Do things cost less now than in 1980?

[SoCalDem]

Other than tvs & appliances, I can't think of much else, so WHY does any rational person think that taxes should be lower and lower as we go along?

For whatever reason, the populace seems to think that because the government "can print money", it should not collect any taxes.. BUT they also understand that printing that money creates inflation.

Our taxes paid is the INCOME of our government, and when we consistently pay in lower and lower amounts, it still has to operate, so of course there is only a choice of borrowing to meet demands or reducing quality/quantity of services demanded.

We are always collectively bargaining with our government,..we do it every 2-4 years. We "hire" people to do the things we cannot do individually. We agree to pay them a wage to do our bidding.

The things we want/need cost money. Does anyone think that the government can "make do" with an ever-decreasing amount of money from us, and continue to provide an ever-increasing or even static amount of services?

We can all quibble about which services are "better" than others or which are totally unnecessary (depending on our personal beliefs), but in a democracy, we pool resources & hire others to represent us in a body of government that is charged with the responsibility to do the proper thing for us all..the commons.

To actually believe that we can keep lowering the amount of taxation, and yet keep expecting more & better benefits, is just foolish.

The services our government is expected to deliver, are constantly increasing in cost, as is everything else.

If we want to remove items from "the government pays for this" list, then we need to start being more careful with whom we send there to represent us, but until that happens, there are just some things that government does, and those things have to be funded..with money..either from us, or from borrowed "pixie dust" money.

Every election, some candidate mentions that "the adults are back in charge", or tells us that THEY will be the "adult in the room". If they are claiming to be the adults, then aren't they also telling us that they recognize us to be the children they plan to dominate, and then send to bed without dinner for being disrespectful?

An "adult" would hopefully be prepared to at least tell the truth, and remind us all that as we expect an ever-increasing amount of services, or to maintain what we have become accustomed to, we also need to expect to pay for it.

You don't give a person a $50 bill & send them to the store to buy food & drink for a dinner party for 20 people, even though once-upon-a-time you probably could manage that feat.

[liberal N proud]

1. Average price of a new vehicle in 1980 was about $5000

Cost of Living 1980
How Much things cost in 1980
Yearly Inflation Rate USA13.58%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 963
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 21.50%
Average Cost of new house $68,700.00
Average Income per year $19,500.00
Average Monthly Rent $300.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas $1.19
Average cost new car $7,200.00
Men's Casual Shirt $14.00

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1980.html

[SoCalDem]

2. I lived it... (Married in 1970) it was not a fun time

because recession/inflation was eating us all alive. Of course Reagan's solution was toxic & we are now afflicted with the illness it caused:(

We consistently "hire" idiots to run things:(

[murphyj87]

5. 1959

My father died in 1959, and my mother went back to work as a teacher. The salary for a teacher in 1959-60 was $3800 A YEAR.

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

13. The days of high interest rates

I worked at a bank in 1980. They had to hire more people to work in the CD department because of all the senior citizens coming in to put their money in CDs.

[TheKentuckian]

14. Adjusting for inflation

The $68,700 house would cost $186,312.90

The average income of $19,500 would be $52,883.57

The average rent of $300 would be $813.59

The $1.19 for gas would be $3.23 today.

The $7,200 car would be $19,526.24.

The $14 shirt would run you $37.97 right now.

Incomes have not kept pace with the costs of critical goods and services. Medical inflations is particularly off the meter but basics like food, water, and power are also rising quick. I think housing is also taking up a higher percentage of most people's incomes.

The stock market is obviously overheated as well. A ten fold increase after several crashes indicates the market is overvalued and exists in bubble mode at all times above and beyond the individual bubbles that are created for an extra surge on the systemic bubble to funnel wealth from specific sectors.

[ThomCat]

20. Wow, I wish things were as cheap as if they had only been

adjusted for inflation. Those would be bargain prices if that was all we had to pay for stuff. :(

[murphyj87]

3. 1981

The first computer that I bought, in 1981 (when I was 30), was a TI 99/4 which had 16K (16 Kilobytes, not Megabytes or Gigabytes) of RAM, and programs and data were stored on a cassette recorder, not a disk drive. By the time I added a disk drive system and a printer and took it ALL the way up to 48K of RAM, that computer cost me over $4000.

[anneboleyn]

7. Computers, VCRs, etc. were extremely expensive the early 80s

My husband's family bought a VCR for around $400 in 1983 (ish). The "new" technologies were very expensive back then compared to now.

[girl gone mad]

4. The government doesn't have to borrow to spend.

Also, printing money will not lead directly to inflation.

Raising taxes is the best way to combat inflation, but I don't think we have inflation right now, just speculative bubbles in energy and commodities because of gross mis-allocation of capital via bailouts and quantitative easing.

[ThomCat]

21. Yes, they do.

Every dollar created within the US economy is created by the Federal Reserve as Debt.

When the US government asks the Fed to print money, the US government is in debt for that money immediately because they borrow that money from the Fed.

This is a necessary consequence of having money printed and controlled by an outside organization; a central banks that is not really part of the federal government. The Federal Reserve Bank is a private central bank owned and operated by the other major banks.

BTW, This is why they can operate in the best interest of those major banks instead of in the best interest of the US government, or the best interest of general public of the US. They have no legal obligation to serve the best interest of the US, or our people, but they do have a legal obligation to serve the best interests of their owners at the other banks.

[dkf]

6. Computers, calculators, clothes, cell phones, cordless phones,

Microwave ovens...

I could probably think of a few more.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. How much was a 1980 cell phone?

[dkf]

19. 1983 $4000. Invented in 1973.

Cooper is considered the inventor of the first handheld cellular phone and the first person to make a phone call in public on a handheld cell phone. Cooper and the engineers who worked for him, and Mitchell are named on the patent "Radio telephone system" filed on October 17, 1973.<1><9><10>

Commercializing the product

The original Motorola DynaTAC handset weighed 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) and had 35 minutes of talk time. Cooper has said "The battery lifetime was 20 minutes, but that wasn't really a big problem because you couldn't hold that phone up for that long."<11> By 1983 and after four iterations, Cooper’s team had reduced the handset’s weight by half that of the original. The list price was around $4,000 (2009: $8,600). Cooper left Motorola before they started selling handheld mobile phones to consumers.<3>

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Cooper_(inventor)

[bluerum]

18. Better tech, equal or higher costs.

On edit I guess I would say that given the advances in technology costs have come down, in the sense that you get more bang for the dollar. But the dollar itself is worth less.

[Johnny Harpo]

8. Not Sure About 1980...But In 1970.................

My rent was $156.00 and my car payment was $69.00 which, when combined, amounted to 31% of my gross salary.

Today my rent is $1180.00 per month and my last car payment was $300.00. which when combined made up 26% of my gross.

A calculator (remember the old Texas Instruments models?)cost updards of $40.00 or more.

Now a calculator costs $10.00 or less. And a fairly good desktop computer costs around $700.00.

In 1970 I could buy a loaf of bread for .25 cents now....upwards of $2 or $3 bucks depending.

In 1970 my first new car cost $2975.00, the last car I bought (used & 3 yrs old) was $18,000.00.

I guess it depends on what one is buying and what one is comparing it to.

[Angry Dragon]

9. Congressional pay was a lot less at that time

they should go back to that pay

[ddeclue]

11. only things cheaper: Computers and electronics..

everything else is more expensive in adjusted dollars.

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. Inflation shouldn't affect tax rates. n/t

[ThomCat]

22. Yes, I think that's part of the point.

Costs go up. People think taxes should go down, and down, and down for some reason, with absolutely no understanding that taxes have to pay for stuff. They aren't linked. People don't know that. People don't care. But people believe whatever financial myths they think will make them happy even when they make no sense. :(

[KurtNYC]

15. Because the government is full of waste and redundancy

so some believe that cutting their revenue will force them to reign in waste and redundancy. But since the government does not operate like a for profit business this is flawed.

The Federal Government does not provide new services since 1980 so I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Why would anyone want to pay more taxes ??

[dimbear]

16. It's simple. Things you need are more expensive. Junk you don't need is less expensive. n/t

[bluerum]

17. No. Not tv's or appliances either.