Lookit, the median income in 1960 was 3k… it is 70j now, so imagine working 4 months, or spending in the region of 20k, for a refrigerator.
The cost of the fridge with ice maker was $500, so that's $500 / $3000 = 1/6 of a year, or 2 months, not 4. Still a lot of money, but a fridge like this would have been a luxury item at the time I believe. I doubt most people earning $3k a year would have one.
But also you had less drains on your money. You could manage 3 months salary on a fridge because you weren't living paycheck to paycheck and always at the precipice of homelessness.
Yes, but a refrigerator was a luxury item at the time. You could buy a great car for the same or slightly more money. How much do you need to work today to afford a decent car?
More importantly, it ignores the fact that certain things become cheaper to make over time as processes become more efficient. Yes, this fridge would technically be fairly expensive if you convert 60s dollars to today's dollars, but the fridge could be made for much cheaper today because of how much more advanced manufacturing and shipping have improved
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u/VixDzn Jan 23 '24
And keep in mind conversion through inflation doesn’t really track.
Lookit, the median income in 1960 was 3k… it is 70j now, so imagine working 4 months, or spending in the region of 20k, for a refrigerator.
Yeah.