Gasoline prices are not that high. According to Walter E. Williams, noted economist, and inflation measures gas prices are only slightly higher than in 1950.
In 1950, a gallon of regular gasoline sold for about 30 cents; today, it's $2.50. Are today's gasoline prices high compared to 1950? Before answering that question, we have to take into account inflation that has occurred since 1950. Using my trusty inflation calculator (www.westegg.com/inflation), what cost 30 cents in 1950 costs $2.33 in 2005. In real terms, that means gasoline prices today are only slightly higher, about 8 percent, than they were in 1950. Up until the recent spike, gasoline prices have been considerably lower than 1950 prices.
And also that means that although gas was only $50 a gallon, someone who makes $30,000 a year today would have made $5,000 a year in 1955.
But did they make on average $5,000 back in 1950? I don't know. My first job after college was in 1983 and I started at $14,000 as a research tech at a biology lab. And that was after all those high inflation years during Ford and Carter.
Posted by: Utenzi at September 2, 2005 04:04 PM
