Ignoring the tired "bottled water" comparison—since I never buy bottled water, that means nothing to me—the writer makes some good points.
Um...the price for milk and Wonderbread jumped because transportation costs jumped.
In 1972 the national minimum wage was $0.65 per hour, if my old brain remembers rightly. The price of a gallon of gasoline at the time was around $0.30 at local discount retailers (Jacksonville,FL). Today, in FL the minimum wage is $6.50 an hour and gasoline is near $3.00 a gallon. Seems everything evens out at X10.....................
Politically speaking, and pardon the language, but at what price were people pissed off? Convert that to todays dollars and I'm sure we're much higher than that. 8-)
Too, if people HAD to buy multiple gallons of milk every week, they'd be just as upset over its price.
I'm not saying it's all rational, but it does effect people's support of various public policies. The one thing I cannot figure out is how people support democrat policies of blocking energy production, then turn around and complain about the price of fuel.
In 1980, the average wage for a worker was $6.33, leaded regular gasoline cost $1.19. It took 10.4 minutes to earn a gallon of gasoline. It took more time in 1981.
In May, 2006 the average wage for a worker was $16.59. According to gasbuddy.com, the average price for gasoline is $2.86. The takes 10.3 minutes to earn a gallon of gasoline now. When you combine the improvements in mpg since then, it becomes even cheaper to drive to work today compared to then.
Consumer Price Index, Average Price Data --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why 1981? Why not 1969? Pick the right year and you can "prove" anything you wish. This constant repetition of a "bargain" leaves me singularly unimpressed.
Repeating the same faulty claim over and over simply makes it a tiresome exercise.
One minor thing. He says the average price of milk is $2.09 a gallon. Where? I usually pay $3.34 a gallon around here. I can do without milk but not without gas.
I don't think I drink water at rate my vehicles drink gas.
It would require something our schools have not taught for a long time -- namely basic math skills -- for many people to follow that, so it will be gerenally ignored. Thanks, public edumacation!
Don't confuse people with a lot of facts. If they want to bitch about the price of gas, that's what they'll do. That's how demagogues get elected, pandering to malcontents.
I don't think I drink water at rate my vehicles drink gas.
$50 every time I visit the gas station and $200 at the grocery store are all the statistics I need.
The oil companies charge so much for gasoline these days because they can.
Here we go again...conditioning the sheeple into accepting the new "settled price" of gas, along with the usualy BS comparisons of how milk is more expensive to gas, etc.
The price of gas is higher than it should be, therefore it is not a bargain.
I wonder if the price went up to $5.00 if that would keep people home more? I know I would be traveling alot less.
Considering everything that's happened, it's not hard to understand why gas prices are what they are. So there's no reason to get upset. But you do wonder why the author chose 25 years and not 50 years, say. Because if he had, the comparison wouldn't be so rosy. One of those how-to-lie-with-statistics tricks...