Comments made in the year 1955

[Canuck Mormon]

Comments made in the year 1955

That's only 53 years ago!

"I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20.00."

-"Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $2, 000.00 will only buy a used one."

-"If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.

-"Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"

-"If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store."

-"When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage."

-"Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls."

-"I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas ."

-"Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President."

-"I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now."

-"It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."

-"It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work."

-"Marriage doesn't mean a thing any more, those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat."

-"I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business."

-"Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress."

-"The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on."

-"There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend, it costs nearly $15.00 a night to stay in a hotel."

-"No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $35.00 a day in the hospital it's too rich for my blood."

-"If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it."

[skalenfehl]

Wow, the irony! Great post!

[prisonchaplain]

There's a lot of incredible wisdom in most of these sayings. :-)

[pushka]

It's amazing how these predictions have come true!!

[a-train]

It really isn't that amazing. The trend of inflation was already 40 years old in 1955. It has not changed since and without any serious change of monetary policy, this trend will continue. Unless major changes are made, we can already answer these questions:

What will be the price of a gallon of gas in 2030? $9.

How about a gallon of milk? $7.

A Whopper with Cheese Meal? $12.

An average printed t-shirt at a mall store: $40-$60.

A new Honda Civic: $28,000 for the base model, $38,000 fully loaded.

The latest game system (xBox, or Playstation): $600-$700

Now there will be some surprizing items that will retain price stability or even see a decline in price, but the overall trend will be a double in the cost of living as it is priced in dollars.

This scenario of inflation is not natural. It is the result of the monetary policy implemented through the Federal Reserve. Hate it or love it, it is there and we have to plan on it being there unless there is some dramatic change of monetary policy.

-a-train

[mightynancy]

I'm no economist, but back in 1955 I'm sure that they didn't pay store clerks $8 per hour, either.

When I was a kid (ages ago! It was the 70's for pete's sake!), clothing was more expensive in relation to income than it is now.

I don't disagree that price inflation isn't a good thing, but it shouldn't be considered in isolation.

[Ray A]

How to be a good wife, from Home Economics High School Textbook, 1954:

Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal, on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.

Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so that you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.

Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the home just before your husband arrives, gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too.

Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair, and if necessary change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.

Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer, dishwasher, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad he is home.

Some don'ts: Don't greet him with problems or complaints. Don't complain if he is late for dinner. Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day. Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.

Listen to him. You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.

Make the evening his. Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.

The Goal: Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

How to be a Good Wife - 1954 Home Economics

[Dr T]

Take home message from the OP-invenst, invenst, invest (buy now then sell)

[Alaskagain]

When I was a kid (ages ago! It was the 70's for pete's sake!), clothing was more expensive in relation to income than it is now.

.

Now, I agree with this! It used to be much cheaper to make our own clothing on the Singer sewing machine. Now it is more expensive to sew at home than it is to buy off the rack, especially from places like Wally's or Tarjay.

And, Ray's post kinda makes me wish I had a wife! lol (I really do think it a shame that they took Home Ec out of our schools!)

[crytsprospect]

I wasn't on the earth for the 50"s but the 60"s we use to get bread at Williams bakery for 10 cents a loaf .

When I started working minimum wage was about 4$ an hour now its 8$ an hr here

[Adeipho]

Comments made in the year 1955

That's only 53 years ago!

."

And what are your references? Whom are you quoting?

"I tell you if we keep supplying these Taliban with weapons to fight off the invading Soviet Union someday they're gonna wise up and use those very weapons and training to attack the USA."

For those of you who didnt know how Taliban got their military grade weapons, that's how they got the bulk of them and the training to use them. From us in the 70's and 80's.

These are very clever quotes you have but hind sight is after all 20/20.

PS My "quote" is made up as an example.

[a-train]

I bought a quarter pound of persian wool yarn for $11 the other day from a locally owned and operated shop. I'd need two to knit a decent scarf. What, so what, I'm a young skateboarder who knits, get over it. For those interested, I prefer the English over the continental method.

Anyways, a machine knit acrylic scarf can be purchased in my store at $27. I'm sure a cheapy acrylic scarf from a big-box chain could go for less than $10, perhaps even less than $5.

I find it interesting that parents feel that our prices on pants are high at $52 to $90 a pair with the average being $65. I can remember the $120 jeans that walked through the halls of my middle school in the late 80's and early 90's. Bugle Boy pants were all the rage and they were $100 twenty years ago.

I'm no economist, but back in 1955 I'm sure that they didn't pay store clerks $8 per hour, either.

You are right. Minimum wage in 1955 was 75 cents an hour, it was raised in 1956 to $1.00. Today, it is $5.85, it is scheduled to go to $6.55 in July this year. Although these increases may sound dramatic, they are not much more than inflation, if at all. The average personal inome of a single American worker has not increased more than inflation.

We can pretty much count on a double in dollars of the cost of living and the average and minimum wage in the U.S. every twenty years.

So pick an item, any item, and if its production is outsourced already, or if it cannot be outsourced, it should go for double its current price in twenty years.

There are acceptions of course. Gasoline has risen 50% ahead of that rate in the last 20 years. Other items have not risen much or at all because of outsourcing or new technology or production methods.

I hope that more Americans will offset their cost of living and their stress with a good garden!

-a-train

[rocketman]

As prices move up - so does wages. When I started my first job (1984), an hour of min. wage work would buy a good lunch i.e. a "combo meal" at Hardees or Wendy's.

Guess what, in 2007 an hour of min wage works buys the same lunch. My guess is that when my Dad was a teen the same thing occured except it was .75 or 1.00. And I would bet (if I was a betting man) that in another twenty years the same hour of wages will buy the same meal - except it might be $20

[Elphaba]

Comments made in the year 1955

SHE IS BORN!

Elphaba

[Moksha]

SHE IS BORN!

Elphaba

Same as Bo Derrek and Bill Gates.