I started thinking about how prices have gone up, jobs have gone overseas and how affordable healthcare is a fantasy. Then I started recalling 1965.
In 1965, my father bought a 25 inch, RCA color television set. It was a fine piece of furniture with a TV inside. Very few television programs were broadcast in color and to my knowledge, we were the only family on the block to have a color TV set.
The cost was 725 bucks and the old man paid cash for it. It had VHF and UHF and there were 7 VHF braodcast channels in the NYC metro area and 2 or 3 UHF (who watched them?).There was no broadcast after 2 AM I believe. The TV had no remote control, had cathode ray tubes which needed replacement from time to time (expensive proposition). Although it had automatic fine tuning, that didn't mean you wouldn't have a vertical or horizontal issue from time to time. Given that we we weren't wealthy by any standard, I don't know how the old man bought it? My brother was finishing law school and I had 2 sisters in college and one about to enter.
I'd imagine, if you bought a TV with such features today, it might cost 25 bucks. Just about every family in the U.S. has an appliance that's better than this TV, but 40 something years ago, few could afford it. I'd imagine that if we were forced to watch only TVs made in America, few could still afford them.
We didn't have family health insurance. If we went to see a doctor, we paid. It probably costs a couple of dollars for a visit and teh neighborhood doctor might have had one person working with him. The woman probably made sure that the tongue depressors in the glass jar were always filled, and there was enough gauze and tape on hand. He didn't have a staff to keep charts or bill insurance companies, medicare, etc. Most diagnosis were that was a fever that few aspirin would cure. There were few miracle drugs, save pennicillin. I don't remember malpractice or mis-diagnosis being a hot topic at the time. The same degree of healthcare today can be self administered at about the same cost.
When a NYC office was depicted in movies, you often saw switcboard operators as well. I can imagine what the internet would be like if we relied on a solid job like a switchboard operator to be the nuits and bolts behind it. Long distance or overseas phone calls were rare.
A pair of blue jeans cost between 10 and 14 dollars, much like you can buy a pair today at a discount store. I'd imagine if you could only buy a pair of jeans made in the USA today, you would probably pay 80 or 90 dollars. That's just a guess.
Gasoline was leaded and regular gasoline sold for about 25 -30 cents a gallon. I think most of the oil came from the US but that's mostly gone. There is still some oil in shale and hard to get oil and if we used only crude that came from US soil, I'd imagine that it would cost 7 or eight hundred dollrs a barrel. Just a guess, it might be more. Those oil field workers who lost their jobs to foreign oil drillers might think it's a good idea.
If you were a white male with a college degree the world was your oyster. Women were kept from advancing in most endeavors and they rarely tried to enter most fields. Women were teachers, nurses or housewives. I'm sure most women would like to return tro the good old days. I won't mentiom the vast opportunities that were presented for minorities as there were colleges and universities in the US which prohibited minorities from entering. Black colleges were really the road to opportunity for many. There were few entertainers who were black as they were difficult to sell.
It was still a great place to be a middle class white man. No one was pushing you for your job, certainly no women. The information age was not yet upon us. There was little competition from abroad as Europe was not yet totally re-tooled from the war. There had not yet been much post war inflation. A lot of people would like to return to those days, those days are not returning. Blame all the foreigners, multinationals, or discounters. Never, ever point that finger of blame inward. It's not what we've been programmed to do.
In 1965, my father bought a 25 inch, RCA color television set. It was a fine piece of furniture with a TV inside. Very few television programs were broadcast in color and to my knowledge, we were the only family on the block to have a color TV set.
The cost was 725 bucks and the old man paid cash for it. It had VHF and UHF and there were 7 VHF braodcast channels in the NYC metro area and 2 or 3 UHF (who watched them?).There was no broadcast after 2 AM I believe. The TV had no remote control, had cathode ray tubes which needed replacement from time to time (expensive proposition). Although it had automatic fine tuning, that didn't mean you wouldn't have a vertical or horizontal issue from time to time. Given that we we weren't wealthy by any standard, I don't know how the old man bought it? My brother was finishing law school and I had 2 sisters in college and one about to enter.
I'd imagine, if you bought a TV with such features today, it might cost 25 bucks. Just about every family in the U.S. has an appliance that's better than this TV, but 40 something years ago, few could afford it. I'd imagine that if we were forced to watch only TVs made in America, few could still afford them.
We didn't have family health insurance. If we went to see a doctor, we paid. It probably costs a couple of dollars for a visit and teh neighborhood doctor might have had one person working with him. The woman probably made sure that the tongue depressors in the glass jar were always filled, and there was enough gauze and tape on hand. He didn't have a staff to keep charts or bill insurance companies, medicare, etc. Most diagnosis were that was a fever that few aspirin would cure. There were few miracle drugs, save pennicillin. I don't remember malpractice or mis-diagnosis being a hot topic at the time. The same degree of healthcare today can be self administered at about the same cost.
When a NYC office was depicted in movies, you often saw switcboard operators as well. I can imagine what the internet would be like if we relied on a solid job like a switchboard operator to be the nuits and bolts behind it. Long distance or overseas phone calls were rare.
A pair of blue jeans cost between 10 and 14 dollars, much like you can buy a pair today at a discount store. I'd imagine if you could only buy a pair of jeans made in the USA today, you would probably pay 80 or 90 dollars. That's just a guess.
Gasoline was leaded and regular gasoline sold for about 25 -30 cents a gallon. I think most of the oil came from the US but that's mostly gone. There is still some oil in shale and hard to get oil and if we used only crude that came from US soil, I'd imagine that it would cost 7 or eight hundred dollrs a barrel. Just a guess, it might be more. Those oil field workers who lost their jobs to foreign oil drillers might think it's a good idea.
If you were a white male with a college degree the world was your oyster. Women were kept from advancing in most endeavors and they rarely tried to enter most fields. Women were teachers, nurses or housewives. I'm sure most women would like to return tro the good old days. I won't mentiom the vast opportunities that were presented for minorities as there were colleges and universities in the US which prohibited minorities from entering. Black colleges were really the road to opportunity for many. There were few entertainers who were black as they were difficult to sell.
It was still a great place to be a middle class white man. No one was pushing you for your job, certainly no women. The information age was not yet upon us. There was little competition from abroad as Europe was not yet totally re-tooled from the war. There had not yet been much post war inflation. A lot of people would like to return to those days, those days are not returning. Blame all the foreigners, multinationals, or discounters. Never, ever point that finger of blame inward. It's not what we've been programmed to do.
