RE: Cost of gas vs. wages over the years One big problem with the statistics being used. They ignore the real numbers. The $750 a year wage in 1912 had risen to about $700 a month in the mid 1960's but the 20 cent gas of 1912 had only risen to about 29 cents a gallon. And the cost of an automobile had risen to around $2,500 to $3,000 in the mid 1960's. And then in the mid 1970's all hell broke loose on gas prices. And by the time our Vanagons were first being built in 1980 proportions of wages to vehicle cost to gas prices was as totally different from 1912 as you can get. BTW, trying to express the value of any product in terms of wages/salaries, usually referred to as the "Labor Theory of Economics", was discredited and dropped from any serious economic discussion by about the mid 1800's. |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.