Money

2/18/2015

In today's paper, there is an article about how much the Israeli Prime Minister and his wife spend on hair, makeup, maid service and swimming pool water.  The article also points out that the Prime Minister spent $24,000 in takeout food in 2011.  That's a whole lot of pizza, chicken and Chinese food.

I wouldn't want to be a political or famous person because everything you do or say is fodder for the press.  How would you as an ordinary citizen, like people scrutinizing your life?  To this I say nay-nay. 

Also in the paper is a report on the high price of a cocktail in D.C.  Apparently, you can get a $22 cocktail.  Do you know much soda you could buy for $22.00?  A lot.  I'm not much of a drinker, a few sips of some pink wine when eating out, is good enough for me.  I don't know enough about wine to order a drink by name.  I only order by color!  For the price of a cocktail, I could have a steak - and I prefer red meat over a drink any day.

Let's take a walk through memory lane - back to 1967 - the year I graduated from high school.  Check out the prices of products:

Gas: 24.5 to 29.9 per gallon
Bread 25 cents a loaf for cheap stuff. Wonder was probably 50 cents
Wage: $1.65 was minimum wage. A Doctor or lawyer made $50k and malpractice insurance was $2,000 a year. Malpractice for some doctors today is $40,000
Homes, in Chicago $12,-25k. In Los Angeles $30 - 50k
New Toyota Corolla was $1800, Mercedes SL was $25k Today the price is over $90,000.  A new VW was $1200
Shasta Cola was 8 to 10 cents each.
A scoup of Ice Cream at Baskin Robbins was 35 cents Today you will pay over $3.00
Hamburger was 29 cents a pound
T Bone steak was $1.15 a pound.
McDonald's Hamburger was 39 cents
White Castle Haumburger was 15 cents
Coffee was 10 cents a cup or $2 for THREE POUNDS
The Sunday Times was 25 cents
A pay phone call was 10 cents
Bus ride was a quarter including free transfer
A movie was $1.50
Popcorn was 50 cents
A snickers bar was 5 cents
Gum balls were a penny 
It cost $8.50 to see Linda Ronstadt at the Palamino in North Hollywood  
It cost $12.50 to fly from Los Angeles to San Francisco on Continental You can buy a "cheap" ticket for $254.

The cost of some things really made my head nearly screw off. Of course back in 1967 people didn't earn as much money as we do today - but still.  Can you remember or even imagine buying a new car for $1800?  As we say those were the good old days.

P.S. If you're wondering who was the top dog at Westminster last night, it was a beagle.

P