5 Jul
1999
5 Jul
'99
10:19 a.m.
On 2 Jul 99 at 21:01, Christian Fandt wrote:
Upon the date 11:10 AM 7/1/99 -0700, Kai Kaltenbach
said something like:
Unfortunately, as you are likely aware of Chris, these price comparisons and
dollar values don't really capture the market realities of the time. Not like
when you were there. The going wage levels, at times inflated prices for some
commodities, and rent,food prices, expectations, and cultural demands also
played a role. Each era has it's "norm" demands and when I reflect back to
the
40's and 50's our expectations and demands from that time make the present
ones those that only the wealthy of that era could afford. Hollywood
generally makes as bad a representation when they do their period pieces.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com
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I grabbed the Consumer Price Index history off the
web, pasted into Excel,
and applied the percentage changes cumulative from 1975.
One 1998 dollar = $2.95 in 1975 dollars (ouch, those Carter administration
years! Thank goodness for Greenspan)
Therefore, an assembled Altair 8800 with 4x2K static RAM, serial, parallel,
cassette, and bus expansion, $1880 in 1975 dollars, would be the equivalent
of $5546 today.
An Apple Lisa base configuration ($9995 in 1983 dollars) would be $16,169
today.
Kai
At 11:02 AM 7/1/99 -0600, you wrote:
Actually there is something that should give some sort of results you are
looking for. Here's a useful site I found quite awhile ago that is on the
Johnson Space Center server:
http://krakatoa.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflate.html and look at the "GDP
Deflator Inflation Calculator" link.
I suppose it's a valuable tool to forecast project expenses into the future
as project development can last for many years in NASA.
Regards, Chris
-- --
In a recent auction on eBay, a MITS Floppy Disk Drive was auctioned off at
$565. "WOW!" you may say, but that unit cost $1300 when new, and that was
in dollars that were a DOLLAR, and not just the price of a candy bar.
I suppose there must be a web site, somewhere, that would let you enter
a date and a US dollar amount, and would show you the equivalent value
in today's dollars, accounting for actual inflation, etc. in the
intervening years.