this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
801 points (97.3% liked)
US Authoritarianism
830 readers
5 users here now
Hello, I am researching American crimes against humanity. . This space so far has been most strongly for memes, and that's fine.
There's other groups and you are welcome to add to them. USAuthoritarianism Linktree
See Also, my website. USAuthoritarianism.com be advised at time of writing it is basically just a donate link
Cool People: [email protected]
founded 8 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Inflation is a thing. If she was born in 1946, she would have gone to college around 1964. Which means that her tuition would have been about 7600 dollars today. That's still lower than the average in-state tuition by about 2000 dollars, but just putting that into context. However, minimum wage in 1964 was 1.15/hr, which means it would have taken about 16 weeks at full time minimum wage to pay for one semester tuition vs the 33 weeks it takes today. That's a much better metric of comparison. It would take over a year to pay for a year of school now vs half a bit over half year before.
How does housing and food factor in too though, that’s only one portion of expenses. Entertainment costs far more for example, lots didn’t even really have entertainment than books.
A podcast I was listening to today suggested that food is more affordable now than it was 50 yo. I don't know if that's true, but it would seem possible given all the science lowering costs for producers (additives, artificial ingredients, preservatives).
I often wonder how inexpensive produce would be if GMO crops weren't demonized. I know the USA has several varieties of GMO fruit and veg on the market, but it's availability is so scarce, and many countries still outright ban any bioengineered organism.
do not mind the gmo crops themself. but the companies pushing them are almost nestle level horrible. open source gmo crops. now sign me up.
Costs are not the reason for higher food prices; it's demand. They charge more because you have no option. The average person has no way or ability to grow food and not much aptitude for cooking. That's a recipe for higher food prices.
Cost is a function of supply and demand. GMO crops yield more, so there would be a larger supply, thus driving down cost if demand remains the same. This is totally pedantic though because you're still right:
I took capitalist greed as a given... my bad.