The AM Forum

Yes, the never-ending piss and moan topic of prices, pricing, value, etc etc etc. When using the good ol' inflation calculator to adjust then vs now, things become clearer.

Just came across this article about computer and cell phone technology in 1988 vs today:

http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=6328095&icid=tg6328095&GT1=10938

Astounding, really. Today's Seagate 1TB hard drive sells for $363, but adjusted for 1988 cost per MB would set you back..... $5.8 MILLION in today's dollars!! Makes those Johnson 500s, KW-1s and so on look cheap.

I got my first PC in the 80s, a used C-64 for packet service. Paid $400 for it with a floppy drive, color TV monitor, Okidata dot matrix printer, PK-64 TNC and a bunch of those 5 1/4" floppys with Max Headroom and other entertaining programs. Was given a little IBM PS2 Mod 30 in the mid 90s, then built my first Frankenputer shortly thereafter. Still have 'em all, too.

A very interesting read. We've come a b-r-r-r-r-r-r looooong way!

this is the math applied to inflation numbers so you can deal with gas going for $4 and still feel good.

I wish my salary was adjusted to the same scale!! :o :o

Now I feel even worse:  :P
In 1983 I bought a brand-new Apple IIe, 80 col. mono monitor, whopping 64K RAM, two floppy drives and an Oki dot-matrix printer. It cost me $2000 (in 1983 dollars)! I still have it, too, since even on the 'bay they go for no more than $25 or so.

-Charles

Gee there was a day when a new Vet cost under $4000.....I think it was when I was working after school for $1.50 an hour.

If prices these days are so much better compared to the "old days", how come I invest much more thought these days before just hopping in the car and driving somewhere just for the hell of it?  15 years ago, I would just jump in the car and drive to every fester within a 3 to 4 hour drive without even thinking about it.  Now, with gas prices the way they are, I have to think long and hard before even venturing out to the local HRO which is only 40 minutes away.

When is gas going back to .39 a gallon?

Yep,--I agree, and filling my home heating fuel oil tank  runs about $800 bucks,--
so I guess am getting a "big bargain" by these inflation statistics.
                                         73, K1MVP
   

Probably around the time that you would be willing to go back to working for $2.00 / hour!!

I was thinking about this last night. as much as we want to bitch about todays high prices, little has changed since I was a kid. If anything it has improved somewhat, as we seem to have a little more money left for our toys than we did years ago.

Think about it this way, it might make you scratch your head a little. When I was a kid working for $2.00 / hour, somewhere around $3.00 - $4.00 would fill my gas tank.  Now, I make well more than 10x that, and it costs $30-40.00 to fill my gas tank! Go figger, back then it took about 1 1/2 hours wages to fill my gas tank, the same still holds true today! Nothing has really changed. The standard of living as far as what you could purchase for 1 hours wages has not really changed much. If anything, in the larger picture of things it has probably gotten a little better as we now seem to have a little more money left over for our toys!!

                                                                                      The Slab Bacon 

There was a day when you could buy a house for under $4000. 

Exactly!

Interesting,

 JFK prior to his assassination had on the agenda to issue American made money...Johnson immediately rescinded the application on the flight home...no President since has Even mentioned the problem with the Federal Reserve...subsequent worth and Economic prosperity is controlled by that Private institution...

LOL.....Right...

Not really. It's part public (gov) and part private.

Hi Mack,

 You have to understand where my thoughts come from regarding this, your looking at printed paper like all Americans do, as American Money, i look at the debt created, you me us them We are lent legal tender for all debts, we use this paper at interest from the reserve..we in part are in a Created Debt Society.

 You really need to read up on the Rothchilds timeline and as a matter of fact there is a documented effort on you tube right now for everyone to watch...you should watch it it's amazingly accurate...

Hi Mack,

 Quite a statement I'm no banker I'm a small investor and i work very hard at understanding currencies across the globe. I also work very hard at understanding those that control the flow of currency it's very important, part of that understanding is based on hard research I've done through the years on Central Banks. The federal reserve bank is about as federal as Fed-Ex..I would cite the years from 1900 on through to day as beginning proof starting with the economic collapse created in 1907 spurred that premise we consider federal today and that happened prior to the great depression.(JP Morgan) created it. Read up on Louis McFadden timeline, and his Demise...then onto the statement made by the spirit of St Louis pilot...it's amazing what became from that initial impact, and Woodrow Wilson stated in his memoir's after the fact that how ashamed he was at what was handed to the international bankers...

All very well documented in print and No conspiracy, prior to 1933 the american dollar did read redeemable in gold, now states legal tender, printed by The federal reserve Bank. Central banks are in business to do one thing create wealth through debt . It's not my fault the American people don't understand Central banks.

Welcome to the third world

Then there's the Trilateral Commission, the Illuminati, the Council on Foreign Affairs and the rest of the shadow government. You guys keep exposing this stuff here and the black helicopters will be showing up at your houses.

easy to say and do Mack and I agree with you but what about the bandits of the beltway.

Well don't Mack,,

 In 1919 Woodrow Wilson said the following, " I am a Most unhappy man i have unwittingly ruined my country, A Great industrial nation is now controlled by it's system of credit." What is happening today is what happened in 1907 ... quoted from Charles Lindbergh " Under the Federal Reserve Act, Panics are scientifically created. The present Panic is the first scientifically created one, worked out as we figure a mathematical equation"...amazing how it's all forgotten.. but the same actions continue...LOL.... :D

Since when did Charles Lindberg become a financial wizard?

Huz he was a member of what..? Congress in 1921...wasn't it...

People have to understand the power to regulate the money supply is also the power to regulate it's value, which is also the power to bring entire economies to it's knees and today we're pretty close to that..all brought about by whom...the creators of the money supply...LOL...

If he was a member of Congress, it's likely he was financially illiterate.

Well monopolies is another issue for another day...as well as politics.. I was discussing currency and it's History..and History has repeated itself..the complaint i read prior to my first post in this was about the value of the dollar..my complaint as well.. if you really want to know why follow the time line from the beginning and those that carefully created it..from what was decided on. on jekyell island at the Morgan estate in 1910 jumped on by international bankers from the collapse that Morgan created in 1907.. and was investigated...to what was entered into law..by senator Nelson Aldrich who was the political front man for the rockefellers being part of the family through marriage, and in 1913 Wilson signed the bill into law in return for support...it's all documented...there is no conspiracy...money is printed and issued at interest...

the euro goes up and the buck goes down. Doesn't take a rocket designer to see who are the idiots...us

The original post was about increased computer power for fewer $, then vs now. Not sure what the rest of this has to do with it?

Gentlemen,

 As i understand it as "Purchasing Power". with regard to this discussion The Loss of..In all actuality the "Receipt Paper" used today is worth 4 cents...The protection of the Purchasing Power of the people in this country is absolutely non-existent it was removed.

 Value is only based on supply and that supply is controlled and we are charged an interest for the use of ie "the original concept"... At one point the exchange kept the Purchasing power of the people high because of the limited supply/exchange for real currency...

The paper we use today is worthless, follow the time lines do the research even back as far as the separation from the British Central bank...when the Colonies Decidedly printed their own Interest Free Money...it's all documented and there is No Conspiracy...the value of the currency used today is only based on what is in circulation and How...that is controlled... interesting discussion though...

Well that's fine Mack,

 But you have to understand my interest in knowing the Truth, through all my effort(s) through the years of hard work, going to work, staying out of trouble exercising my personal responsibility, building my own nest egg believing in the system being American which in 4 years would have earned a dividend of close to 2500 a month return then stepping out of the truck onto my plans for a small business which went up in smoke from the panic created in 911...caught off guard like everyone else My Fault..now earned me 10 more years then, on the truck...I had to know why my hard work of 20 years went up in smoke...I don't have a problem using the currency..I have a problem with carefully created panics...and look at what we're left with......better than 4000 dead, suicide rates in our military astronomically high, families destroyed, retirements destroyed....just another day in Paradise babe... ;)

Didn't something like that occur once before?  Sometime around 1860 IIRC.  But only in certain parts of the country.