Watch- The Magic of Inflation: What $5.62 Bought in 1962

Rightwire.net ^ | 7/24/11 | tvdays

[Nachum]

Ah yes, life is so much better under the Obama economy now.

[Nachum]

Vid at link

[Palter]

I ran it through a inflation calculator.

What cost $5.62 in 1962 would cost $40.06 in 2010. .

[UCANSEE2]

I remember 1964. My father bought a NEW 1964 Chevy Impala for $2000 and was telling me how ridiculous it was that a CORVETTE cost $4000.

[CodeToad]

Leave the dog in the car! lol!

[RightField]

I remember 1964. My father bought a NEW 1964 Chevy Impala for $2000 and was telling me how ridiculous it was that a CORVETTE cost $4000.

I remember in 1969 my dad bought a brand new, fully loaded Pontiac Bonneville. He said, "I never paid $5000 for a car in my whole life, but your Mom and I really wanted this one, and with my new job, we can afford it." I was so impressed, because I was in college, driving my used $800 Volkswagen bug.

[Young Werther]

In 1962 I was a Frosh in college. A 5.00 date had a great return on investment. Of course curfew was 11:00 so I rarely got past 2nd base!

[nascarnation]

I think your 64 Impala number is too low.

Edmunds shows them around $3000.

I know I bought a new strippo Chevy II (Nova) for $2300 in 67 and back then prices weren’t going up very fast.

[seton89]

When did the War on Poverty end?

[Joe Boucher]

Had we purchased that Vette and put it in a climate controlled storage it would have increased better than gold.

[krb]

According to the copyright date in the actual video, it’s MCMLVII, or 1957, not 1962.

[Nachum]

Interesting. Might have been shot in ‘56 too.

[TomGuy]

A common wage in that time period was under fifty-cents per hour, too.

[SamAdams76]

The supermarket really hasn't changed much over the past 50 years. Many of the brands featured in the video are still in supermarkets today. And the food is cheap as always. There's nobody going hungry in America, that's for sure. Even the morbidly obese food stamp queens are waddling down the aisles with full carriages. Yes, we can rhapsodize all day about how much cheaper our grocery bill was 1962 but I don't think many of us would want to trade paychecks with that era - the average worker made about $75 a week.

I went to the grocery store yesterday morning and yes, I left my dog in the car.

[Two Kids' Dad]

MCMLVII seems to be 1957 and not 1962. Not sure if that makes much of a difference, but...

[Freedom4US]

I dunno, many would - $75 dollars in silver coin is worth over $2100 in today’s money.

[aquila48]

“A common wage in that time period was under fifty-cents per hour, too.”

Exactly - people tend to look at only one side of the equation. My first job as an engineer just out of college in 1971 paid around $10K/year?

[jospehm20]

My Mom bought a new 66 Impala for around $3K.

[Jim Noble]

In 1961, my parents bought the house where they still live, for $41,000.

If the seller had been paid in silver certificates, and had redeemed each at the bank for 0.77344 ounces of silver (31,711 ounces), the seller would have, today, about $1,272,000 - and after taxes, maintenance, and improvements to the home, would be ahead on the deal by quite a bit.

[hattend]

Of course curfew was 11:00 so I rarely got past 2nd base!

You should have started the game earlier.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I think you are a little low. I made $1.15 an hour in 1955 and while in college I got a job starting at $2.16 per hour.