Just saw a retarded video claiming that if minimum wage kept up with inflation, we would need to have 65 dollars per hour to be able to have the same buying power as a boomer in the 50s
meanwhile, in 1950 the minimum wage federally was .75c an hour, listed by this https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart

meanwhile, pic related shows inflation from 1950 to 2025 at 1200%
am i missing something here?

>>511375090 (OP)
>The average house price in the United States in 1950 was $7,354
Excluding taxes, In 1950, you had to work 2,338 hours to pay off a house on minimum wage.
In 2025, you'd have to work 58,317 hours to pay off a house on minimum wage.

>>511375090 (OP)
>0.75 * 12.384 = 9.288
Am I missing something?

>>511375864
>0.75 * 2338 = 1753.5
???

>>511375090 (OP)
Does this take into account the amount of taxes we have to pay? I make over $65/hr (below $80/hr, if that matters) and it's not good enough

>>511376167
9805*
Sorry, typo in math. I was eating.
In any case, it'd take 6x longer to pay for the same thing

>>511375864
Using this as a quick reference from 1973 and the min wage at that time being 1.6 per hour

37k at 1.6 per hour gives a needed amount of hours of 23125 to be able to fully pay off that house, assuming no taxes or interest
426000 at 65 dollars an hour gives 6.5k hours needed of work to do the same
at current 7.5 for the same 426k house its 56k hours
so in terms of effort and time without regards to increased prices in other commodities taxes insurance etc, to buy a house with the same amount of hours worked as in 1973 for that 37k, min wage would be 18.4 per hour for 23125 hours

>>511375090 (OP)

>>511375090 (OP)
>>511376491
also apologies, the original video stated 1970s not 1950s**

pic rel is the same

>>511376584

>>511375090 (OP)
Also a good question to ask is, where minimum wage works actually buying houses in the 70s? or is it just used as the generic measurement of buying power because its the most consistent way to measure a dollars worth from year to year?

>>511376584
>>511376793

>>511377086
why the wild change in measuring? all this is telling me is no one has any fucking actual idea since they are all using different metrics to measure it

https://econchrisclarke.wordpress.com/2025/05/18/minimum-wage-has-never-been-66-hr/
>inb4 wordpress

https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/economy/comparing-purchasing-power-from-the-1950s-to-today/
this comes to a similar conclusion as well, at best minimum wage would need to be doubled
which is what ive always heard growing up in the 00s and 10s

>>511377086
$93 x 40 hrs =$3720
The current price of a 1 ounce gold coin in the USA is approximately $3,331.79

https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

>>511375090 (OP)
>meanwhile, in 1950 the minimum wage federally was .75c an hour
1950s gold cost $35 an oz
today gold costs $3336 an oz
https://www.kitco.com/charts/gold
you have to make 95 times as many dollars to pay for the same ounze of gold

>>511375090 (OP)
>meanwhile, pic related shows inflation from 1950 to 2025 at 1200%
>am i missing something here?
The Inflation Calculator is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which some like to refer to as CPLie. How is CPI calculated? Using a "basket of goods" that the typical consumer would purchase. What happens when inflation occurs however? Consumers cut back on the steaks and buy cheaper ground beef? Well well well, now the basket of goods changes to cheaper and cheaper good too. This masks the real inflation that has happened. If the basket of goods were constant, like 1 oz gold, 1 oz silver, 1 lb of granulated white sugar, etc, then real inflation would be exposed. But it is not, the basket of goods is not a fixed value of items.
What you have to do is look back at old prices, like this house, then get the current price using the same materials used to build it. You cannot substitute modern bricks which have holes in them for 100 year old solid bricks either. You have to compare them exactly. When you do that, you see how little the dollar is worth now compared to back then.