Originally posted by C4K:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Hardsheller:
And gas prices from 1948-1952 averaged $.27 a gallon. Yep the Oil Companies were really duping the American Public.
I think that the generally accepted minimum wage in 1948 was about .40 an hour.
A gallon of gas cost 67% of a minimum wage workers hourly pay. (Gas would have to cost about $3.45 a gallon to reach that level today).
Let me see - today's minimum wage is $5.15 - lets go with a simple $2.50 a gallon.
A gallon of gas costs only 48% of a minimum wage worker's hourly pay.
You are right, the oil companies were duping the people even more than today.
Unless you are giving the prices of gas in today's cost. If so my post is totally invalidated
. </font>[/QUOTE]You make some good comparisons but they are basically meaningless.
In 1948 the Automobile was still in the process of becoming a necessity instead of a luxury. Many families didn't even own one.
My Father hitched rides to work for the first years of his marriage in the 40's and only bought his first new car in 1948. BTW he lived over 10 miles from work.
It was rare for a car to go down the road and meet more than one or two other cars or trucks between the farm and the town.
We didn't have this Ant-like network of highways and traffic that we do today.
And remember, when you bought your first truck or car you got rid of at least one horse or mule so that lowered your overall transportation cost plus it lowered your transportation time which increased your productive time on the farm and thereby increased your overall income.
Also - the Oil Companies were just beginning to invest millions of dollars in company owned service stations around the country.
They don't have that expense today.
This whole comparison of Gas Prices today with Gas Prices of yesteryear is a lot more complicated than it seems at first glance.
