[XBob]

People live longer, - my great grand parents all lived into their 90's, my grand parents and parents into their 80's, but I don't think I'm going to make it to my 70's.


cars are safer - you mean american cars made with american workers? I seem to remember 'safety' starting with the 55 Ford steering wheel and padded dash in the GM cars. However, the new ones really get crunched in a crash, and we need them to be safer because there are so many more of them on the road now.

, houses are larger - my goodness, how much house do you need? Houses in the 1900's - 1940's were larger than todays houses. And todays houses are made from cardboard and chip board and wont be around very long. Houses still cost about 2 years work, but the taxes have really gone up a lot, so maintenance is much higher.

goods are cheaper - sorry, I still have to work a similar amount of time to buy similar goods as we worked back then. Some goods are relatively cheaper. A new Chevy still costs me 6 months work - the same as it did in the 50's. TV's are cheaper however, but what is on them has greatly degraded. A pair of jeans still costs about 4 hours of minimum wage work, but now they are made in China.

food is cheaper - Sorry - a hamburger still costs 1/4 of an hour of minimum wage work.

incomes are higher - so are prices, a lot higher, and taxes a great lot higher

we won the Cold War - that was good, but we will lose the next one, because of outsourcing and exporting our industries.

, I could go on and on - so could I.

[ninenot]

Only things that have increased in real terms (and relative terms) since 1955 is tax and reg. costs.

Tax Freedom Day 1955: March 7th. TFD 2003: (approx) May 1.

That's about 60 days' earnings, or 1/6th of income.

[FITZ]

TV's are cheaper however, but what is on them has greatly degraded.

That is interesting --- back when tv's were more expensive you could watch it for free and have some entertaining decent shows to watch. Tv's aren't really free when people have to buy VCRs and DVD's and $50 a month cable to have something interesting to watch.

[FITZ]

People live longer, - my great grand parents all lived into their 90's, my grand parents and parents into their 80's, but I don't think I'm going to make it to my 70's.

I hadn't thought about that --- I had a couple great grandparents who lived on their own into their 90's but no one from the grandparent generation made it into their 90's and we'll see about the parent generation --- I don't think we can say that we're going to live longer than our great-grandparents or even grandparents. The lifespan has probably been maxed out for some time now.

[Toddsterpatriot]

People live longer, - my great grand parents all lived into their 90's, my grand parents and parents into their 80's, but I don't think I'm going to make it to my 70's.

With your negative attitude, I'm surprised you've lasted this long.