I was sipping that cup of coffee and doing some old time thinking’s! I like to do that once in awhile and Sveta listens to me as I talk at the dinner table. This time I was talking to Sveta and sipping that coffee and it dawned on me that I had read about increase in minimum wage in America. I do not know what it is now but in 2009 it was $7.25 per hour…
Then I remembered when…
I remembered that I was making $1.60 per hour and I also remember $2.10 per hour. Then I remember I was killing people for Uncle Sam in other countries and never cared again, until I had to pay those wages to employees…
The reason I remember this was that I could work two and a half hours and that paid for a Saturday night out on the town, with my girl at that time…
I remember a $5 dollar bill would put gas in my car, take two to a movie, buy popcorn and soda, eat at McDonald’s after words and still had enough to go to a local fair and win a stuffed bear for the girl…
Okay at $7.25 an hour, what can you do with that in 2 and a half hours of work?
Lets just take for sanity sakes and try to get around taxes and say you get in your hand what you make per hour!Lets use $2.10 per hour and $7.25 per hour. Lets use 1975 and 2012 as the times. In 1975, I could do what I stated above and did that very same thing as I dated more girls than I can even remember and got in way too much trouble for dating that many… (Taxes are definitely worse now!)
So lets try to see what we have to make now to achomplish the same thing in 2013, that I did in 1975…
In 1975 gas ran me around .45 to .50 per gallon and really much cheaper than that many times. Gas wars were a thing of my early driving years and I remember many times filling up at .30 + per gallon. I had a Volkswagen Beetle and it got the mileage…
In 2013 gas is running? $3.30 at the time of this writing! That is posted average over the whole country…
Then I realized that this won’t work… (?) The inflation and depreciation of the dollar; the dollar has been destroyed with the collapsing of the system. The numbers won’t happen for same hours worked and such…
In 1975 I had $5.25 to work with! In 2013 I had $18.25 to work with…
Two gallons of gas was a $1 in 1975 and in 2013 that is $6.60… (Strike 1)
A movie ticket in 1975 to a first run movie in my little town was .25 so .50 for two people. In 2013 and I checked on this by communication with a friend in the old home town. It is $6.50 per person for a first run movie and that is $13.00 right there alone… (Strike 2)
Okay we are at $19.60 and just bought fuel and saw a movie…
But lets continue like we are to dumb to see where this is going…
Buying popcorn and a drink for two. Now this really sucks! In 1975 (Actually 1977 by my only reference!) I am using 1977 as the reference, because I clearly remember Star Wars and I was so pissed that popcorn and a soda went up for such a huge movie and the prices climbed from there on. It cost me $1.00 to buy popcorn and a soda for two. That pissed me off…
Now lets wonder what it runs to eat popcorn and soda for two in 2013? Well all I have is Russia to verify this with and that sucks as from what I see in America it is much higher. $2.00 for a small pop corn and $2.00 for a small soda, per person! That $8.00 just for popcorn and a drink. That sucks and I know I paid more before I left America years ago… (I found this and almost had a heart attack – http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_price_of_popcorn_at_the_movies)
(Strike 3 and you are out of the ballpark!)
Now lets add up what we have spent so far…
In 1975 I have spent $2.50 and in 2013 I have spent $27.60 so far and I am not done…
Remember 1975 I had $5.25 to work with! In 2013 I had $18.25 to work with…
But wait we are not done…
I am still hungry and I want to eat at McDonald’s and my girl was hungry also…
In 1975 I remember that $1.50 bought food for two! Two burgers, two fries, two small drinks and two ice cream cones…
What does that run now? 2013 it costs for the above – at least $8.00 if not more… (Try $10 most likely!)
In 1975 I have spent $4.00 and in 2013 I have spent $35.60…
So lets ignore that fact that I still have money from my original two hours of working and I won a huge teddy bear for my girl and that took the rest of my money, because I was not going to give up until I won…
So the point of all this is that in 1975 I worked 2 and a half hours and had a fantastic Saturday night on a date and spent $5.00…
In 2013 at the minimum wage it would take working around 5+ hours to do the same thing (Try 7-8 hours to get that bear also!) and that excludes going to a fair and winning a stuffed bear. The cost of the fair would drive the cost to astronomical amounts and we will not go there, because my head hurts now at the thought of what we have done to ourselves in America…
I worked very hard for that $2 bucks and hour and it went a long ways as I enjoyed life, spending it. This isn’t an apple to apple comparison, it is an hour to hour comparison and what you have to work at a job to achomplish the same level of life as we did back in the old days…
This all goes to the wayside as I realize that non of this matters anymore as we have lost all our freedoms that made those old days seem to be much better. Even if the cost was the same, the expenditure of our humanness is a price too high to pay. We have lost all the way around and something as simple as having to work twice as many hours or even three times in many cases, to enjoy the basics of life. Has reached a serious breaking point in society and we don’t care…
Your mileage on these costs may be different and that is okay. The point is that your money does not go as far and one day the point of no return will be reached and it is looking like it is just around the next corner…
Have a good day…
Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…