The LOW price of gasoline

[Speck Tater]

I was thinking back to when I was a kid back in the early 1950's comparing the prices of various other comodities measured against the price of gasoline.

In 1950's prices, a gallon of gas cost 1 pack of cigarettes.
Now a gallon of gas only costs 1/2 a pack of cigarettes.

In 1950's prices, a gallon of gas cost 1 paperback novel.
Now a gallon of gas only costs 1/3 of a paperback novel.

In 1950's prices, a gallon of gas cost 1 loaf of bread.
Now a gallon of gas only costs 2/3 a loaf of bread.

In 1950's prices a gallon of gas cost 5 candy bars.
Now a gallon of gas only costs around 3 candy bars.

In 1950's prices, a computer cost 1,000,000 tankfuls of gasoline.
Now a computer only costs 28 tankfuls of gasoline.

Compared to 1950's prices gasoline is one of the few great bargains left in this world.

[Wickerman]

1. Of course, when you consider how much the govt

subsidizes oil exploration and production the costs in protection for companies who do bidness in hostile nations, the cost is immeasurable. How many soldiers/pg for that SUV?

[NickofTime]

13. Price of Gasoline Depends on Price of Oil

Inflation Adjusted Oil Price Chart

How long will it last?
No one can predict the future, but the world contains enough petroleum resources to last at least until the year 2100. This is so far in the future that it would be ludicrous for us to try to anticipate what energy sources our descendants will utilize. Over the next several decades the world likely will continue to see short-term spikes in the price of oil, but these will be caused by political instability and market interference — not by an irreversible decline in supply.

What this says is that we need to stop using oil right now, and convert to http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsolarcar.htm">solar cars and http://www.medibix.com/CompanySearch.jsp?cs_choice=c&clt_choice=t&treepath=16213&stype=i">electricity from wind energy.

[libhill]

2. But but but

This is the 2000's, not the 50's - 2 bucks a gallon is bull chit. The repukes taking care of Big Oil, that's all it is.

[htuttle]

3. How much of our defense spending and foreign aid...

...is devoted to keeping access to petroleum? Compare the defense budget in the 1950's as a proportion of our GDP to now. That was back when there was a real military 'adversary' to the US, too.

Just because you don't pay it at the pump doesn't mean you don't pay it.

I could take apart some of those other examples too. Computers have gotten cheaper for reason unconnected to gasoline. Cigarettes have gotten much more expensive due to taxes -- again, unconnected to the price of gasoline.

But, whatever. Faith won't run your car nor heat your house, no matter how much spin is put on it.

[whistle]

4. In 1950, a person could travel almost anywhere in the U.S.

...by train for just a few dollars city to city and when they got to their destination, if it was a larger city, the trolley, street cars and buses were only 5 cents and transfers were free.

[Carolab]

5. It's true. The prices are about what they were in the '70s. n/t

[BiggJawn]

6. In 1950, only ONE person had to work to support a family of 4.

Who's paying you people to post this gas price bullshit here?

You're comparing 1950's apples with 2000's oranges, we got egg-heads with shit for brains claiming $10 gasoline prices through the roof are a "Good Thing" for us.

What the fuck is going on?

[Massacure]

12. In 1950 houses were about half the size they are today.

Families had only one car. They had no television or cable bill, no cellphone bill, no computer, no internet bill. Famiies didn't have to pay for daycare since the woman stayed home.

People lived much simpler lives 50 years ago.

[libhill]

16. However

We all realize today, that life is not sustainable without computers, cell phones, Internet access, and satellite/cable T.V. To think that some families didn't even have TVs in the 50s - ugh!

[BiggJawn]

24. Bull-crap.

Uh, don't know how to tell you this, but the houses I've lived in? The NEWEST one was built in the 50's. STILL cost a few hundred dollars a month for the mortgage.

I remember my dad making mortgage payments in the 60's of $90 on a 3-bedroom ranch. Same house today would probably cost you $500 a month.
All that other stuff you mentioned? We didn't have it. Wife still had to work.

The Cleaver family doesn't live here anymore. It IS more expensive to live now, any way you care to look at it. To try and place the blame on our "toys" is bullshit, IMO.

[stopbush]

7. Huh?

I don't know about cigarettes, but I can buy a loaf of bread for $.60. I can't get a gallon of gas for $.40. And I can buy 4 large candy bars for $1. These are prices at Smith's that I see day in, day out.

I think your comparisons are off a bit.

[Eloriel]

17. Also off for cigarettes

whose prices are heavily influenced by individual states' taxes. I think cigarettes are around $2.50 - $3.25 a pack here (depending on brand -- I used to smoke the cheapies, but I quit on Dec. 10), and gas is at or just over $2.

[Swamp Rat]

20. Congratulations! n/t

[Warpy]

8. However, gas prices as a percentage of the average wage

are not that big a bargain. In terms of overall inflation, yes, they are, but since when have wages EVER kept pace with inflation?

Consider that in 1954 the minimum wage was set to support a family of four on a "thrifty" budget, one ABOVE the poverty line.

Now it won't support a single adult in safe housing, with adequate nutrition and access to basic medical care.

When you know the whole story, the bargain doesn't look so good, does it?

[ret5hd]

9. where are you buying bread?

that must be some awful good bread.

[Deja Q]

10. Yeah, but ciggies, bread, novels, and a computer LAST LONGER.

And with the bread, you still get something in the end... (sorry for the bad pun, but it's true!)

[Jacobin]

11. It IS cheap. But when you figure the cost of the military expenditures

to intimidate the middle east, its very expensive.

We need to do a "Manhattan Project" on alternative fuels YESTERDAY.

[VelvetMonkeyWrench]

15. MHD

Good solid research has already been done -- by the Russians mostly. One (relatively) instantly deployable method is MHD (Magento Hydro Dynamics)

The thing about MHD as a power source is you can use it for other things too - like getting rid of garbage slurry and some forms of toxic wastes that will be broken down by the high-temp plasmas involved.

The thing about MHD that makes it UNDESIRABLE (for big energy companies) in the US is that it could be implemented on a LOCAL scale.

[Solon]

14. A few things are off on your comparisons...

first off, wholesale price of cigarettes are less than a dollar a pack, I know this, worked in retail. Most of the price is taxes, taxes that didn't exist in the 1950's.

On the novels, that is somewhat accurate, they cost, now, about 6 to 7 dollars.

I don't know about your area, but around here, loaves of bread, sliced, costs around a dollar, maybe a dollar and ten cents, and for the "cheap" brands, much lower than that. That reverses the whole equation there.

Yesterday I bought 4 candy bars for 1.00, Hershey's brand, love those.

Back in the 1950's Computers still used vacuum tubes, were expensive to maintain, and expensive to build. There were also the size of ROOMS and were somewhat rare, only large corporations and universities could have them. Since then, we invented Integrated Circuits and microchips, both much cheaper technologies that lowered the costs of computer manufacturing, and allowed for mass production of computers.

With the exception of paperback novel comparison, all the others are erronious.

[MostPeopleDO]

18. umm...

Wholesale prices of cigs are not less than a dollar a pack. It's two dollars, almost exactly.
Bread here costs upwards of two dollars.
You bought those candybars on sale. Why you failed to mention that, I don't know. Candy bars sell for an average of $.79 cents.
I am currently a retail manager.

[NickB79]

21. Where do you live?

I'm in MN, and bargain cigs are $1.89/pack. I doubt the gas stations here are selling them for less than wholesale prices; maybe our cigarette taxes are lower here than where you are. Gas is $1.98/gal. Cub-brand white bread costs $1.10/loaf. Candy bars here routinely run $.49/each at grocery stores, when not on sale. On sale, they are usually 3 for $1, and various brands are ALWAYS on sale here. If you buy them in larger packs, they are less.

Are you a retail manager at a gas station? They always charge more for candy bars around here than Cub or Rainbow Foods.

[MostPeopleDO]

25. Detroit, MI

Prices are constant accross the board, for the metro and city area. The cigarette prices are astronomical due to state taxes(five fifty five a pack grand total).
Working at Rite Aid, a drugstore chain with a fairly good labour relations. Beats Wal-Greens. Our prices are fairly low.

It's just really tough living in the centre of the rust belt.

[Solon]

23. Unless you live in Hawaii, where most things have to be imported...

Your getting ripped off on bread, big time. Even at our local gas stations, who mark this shit up so high compared to grocery stores, its still much less than 2 dollars.

Now onto the Cigarettes, I know for a fact that cigs cost less than a dollar a pack wholesale, you can get them at Dirt Cheap for less than the 2 dollars you mentioned, 1.69 for Mavericks, as an example. Rule of thumb is that these "generic" brands and the name brands cost the same to produce, give or take a few cents, and the stores STILL have to make a profit, plus the extra "sin" taxes added on to the product. End result is a wholesale price of either less than or equal to a dollar.

On my candy bars, regular retail is about 50 cents at a grocery store, yes I got mine on special, big friggen deal, its still 6 candy bars per tank of gas at 2 dollars around here, so the comparison still fails.

[MostPeopleDO]

19. wow...

this republican spin sure makes me feel a lot less poor!
We have it so easy! Thank Gawd and George Dubya Bush! U S A U S A!
Seriously, what the FUCK is this perversion of reality.

[foxy]

22. Good points hadn't thought about it that way before.

[hfojvt]

26. yes, but if you compare prices in 1999 to today

it is alot more expensive than it used to be. Myself, I cannot remember 1950.