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Thread ID: 127012	2012-09-29 10:02:00	1985 or thereabouts	pctek (84)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1304076	2012-09-29 10:02:00	Just watched an old Its In The Bag. Prizes on offer: 14" TV - $1199 VCR - $1799 $3000 savings - at 21.5% interest OMG........actually I remember a mortgage we had at the time being something disgusting like 20%..... The VCR!!!! Average wage seemed to be $14000 back then. That's $269 a week. But we got a computer in 1985. I remember it cost $1800, no monitor, no peripherals, we had to borrow a relatives wee TV to use it for a while. Until we got a monitor or something.....We did not own a VCR until considerably later.....in fact not until about 1989....	pctek (84)
1304077	2012-09-29 10:13:00	Then came the stock market crash, lol. Lurking. Ps. think we were renting a tv still, pc was one of those manufactured in Hamilton I think. lurks.	Lurking (218)
1304078	2012-09-29 21:05:00	1985 We had a Sanyo 18" colour tv. Can't remember what it cost. National VCR $1800 First computer was an Amstrad 128 we bought in 1986 from Farmers, around $1900 I think. LL	lakewoodlady (103)
1304079	2012-09-30 00:29:00	First TV was in 1958, bought from Lamphouse, SOS Radio, Valentines and sundry other war-surplus outlets. There was a bit of a delay before any TV broadcasts to try it out. Still pictures only initially, which was lucky because the CRT was an ex-radar round thing with about a minute's persistence to 50% brightness, also it was orange, but it had a very hi-tech price. 2/6d.	R2x1 (4628)
1304080	2012-09-30 01:30:00	First TV was in 1958, 2/6d. So what was a weekly wage then? Interest rates was interesting, and we moan now....scarey thought that they might go up like that again.	pctek (84)
1304081	2012-09-30 03:04:00	Well, I started work just after that, and in my hand after the drama was 0 / 4 3/4d per hour. It was pretty low even for then (Fourpence, three farthings an hour, although farthings had long vanished.) A bit under 4c / hr. Interest rates were not in those silly ranges you got stung with unless you shopped very carefully. The 2/6d only bought a war surplus radar CRT, there was a bit of work to do to get the picture trapping stuff cobbled together. Interestingly, when colour TV arrived, mid-range sets rented for around $1 per day, I don't think it has changed much, but the TVs are light years better.	R2x1 (4628)
1304082	2012-09-30 06:20:00	The scary thing when you look at all those prices and wage rates is you hard fought savings. Those few dollars that you battled to save have become trivial chump change within a few decades. The cost of getting a cataract removed now may equate to the equivalent of numerous YEARS of hard graft at the peak of your earning/saving period. 20 minutes of work for a surgeon today eating up a few years of your hard graft a decade ago. That modest pool of retirement savings you're struggling to get now may look like lunch money in 2 decades. If so... how are you gonna get fed? IS there realy any merit to saving when the value of your money diminishes so fast?	Paul.Cov (425)
1304083	2012-09-30 19:58:00	So what was a weekly wage then? Interest rates was interesting, and we moan now....scarey thought that they might go up like that again. Yeah it would be interesting alright, i remember mum and dad talking about interest rates then, but it didnt effect me as i was only a teenager..:confused:	Gobe1 (6290)
1304084	2012-09-30 22:15:00	Well the good thing about inflation etc is that although the value if money goes down and prices go up comparitively wages also increase in value so where one might have earned $200 a week as opposed to $500 now the weekly shopping wpuld have increased from some $30 to $140, the price/wage ratio is always the same but forever climbing. Money is just a number, it's how much it's valued at that makes the difference. I remember wishing I could have lived through the 50's, got a decent job and bought myself a nice car for $3,200 as opposed to the 65,000 you'd pay for a nice model today. Usually cars are worth apporximately the yearly salery of your middle income earner. Still, analyse the numbers enough and you do question the system, of course its a system designed to fail to prevent rampant inflation costs.	The Error Guy (14052)
1304085	2012-09-30 22:19:00	Well the good thing about inflation etc is that although the value if money goes down and prices go up comparitively wages also increase in value so ......... the price/wage ratio is always the same but forever climbing. Money is just a number, it's how much it's valued at that makes the difference. I don't think so. Husband started work in 1964. Rates are more now. Power is more now. Houses are more now (at least in Auckland). Food is more now. Toys - like electronics are considerably less now. That's based on his pay then, plus what it used to cost for stuff then.	pctek (84)
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