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Historical Illiteracy
Mar. 2nd, 2011 09:46 amSorry for the radio silence yesterday - Rotary, writer's group and the lingering effects of a (rare) bout of insomnia conspired against me. Having said that, the sun is shining and I am reasonably well-rested, so here's a thought for you.
One of the discussions raging among some of the blogs I read is "how come we don't feel as wealthy as our parents?" This question is being asked of people who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, and remember the "good old days" of single-income families. Well, my mother worked in the 1960s and 1970s, as did both my grandmothers, so I personally don't ask that question. However, here are a few answers:
1) We buy more stuff now then they did then. As a kid, my house had one (1) TV set. We also didn't go out to eat except when on our one (1) annual vacation. Now we (for some values of "we" - I've only bought one TV) buy multiple TVs and eat out regularly.
2) Although GDP has grown significantly, increasing From 1970 to 1990 by 54.2%, only 3% less than the period 1950 to 1970, average incomes were nearly flat. Almost all of that GDP went to the top few percent of earners.
3) Health care is vastly more expensive, because it's more effective. As this post notes, in the 1950s if you had a heart attack, the undertaker took you to a hospital in a white station wagon he called an ambulance, and, assuming you didn't die on the way, they put you in a regular bed and gave you morphine. If you lived, great, if not, well, call the undertaker back. Now you'd ride in a truck with advanced life support and be rushed to surgery.
So, in the 1950s, your bill in today's dollars would be under $2,000 (plus the funeral - very low survival rate), while today your bill would be $100,000 with no funeral. Now, obviously today's outcome is much better, but the idea that you could "self-insure" for that kind of money is ludicrous.
To conclude - understanding these factors is why we study history.
One of the discussions raging among some of the blogs I read is "how come we don't feel as wealthy as our parents?" This question is being asked of people who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, and remember the "good old days" of single-income families. Well, my mother worked in the 1960s and 1970s, as did both my grandmothers, so I personally don't ask that question. However, here are a few answers:
1) We buy more stuff now then they did then. As a kid, my house had one (1) TV set. We also didn't go out to eat except when on our one (1) annual vacation. Now we (for some values of "we" - I've only bought one TV) buy multiple TVs and eat out regularly.
2) Although GDP has grown significantly, increasing From 1970 to 1990 by 54.2%, only 3% less than the period 1950 to 1970, average incomes were nearly flat. Almost all of that GDP went to the top few percent of earners.
3) Health care is vastly more expensive, because it's more effective. As this post notes, in the 1950s if you had a heart attack, the undertaker took you to a hospital in a white station wagon he called an ambulance, and, assuming you didn't die on the way, they put you in a regular bed and gave you morphine. If you lived, great, if not, well, call the undertaker back. Now you'd ride in a truck with advanced life support and be rushed to surgery.
So, in the 1950s, your bill in today's dollars would be under $2,000 (plus the funeral - very low survival rate), while today your bill would be $100,000 with no funeral. Now, obviously today's outcome is much better, but the idea that you could "self-insure" for that kind of money is ludicrous.
To conclude - understanding these factors is why we study history.
