Re: [ARSCLIST] 78s relatively inexpensive? I disagree (was Victor film)

[Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 3/18/2004 6:07:55 PM Eastern Standard Time,
stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Today, the minimum wage in Ontario was bumped up (finally) from
$6.85/hour to $7.00 (I think). Figure on that basis...
...stevenc
****************

I wonder how many people earning a "minimum wage" in 1914 actually purchased
records. According to the calculator mentioned elsewhere "$1.00 in 1914 had
the same buying power as $19.95 in 2003" and $7.00 inflates to $139.65.  Would a
minimum wage MacDonalds worker be willing to pay that much for an hour of
music, let alone five minutes?

 As I go through stacks of single-sided Victrola discs I always wonder who it
was who actually paid the prices listed on the labels. Few collectors would
pay the inflated price now for most of them though half that would hardly cover
shipping and handling.

As for real estate as a reference, I recently realized that even if I could
sell the property my parents purchsed for $75.00 in 1929 for the $20,000 the
lakefront lot near Albany should be worth, it would not cover 75 years of taxes,
inflation and compound interest on the original investment. And that is
without any maintanence expense.

Mike Csontos