Inflation calculator

Falcon :: Comet Ford :: Mercury .. same cars underneath, I think ?

John T.

I can't offer a specific calculator but the statistic I find most useful is not inflation. It's the number of hours a typical worker in an occupation or group of occupations needs to work to be able to purchase a specific item or basket of items compared to the number of hours the same worker(s) in the same occupation(s) needed to work in a past year to purchase what was then an equivalent item or basket of items.

Some measures of inflation can be very misleading. Look at the current federal "core" inflation rate. It fails to include the price of food and fuel; the excuse being that the price of those items fluctuates too much. Well, speaking for myself, a retired senior citizen on medicare and with full access to outpatient and inpatient care in the military medical system, food and fuel constitute a major fraction of my expenses. And, as we know, those two items have experienced substantially higher rates of inflation recently than the "core" inflation rate.

An 'hidden' part of inflation is shrinkflation. Take Crest toothpaste as an example; seven years ago, a tube contained

The cost of a tube didn't change, but the cost per ounce of product was inflated.

But that '50s ranch house still exists. I know what I paid for my house and what I sold it for. My first house $10.600, appreciated more than my next house that was $59,700. According to Zillow they are closer than I ever would have though.

Si in 2023, how many hours of work (choose an occupation) would it take to buy either of those houses today?

Sadly, I just put my pension in. It has half the buying power today.

It is very difficult to compair things over the years. Many electronics have gone down in price, appliance about the same, cars and homes way up. People buying things that were not around years ago that people think they have to have now such as the smart cell phones and internet and cable or direct type of tv. Even AC for the house that few had up to about 1965 or 1970.

I noticed the Grahm crackers had the same size box but missing one or two crackers out of each of the 4 internal packs.

My first B&W TV in 1966 was about 7 day's pay. I can get a 34" flat screen today for a couple of day's pay. About the same with a room size air conditioner.

Where the calculator comes in is making like comparisons. Take the wage of a given occupation and see if you are doing better or worse.

But you just got an increase in your SS payment. I bet you can get a pizza with it.

But you just got an increase in your SS payment. I bet you can get a pizza with it.

Not after I deduct the increased Medicare premium and taxes...

I can remember when a three pound can of coffee contained three pounds. I think it was Maxwell House that had the balls to explain the 39 ounces in the can would make just as much coffee as three pounds used to.

Gas engine? I knew a guy with a diesel Chevette; that was a wonder to behold.

Pretty much. All the manufacturers played the name game. Ford => Mercury => Lincoln, Plymouth => Dodge => Chrysler, and Chevrolet => Pontiac => Oldsmobile => Cadillac.

Mostly they screwed around with minor styling details. The Comet had dual headlights, the Falcon didn't. The early generations Mustang/Cougar were the same, although the Cougar diverged later.

GM did the same. My '80 Camaro had two headlights, the Firebird had four. In '82 both went to hatchbacks. I like hatchbacks so I traded the Camaro for a Firebird. The Firebird had concealed headlights, the Camaro hatchback didn't.

The Reagan years treated me well. I can't complain but it's been a downhill slide since Bush I.

I had one, a Sprite where the convertible part was sort of like setting up a tent. If I want to get close to nature and glory to the smell of dead skunks I have the bikes.

McMansions have sprung up out my way in the last 30 years. I'd need a GPS to find the bathroom. From casual observation in the summer I don't see yards full of kids. Maybe they're all in the cellar with their iPhones but i doubt it.

Montana doesn't set any salary records. We call it the 'mountain tax'. UM attracts kids, they like it and stay. Then there are the California refugees.

When I interviewed I was specific that I wouldn't be angling for a corner office or bailing out in a couple of years for the big paychecks on the coast. Been there, done that.

I do miss the catered meals from the Boston delis. Of course we were working 12 or 14 hours a day, 7 days a week and they were afraid if they let us out we wouldn't come back :)

Thanks. The first one my brother lent to me when he went off to Viet Nam. A few months later he wrote that he was giving it to me, and buying another car when he got back.

For a long time I put the top down but mostly I just likeed that it was

It's mostly about the view and the feeling that I'm outside, but I can go places at the same time. Even if everything I'm looking at I could see though the windows if the top were up, the view is much better when the top is down.

I think the 2nd Pontica had AC, but there was an oil stripe in the hood insulation where the compressor had leaked, and the AC never worked. But all the later cars had AC and I put the top up and use it when it's over

Well, confession time. Recently I've even run the AC with the top down. So wasteful.

I like driving in the rain with the top down. The harder it rains the faster you have to go to avoid getting wet, but a light rain at 25 or a a moderate rain at 40mph or pretty heavy at 60 and I'm dry and maybe even the top of the rear seat is dry. Once on I-80 I drove 40 miles from one end of a storm to the end without getting wet. But if I realize I'm going to have to stop soon, I look for an underpass to put the top up beforehand.

In Chicago in 1970, I was driving with the top down, no shirt, and my long hair blowing in the breeze, and I'm sure I was speeding but I suspect the other things prompted the cop to stop me. Because my driver's license was not from Illinois, he said he had to take me in. Because I didn't have $25 cash, he said he had to hold me until someone brought it. Fortunately I had a girlfriend and I knew her work phone number. Unfortunately she wasn't in. But her friend worked there too and she said she'd come bail me out. But not until she got off work at

1. At 5 I'm looking through the bars of my cell thought the window across the aisle, and the sky is dark, getting darker. When I learned they were going to lock me up I'd asked if I could go out and put the top up, but they said no. I figued she'd be there about 5:30 and 5:35 was one of the hardest rainstorms I've ever seen. It turns out she was there but because she was a pretty girl, the cops pretended the guy she was looking for was a cop, and they kept her waiting why they tried to find him.

Well, I don't know if I could have gotten out before the rain, but there was 1.5 inches of water in the floor of the back seat, there was condensation inside the instruments, and the glove box was cardboard, swollen, and warped and the maps were wet.

And you know, it all dried out, so from then on I never much worried about forgetting to put the top up. Until I got leather seats. I'd rather have cloth seats. They're never very hot and never sticky when you wear short pants, they breathe.

For 40 years after this I carried 50 dollars in travelers checks in the trunk, to make bail. Never checked if the cops accept travelers checks, but if they don't, maybe I could get a cop to cash them if I paid a commission.

I would like to get a Jeep or something where the windshield folds down too, but it's not that important and I probably never will.

My wife had a Ford Falcon of that vintage right before we got married. I recalled driving on the PA turnpike with it and it could not pass anything going up hill at 65 mph.