taskandpurpose.com/admiral-mcraven-defends-millennials-military-2637614510.amp.html

 

[Philpug]

What genre?

The Bri'ish invasion.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Yeah, all those drugged out long hairs from the sixties grew up to become _?

My parents? Not really they were 18 in 69.

McRaven: Anyone who calls millennials 'soft' has clearly never seen them in a firefight

Well my 10 year younger sister lives in Boulder. Give her 20 years with an advanced degree and she'll make more than I do lol.

My only complaint about millenials is that you have to wait in line for 30 minutes to get a beer at the brew pub. Walked in the door at the new place in Waitsfield and walked up to the bar. Ordered a beer and the barmaid pointed to the line with about 30 people long. Straight to the Hide Away and didn't look back.

 

[crgildart]

Newspapers were all the rage in the 60s. That was the equivalent of the internet back then.

 

[Sibhusky]

To see why things are better now one only needs to look at maternal mortality chart. Things seem so much different now but the changes are minute in the larger scheme.

If I had to gripe about one thing it would be how few kids work these days. I think it embodies them with a sense of independence and financial responsibility. But that ship has sailed for the most part. Imagine seeing a 12 year old lumping some plywood or setting up a ladder on a job site.

My daughter started having a summer job when she hit sixth grade. She even started using some of that money for her clothes.

But I will say the best gift you can give your kid is paying for their education. I started saving money for her college when I was pregnant. She managed to make that money last (via her school and housing choices) not only through college, but thru grad school (and in fact still has some of it) Her boyfriend is up to his eyeballs in debt.

We still have just one TV and it only became a flat screen two years back (33"). Every car has been held onto for many many years. We rarely go out to dinner. Every raise I ever got 50% of it was added to my monthly savings and all the 401k deductions and other %-based deductions increased automatically in addition to that, so essentially I was living not much better after 30 years of work than I was when I just got out of school. My daughter learned from the time she was five that Santa had a budget and she had to have a wish list that stayed in that budget. She stays within her budget and sets aside money every month for her emergency reserves, etc. She knows never to let that charge card rollover without paying the full balance due.

This is the kind of stuff instilled since childhood that needs to happen in every family. In fact, it ought to be taught in the schools as a required course. New cars every three years, TVs in every room, the latest video games (we have zip and never did), that crap is a waste. I still have a flip phone as does my husband (and his is my hand me down).

Although my daughter was a racer and I certainly never had that, I don't think her life was much different than my own in terms of her playtime. She read a bit less and maybe did more strenuous school activities, but that was intentional on my part as I was told I had to be a lady and stop playing football and climbing trees. My daughter didn't have piano lessons, she had gymnastics. So, in that sense, her life was better, but she's always had to earn part of her way.

 

[T-Square]

Hmmmmm,

Wind up watches,
No hand held calculators,
Balance my checkbook by hand,
No cash machines,
No MRIs or CT scans,
Cold War in full bloom,
Steel stallion instead of sigmoidoscope,
No arthroscopes,
No Versed,
Rand McNally, and LORAN instead of GPS,
No anti skid braking,


No ski forum...

Nope, I’ll stick with the modern age.

 

[ScotsSkier]

We had renewable energy calculators - they were called slide rules......

 

[Seldomski]

You don't have to buy all the newest and bestest stuff... only thing I would argue you 'need' to have now vs. 20+ years ago is a smart phone + data plan. This is from the point of view of a consumer... plenty of other great things have been advanced in the last 60 years.

Perhaps it is more cost effective to have internet + wifi for the home and smaller data plan. This opens up a lot of convenience, but you don't need to be using it all the time. It's OK to not answer it or check every notification. There are so many movie plots, even into the 1990s, that would have been resolved in about 1 minute with a smart phone.