Many are complaining about the cost of gasoline as the price approaches $4/gallon. Consider that about fifty years ago gas was often 25 cents/gallon. The price is now about 16 times as much. But consider also the use of those gallons of gas. Fifty years ago many cars got 10-15 miles per gallon; now many cars get 30 or more miles per gallon. In other words we are getting an effective $2/gallon or better of travel compared to fifty years ago. So, as far as our use of gasoline, the price could be considered only eight times as much.
Consider postage. Fifty years ago the price of a first class stamp was three cents. Now it is 47 cents (I don't know exactly because I buy forever stamps). Hm! That's about 16 times as much, about the same as the increase in the price of gasoline. But postage is now a better deal. Fifty years ago a first class letter would take five days or more to go across country. Now it can go coast to coast in three days and even four or less to Hawaii. To get that kind of service fifty years ago, you had to buy an airmail stamp at eight cents. So, in one sense, postage has gone up about six times as much as fifty years ago. Pretty low inflation considering it is a government service continuously hobbled by Congress.
Consider newspapers. Fifty years ago the price of a daily paper was five cents. Now it is one dollar, twenty times as much. And they are a lot smaller. And in most cities there is only one newspaper rather than two or three. Worse, the last newsstand increase was from 75 cents to one dollar. A 33-1/3 percent increase, and I never saw a single complaint in letters to the editor. A newspaper is produced by a "free market" company.
The list of items whose prices have "skyrocketed" goes on and on. I remember sixty years ago going to the movie (sometimes a double feature with a cartoon, a short, and the news) for ten cents for the ticket and ten cents for a box of popcorn. I wouldn't buy a candy bar at the theater because they cost six cents compared to five cents at the drug store next door. Ice cream cones were five cents a scoop. Sundaes and milk shakes were 25 cents. "Pepsi-Cola hits the spot / Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you!"
