My good friend Fred Dent is making a video out of my slide show – prepared for Cato University this past July – based on a 1975 Sears catalog. Here’s the rough cut.
Greatly Stagnating?
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My good friend Fred Dent is making a video out of my slide show – prepared for Cato University this past July – based on a 1975 Sears catalog. Here’s the rough cut.
Previous post: Some Links from Cato@Liberty
{ 67 comments }
I miss my old polyester clothes. They were cheap and wrinkle free.
Excellent video!
“Greatly stagnating” appears to be greatly growing.
Suppose if one wants to look at the weeds growing among the stalks of corn you find stagnation. If one looks at the huge yield of corn dwarfing the few weeds one finds major growth. You purchase a new automobile, it’s a fine machine, you will enjoy years of utility. Your neighbor stops over and rather than admiring the whole, he concentrates on some minor flaw of no significance. Yes, you either see the sea-of-corn or you concentrate focus on minor weeds between the rows.
Thank goodness the 1975 Sears catalog did not offer ATM machines or else you certainly would be reported to Obama Attack Watch!
Interesting! I’d suggest revising the last line to “Let’s not go there”.
Break up the narration somewhat. Instead of X hours, y hours, mix it up. This microwave would have taken over two weeks work, but you can pay it off now in half a day.
Changing the sentence structure will perk up the script.
I’d also spend some more time highlighting that you’re getting a much, much better product for less work. It compares a typewriter to a laptop, but you can do a lot more than type on a laptop.
Here’s a more thoughtful discussion of the issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A
Nothing by Liz Warren is “thoughtful” or “insightful.”
The fact you reference her is unsurprising.
Elizabeth Warren is an ignorant top-down regulatory zealot shrew who understands nothing about financial regulation.
This by Elizabath Warren is the absolute truth:
http://i.imgur.com/bdUCt.jpg
The only marauding band of thugs you have to worry about seizing everything in your factory is government. Often, the same police Ms. Warren worships so.
A valid contract is an agreement into which individuals enter voluntarily. Coercion voids a contract. Nobody ever signed any “social contracts”. No American citizen ever signed such a thing.
Elizabeth Warren shows herself to be a hairbrained ninny who tows the party line because thinking is too hard. Creatures like her are all too common among the faculty at universities. They appeal to idiots like Irritable Bowel because they have the intellectual prowess of a hairball and the morality of a thug.
That is she “toes” the party line. The socialist (a.k.a. Demonrat) party line is so incredibly cumbersome, I always think of people towing it the way strongmen tow trucks with their teeth in competitions.
So, you used to be an equity analyst in the oil and gas industry?
“A valid contract is an agreement into which individuals enter voluntarily. Coercion voids a contract. Nobody ever signed any “social contracts”. ”
You moved to this country voluntarily… now shut the hell up and honor the contract.
I’m Methinks is still kicking herself she didn’t go to Sinapore instead.
“You moved to this country voluntarily… now shut the hell up and honor the contract.”
I was born in this country but never signed any contract. Or did I sign it when I didn’t decide to move to another country?
People say you’re a doctor.
I pity your patients.
@ Fred:
People say you’re a doctor.
Muirgeo is a horse doctor, just like Doctor Hugo Z. Hackenbush in A Day at the Races. See Muirgeo in action:
http://tinyurl.com/3vph6qf
It’s up to Methinks to decide where she thinks her honor lies. But the trolls restricting her admission and demanding oaths were not granted the authority to do so by her American friends, employers, customers, landlord, or the merchants she deals with. The trolls’ authority is entirely unilateral, coercively acquired, and invalid.
If a troll with a gun placed a gate in the middle of my driveway one morning and demanded payment and promises in order for me to cross to my neighbor friend’s house, I would promise whatever he asked. And since it was under duress, not his property, and therefore not his business, I would disregard my promise with the same impunity with which he injected himself into the affairs of me and my neighbor.
I pointed out to some of my progressive “friends” how she was using cases of government monopolies, or near monopolies, to show that it was okay to coerce. That is, coercion is why coercion is okay!
Warren makes me want to vomit, as do all the people slobbering all over her pathetic “reasoning.”
Again, Liz Warren is a fraud.
She is completely unaware of any downstream or spinoff effects of regulation, and fully endorses increasing transaction costs via obstruction and outright ban, further harming the consumer, the party whom she purportedly “protects.”
The fact that you do so as well confirms our negative outlook on you.
Downgraded, with further deterioration expected. Fool.
“Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where she has taught contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law.”
The only one completely unaware here is you.
Absolutely, since I only have 25 years financial markets (including floor trading) experience, and managed a $600 billion trade desk thru near-Armageddon 2007-2010.
What the fuck do you do, little girl?
IB – you are obviously believe in argumentum ad verecundiam.
“What the fuck do you do, little girl?”
Productive stuff… that actually adds to the economy rather than sucking out the profits of truly productive people by passing pieces of bogus paper across a desk…
WOW I do 6 billion dollar…lalalala… you don’t do shit that is productive. A common thieve adds more to the economy than yourself. But you ain’t man enough to hold up people for their money so you have to be sneaky about. That little girls gonna kick asses like yours into jail or a least into some thing productive for society. Way too many blood suckers like yourself on Wall Street and the angry mobs are amassing aren’t they.
“Productive stuff… that actually adds to the economy…”
Managing a trade desk adds to the economy by allocating resources from less productive investments to more productive investments.
When resources are removed from the economy by the government, and passed to med-school flunkies like you through transfer payments like Medicare, wealth is effectively destroyed.
The blood sucker is you.
Fred wrote,
“Managing a trade desk adds to the economy by allocating resources from less productive investments to more productive investments.”
Jesus Fred… these assholes allocated trillions and trillions of dollars into toxic assetts ( they created) under Wall Street and Fed policy THEY lobbied for and recieved that are still taking down the global economy as we speek. WAKE THE HELL UP! You guys and your inane excuses make me sick. You are not capable of dealing with the facts.
“You are not capable of dealing with the facts.”
You are not capable of rational thought.
Regulations have side effects. When regulations demand that certain types of investments be done in a certain way, with fees and government jerks looking over your shoulder at every turn, it is human nature to invent something else to avoid the nanny.
That’s how those crazy complex investments came into being.
It was an effort to avoid the government assholes.
And it’s not their fault the economy is still in the shitter.
Government spending has to come from somewhere. It doesn’t come out of thin air. Government produces nothing. Whatever it spends comes from somewhere else.
It comes from investors buying bonds instead of assets investing in a company that might build a factory and employ people, it comes from people paying taxes instead of buying goods and services that require jobs to create, and from the Fed printing paper that lowers the value of the dollar for everyone.
Turn off the emotions. Turn off the envy. Turn off the anger.
Stop acting like an animal and use the rational brain that makes human beings unique and special.
THINK!
A leftist lawyer; that’s two strikes.
“Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where she has taught contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law.”
Moron, all that says is she is educated to know what the laws on the books are, and how the courts are likely to rule.
You comment has nothing to do with what Mesa Econoguy said. Again, you are a moron.
Elizabeth Warren is the typical politically-correct (which means economically wrong) “hall monitor” type who desperately desires to tell everyone else what to do. She was chosen by someone of similar qualities who is failing as President.
That the mention of Elizabeth Warren throws these two Wall Street crooks into a tizzy tells you all you need to know of her. Warren will make sure the Wall Street Banksters and other thieving types actually do something productive for a living besides high tech robbery….. and they don’t like the idea of having to actually work for a living. POS’s every last one of them.
Yes, Methinks & I run Wall St. It’s pretty grueling. Lots of walking.
We’re far worse than Dick Fuld, Lloyd Blankfein, Jon Corzine, Jimmy Cayne, Charles Keating, the Hunt Bros., and John Law, combined.
So I guess that makes you gay brothel landlord Bawney Fwank (“Fannie & Fweddie is compweetwy sowvent”), Andy “HUD lending targets” Cuomo, Dick “lending discrimination” (based on crap statistics) Syron, Henry “don’t worry about principal repayment (wink!)” Gonzales, Henry “Increase low-income ownership now” Cisneros, Franklin Delano “get those Fannie Mae bonuses back up! Using Fraudulent accounting!” Raines, and Jim Fannie Mae thug and criminal (and enormous Democrat operative and failed Walter Mondale campaign manager) Johnson.
Wait, you’re also Charles Ponzi, for supporting Socialist Insecurity.
How did the Hunt brothers make that list?
Nice quote IB. That shit drives the greed monger nut jobs crazy. But they are soulless bastards anyway. All the good people who get rich have no problem with the idea…. it’s just these criminal types who least deserve their fortunes that complain the most…
Sorry, forgot to mention this above, did you lose more money again, in this latest market downturn, sucker – er, easy mark – erm, cough, mr investor?
Are you suggesting that anyone has a soul?
Mesa wrote,
“Sorry, forgot to mention this above, did you lose more money again, in this latest market downturn, sucker – er, easy mark – erm, cough, mr investor?”
Bingo mesa…. thanks for making my point. Banking is a simple thing. The only reason it’s become so complicated is because bastards like you can make a killing hiding behind all the complexity you create giving your type ( the type who cares more about getting rich than about being productive) a huge advantage over the average schmoe just trying to make an honest living.
The complexity comes from having a profitable business model, then some jerk from the government comes in with regulations that give him the power to tell you how to do your job. So you come up with something else, and in time he comes back with a new set of regulations and starts telling you how to do your job.
Repeat that for a century or so and you can be sure things will get real complicated.
Whose fault is it? The guy who just wants to conduct his business without some asshole looking over his shoulder, or the legislators and regulators who give that asshole the power to look over his shoulder (and the incentive to come up with a different idea)?
George, if you cannot understand simple economics, then you should not invest in anything more complex than a market-indexed mutual fund with low fees. I suggest Vanguard or T. Rowe Price. Investing, like medicine, is complex and involves risk. Never invest in anything where you do not understand the risk of the investment or your own risk-tolerance profile, and make sure the two match.
“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there – good for you
But I want to be clear. You had to cooperate with thousands to build and operate your factory. It took the voluntary actions of thousands to provide the materials and machinery. It also took thousands spread around the world to supply the inputs into your process and to move your products to market. In the process everyone gained. That is a beautiful thing. It is also great that in selling your products you became wealthy. Even better was the wealth and benefits gained by your customers.
But politicians also did our part. We kept taxes low so that people had more wealth, eliminated trade barriers so that goods could flow freely, allowed the laws to evolve through the courts rather that create burdensome regulation.
We also avoided wars and kept the military just strong enough to protect us from invasion.
Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific – God bless! Spend a big hunk of it on things you enjoy. But to help society please continue to invest and grow, earning even more. This is the best thing you could do for society
E. Warren (In a better & richer America)
Politicians have started every war. They have erected barriers to trade. They have worked ceaselessly to destroy capital. They tinker with incentives that confuse market participants. The create fear among people. They work to enrich themselves or those they are closest to. They demonize the most productive and use least productive to fulfill their own ends. Just a few things about politicians. Ron Paul will never win an election because he isn’t nearly enough of a liar, thief, or sycophant to even come close. Honesty is enough to kill his chances.
I was born in this country, and some of my ancestors have been here since the 1650s. Of those ancestors, some fought in the American Revolution and others were Patriots because they gave supplies to the Continental Army and the State militias. This country was founded on the principles of limited, representative government and individual liberty, not some silly social contract that Ms. Warren imagines gives the federal government unlimited power and no rights for individuals. Consequently, Methinks1776, who came to this country seeking the freedom that was intended here, may stay. But, Ms. Warren, George, Gil, and Irritable Bowels, in order to prove their love of social contracts, must happily move to Russia, a typical “caring” country.
It is those factories that produce the wealth that pay for the roads, etc.
Without the factory there would be no jobs, no income to tax, no roads to drive on, etc.
Mesa,
Since you live in opposite world I and Mrs Warren thank you for the compliment.
You’re welcome, Dr. stupid in America.
Why don’t you apply your own thought?
Explain, in your own words, how the poor are getting poorer when the average poor person has more wealth (Yes I said wealth. Not money, but wealth. Wealth is what money can buy. That’s the point of the slide show. Wealth is what matters, not money.) than the average middle class person of forty years ago.
Explain to me how the poor are getting poorer when they have cell phones with built in digital cameras, computers with internet access, flat screen televisions, GORE-TEX jackets, and all these things that were barely imagined forty years ago.
Not to mention the fact that they are fat. I thought poor people starved. I see poor people eating themselves to death.
WTF?
Poor getting poorer?
Please explain.
Why don’t you apply your own thought?
His own what now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpflEPzZoN8
How did I miss this presentation? It’s simple and brilliant. I’m sending it to everyone I know.
Thank you, Don.
President: Gerald R. Ford
Vice President: Nelson A. Rockefeller
Population: 215,973,199
Life expectancy: 72.6 years
Dow-Jones
High: 860
Low: 610
Federal spending: $332.33 billion
Federal debt: $541.9 billion
Inflation: 14.1%
Consumer Price Index: 53.8
Unemployment: 5.6%
Cost of a new home: $42,600.00
Median Household Income: $11,800.00
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.10 ($0.13 as of 12/31/75)
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $0.57
Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.77
Cost of a gallon of Milk: $1.57
Getting out of Vietnam with a deferment: Priceless
Chance of Global Thermonuclear War: moderate
Space Program: World’s best
Homeless: very few
Terrorist bombings of State Dept: 1
Terrorist bombings of La Guardia Airport: 1
http://www.1970sflashback.com/1975/ECONOMY.asp
This post is a microcosm of just exactly why you are such a simpleton most of the time. You look at snapshots of history, from a time when you were not around, and you think that you can draw any real value from it to apply to the modern world.
You cannot possibly interpret any of the statistics that you just sited because you have to know all of the history leading up to why we had an unelected president and an unpopular war, and terrific inflation, and rising debt, and a cold war, and an oil shock, and a meat crises, and swine flu, and everything else.
You never seem to ask any questions and certainly don’t make any real arguments, you just post things like this and think that you are somehow making a statement of some sort.
If you had bothered to click on the provided ‘hyperlink’ you would have seen I made some of those up. I suppose you’re right though, it takes at least a doctorate to ‘interpret’ the price of a dozen eggs.
What I didn’t make up was the federal debt and the federal spending, and I interpret the debt figure to be larger than the spending figure.
I never bother to click on your links, you have a bad habit of not making your own arguments. Life is too short to click a bunch of links that might be bad, or buggy, or take a long amount of reading just to try and glean some point you might be cryptically trying to make.
I don’t think they are called barbecue pits, as they are neither pits or barbecue (slow cook) foods. I believe they are called gas grills.
I remember seeing the presentation and I remember it being much more impressive than the video version. It needs context, but what the hell do I know.
I call them an abomination.
What’s wrong with propane grills and propane accessories?
the taste, it is just not there. Wood/charcoal all the way
I own a gas grill, a weber kettle, a UDS, and a hole in the ground with an iron grate. I’ve made great food in all of them. A gas grill is a different tool than a charcoal grill, but that’ doesn’t make it inferior. Just different. I didn’t get rid of my claw hammer when I got a sledge.
That said, those aren’t barbeque pits. They are grills. Fixing that line will reduce the cognitive friction of audience member who, oh, have gas grill, a weber kettle, a UDS, and a hole in the ground with an iron grate
OK Hank.
When you compare the cost of a filing cabinet in 1975 to the cost of a filing cabinet today, I would suggest you miss the opportunity to compare the filing cabinet of 1975 to a 4GB USB Flash Drive, which costs maybe little over an hour of work at minimum wage when you catch them on sale.
of course you are right, but he wanted to point out that it was not just technological gadgets that were cheaper. It is everything.
An interesting follow up would be comparisons of food prices using a newspaper advertisement.
I think the point was that comparing typewriters to laptops (even though you get more value for less labor) is sort of like comparing apples to engine blocks. File cabinets are more apples to apples.
But you’re right. You can buy a terabyte hard drive for $70.
I know what Don’s purpose was, guys. But, I though that in that case since storage of information is the sole reason for a file cabinet, that the comparison could have been made with the further dimension of the flash drive, as in 1975 file cabinet to 2011 file cabinet and/or a 2011 4GB flash drive; thus demonstrating two points at once. You know the old maxim “two stones, one bird”, well in this case either stone kills the bird.
Great video. I checked the prices on Amazon for the coffee maker by Mr. Coffee (5 Cup Black Programmable Coffee Maker – CGX7). Lists for 29.95 retail (19.85 from Amazon but out of stock).
So, take the retail listing.
Then I looked up the lowest mininum wage in the US and decided to go with the US minimum wage ($7.25/h).
If taxes are included, it would take someone making minimum wage about 4.5 hours to earn enough to buy that coffee maker. Not the one hour listed in the video.
In 1975, federal minimum wage was $2.10 and the coffee maker is listed in the Sears catalogue photo at $36.49. Back then minimum wage worker would need to work about 17.5 hours to buy the same coffee machine (no taxes factored in). Not the 7 hours mentioned in the video.
Still hard for the minimum wage earner for sure…but it is cheaper for them too!
The calculation is done with the median hourly wages of the non-supervisory workers during each of the two periods (1975 and 2011).
Far fewer than five percent of the U.S. workforce, now as then, earn the minimum wage.
I think Steve Horowitz beat you to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8SLIt7xZxU
FDR from a 1940′s Fireside chat;
” A number of my friends who belong in the very high upper brackets have suggested to me…that if I am re-elected president they will have to move to some other nation because of the high taxes here. Now … I will miss them…. VERY MUCH… but if they do go they will soon come back. Because a year or two of paying taxes in almost any other country in the world will make them yearn once more for the good old taxes of the USA.”
Then I think he said Booooyaaaa!!!!
So your claim is that even though FDR is a thief, it’s okay because he steals less than others?
Regards,
Ken
This whole article is a refutation to the idea of stagnating living standards:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/22/living/dorm-rooms/index.html?npt=NP1
A lot of the campus residence halls in the U.S. were built in the mid-20th century when it was common for kids to share bedrooms and bathrooms at home. Today, students arrive at college not used to sharing a room or the communal experience of the older dorms, Newman said. Students are also bringing more gadgets, including refrigerators, microwaves, flat-screen TVs and computers.
“Just the stuff that people bring with them, the type of housing has to change … we are changing the types of amenities we’re offering to remain current and relevant to the student of today and of the future,” she said.
The challenge is making sure the buildings last the next 100 years since universities can’t afford to renovate them year after year, she added.
On the other side of the University of Michigan campus, a privately owned 10-story apartment complex called Zaragon Place has a wait list full of students hoping to live in the building that opened in 2009. The fully furnished apartments — complete with black leather couches, 42-inch flat-screen TVs, granite kitchen countertops, washing machines and dryers — cost about $1,189 a month. (North Quad costs about $1,412 a month for a two-room suite with a private bathroom). Students have access to a 24/7 gym, underground parking and a convenience store next to the building.
For your edification:
http://tinyurl.com/439lf43
Abbott and Costello explain the Obama Jobs Plan.