The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were the80s - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

23 Apr 1999

Don't forget that between 1952 and 1960, the price of a phone call, a
coin-machine-vended soft drink, and lots of other common consumables
doubled.  The price of cars did more than that, and the country, having
endured, and survived, the post-war(s) recession(s), was about to embark on
what now is viewed as the biggest and fastest moving era of economic growth
the world has ever seen.  That took less than the 8 years between the end of
the Korean war and the election of JFK.

Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Christian Fandt &lt;cfandt(a)netsync.net&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Friday, April 23, 1999 1:13 PM
Subject: Re: The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were
the80s

...
 Upon the date 12:21 PM 4/23/99 -0600, Richard Erlacher
said something like:
>You're right, the numbers are not universal.  It's hard to find numbers
that
...
 >are, BUT, in 1952, people didn't have electric
dryers, and washing machines
...
 >had wringers attached, as well as rollers on the
bottom because housewives
>would roll them out the walk in back of the house to where the clothes line
...
 >was located so they could hang their clothes and
linens, the latter having
>been wrung before being hung on the line.
>
>In '52, as men were returning from the Korean war, the economy was still
>shuddering from the effect of the Korean war so soon in the wake of WWII.
>
>I'm not an economist, and even they probably can't explain exactly what
was
...
 >going on, but in the early '50's a phone
call, a soft drink, a Saturday
>movie, and bus fare typically cost a nickel (that's 5-cents for those not
>accustomed to our monetary units.) in the midwestern US.  In early '52, I
>lived in NYC, having just immigrated from Germany, and later (June '52) in
>Oklahoma City.  In '55, we moved to Denver, where things really didn't
seem
...
 >too different, at least from what I heard from
parents, etc.  By then some
>people did have electric dryers, though.  Electric ranges were more common
>as well.
>
>Housing was typically on 1/4-acre lots in the suburbs and the usual 1/6-1/5
...
  acre lots in
the city.  If you lived where lots were 1/3 acre, you were
probably well-off.

When I lived in Oklahoma City, my nearest playmate was a physician's son.
The guy who lived across the street from him was the chief of the state's
highway patrol.  By 1960, the culture had changed so much that people in
those positions wouldn't dream of living in the same neighborhood with
"working folks" like my parents.

What I'm getting at here, is that things were VERY different by 1960, than
they had been seven or eight years before.

If you were raised after '60, the world would have looked quite different
than it did in the early '50's. 
I was born in '53. I had the opportunity to see and perhaps experience the
social, economic and ethnic changes which happened though the 60's decade
and at least half of the 70's. What a change it was.

I see where you are coming from Dick and lean more towards your view of the
matter. However, when I put the same feelings into the perspective of some
young whippersnapper like Sellam, then I see where he's coming from.

Back in the early 60's, Dad had a job which paid about $4000 per year, Mom
did not work. With a mortgage, trying to pay for a ten-year-old car,
feeding me and my mother and him plus all the other incidental bills, we
had little spare money. Fried chicken or something simple like macaroni and
cheese were very common meals at supper because they were cheap. It was
Kentucky Fried Chicken only because my mother is from the Eastern hills of
KY, not from the Colonel's famous restaurant chain;)

A $100 expenditure would be serious business if it was something which was
really needed.

Allison's list of costs is accurate for me too except for the salaries and
our house cost $4300 on a half-acre in 1957 and there were only three in
our family. Sellam and others his generation in CA probably lived in a
region in which costs *and* corresponding salaries
were higher than what folks of my generation (Allison, Dick) grew up with.

Things are weird even now. A decent three bedroom house with two car garage
on a decent lot in the city of Jamestown can be had for $45k to $60k.
However, groceries are avg. 10% higher than big city costs likely because
of lower competition and transportation costs to get them here. Other
cities like the NYC area, Boston area, Chicago area, LA area, Bay Area,
etc., etc., etc. have housing costs which are higher. Our European and
Australian colleagues may have the same experiences.

It's all relative as can be seen by my one example above. Sellam, Dick,
myself and everybody else have different points of view as a result of our
"home" areas and our ages therefore our opinions will be formed
accordingly.
...

Let's wander back to an appropriate topic for this list:) What was it?
First PC?

>
>Dick
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: allisonp(a)world.std.com &lt;allisonp(a)world.std.com&gt;
>To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&gt;&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
>Date: Friday, April 23, 1999 6:51 AM
>Subject: Re: The "FIRST PC" and personal timelines (Was: And what were
>the80s
>
>
>>> of the "average" American.  First of all, it was over a month's
pay for
>the
>>> average American, it was equivalent to six months' groceries for a
family
...
 >of
>>> four, and you could get a refrigerator or a washer, neither of which
were
...
 >>> routine discretionary expenditures for the
"average" American of that
>time.
>>> That was during and immediately after the Korean war, when a 4-bedroom
>house
>>> on a 1/4-acre lot cost $4600.  That same house, now, in California
would
...
   > cost you $4600 a month to rent.  People's
attitudes about what's important
>> enough to spend your money on have changed considerably.
>
>The nubers you quote are not universal or reflected everywhere in the
>US.
>
>On LI NY, 1960:
>
> My father made roughly 100$ take home.
> My mother made 54$ as nurses aid.
> My parent house cost $18,000 in 1957 (1/3 acre)
> Neither car was never than three years old.
> A washer was 110$
> A dryer (electric) was 122$
> Bazooka gum was 1 cent a piece
> Weeks food from the A&P for 5 was ~33$
> The PDP-1 was considered groundbreaking  for it's low
> price of $120,000.
>
>By 1964
>
> a 19 inch portable black and white TV was 120$ and still used
>        tubes.
>
>In 1971
>
> A new chevy pickup was 2700$
> A used 8i system could be had for 2-3000 with peripherals(disks)
> A new Cincinatti Milichron CM2000 basic machine was $2000.
>
>in short use real numbers.
>
>Allison
> 
Christian Fandt,         Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY  USA      cfandt(a)netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
        URL: http://www.ggw.org/awa 