Cue up 1979 (which came out in 1995) by the Smashing Pumpkins – and take a look at what car shopping was like in 1979. It is surreal to watch this, given the reality we live in, today. It was just another commercial, back then. One of countless many that came on while you were watching Star Trek or Rockford Files re-runs. As a kid, I must have watched hundreds of them. I didn’t think much, if anything, about them – because they were just commercials and this was just normal background stuff, back in ’79.
Normalcy defined in this context as brand-new cars priced under $5,000. Not on the low-end. Not the “shitboxes,” as Brock Yates referred to cars such as the Chevy Chevette, the Ford Pinto and the various little Japanese cars that abounded back then. Five grand bought you a large sedan or personal luxury coupe, such as the Ford Thunderbird you see in this old commercial. How about a full-size station wagon? Three grand (or less) is what a shitbox cost. The Pinto? Two grand, when it first came out. Only a little more than the cost of set of new tires for the ’22 “rims” on a 2026 model year SUV.
Gnomesayin’?
This commercial brought back memories of something else. Of just a few years later, when I became old enough to (legally) drive. More specifically, I remember that us ’80s teenagers could afford to drive.
Consider the downstream effect of brand-new cars priced under $5,000 in ’79. By the early ’80s, these cars were used cars and they were available for half what they cost new or even less. The cars made a few years prior to ’79 – that were new in the late ’60s or early ’70s – could be bought for a few hundred bucks. I know this because I bought some for that that and so did most of my high school friends. One specific memory I’ve got is of heading out with a friend of mine to meet some dude who had an early ’70s Challenger for sale. The car was a beater, with rust and a loose-ringed engine (nothing some Motor Honey wouldn’t fix for awhile) but it was hist first car, bought with after-school fast-food job money saved up for the previous couple of years. Almost no one thought a car like that was “collectible” then. It was just an old beater. Another friend had a memorable Datsun B210 with no (working) reverse. When it was time to back up, we opened the doors and pushed it back, Fred Flintstone-style.
The rich kids had IROC-Zs. But the rest of us had our wheels, too.
The point I am trying to make is that because new cars were once affordable, used cars were much more so. This assured practically anyone who wanted a car could afford one. Including teenagers working part-time fast-food jobs. I think the minimum McWage was $3.35 when I worked at McDonald’s back in the early ’80s, after school and on weekends. I remember getting excited about a ten cent-per hour raise. I also remember being able to fill the gas tank of my ratty old ’70s Camaro for $20 in the mid ’80sand being able to drive it around – just cruising, something we did back then – every Friday night and other nights, too. Here it is 40 years down the road and I can only afford to drive my ’76 Trans-Am (which I have owned since the early ’90s) every now and then, because it takes more than $100 to fill the same-size tank up now vs. back then.
Cue the Lee Greenwood song.
“Inflation” does not account for all of this. The purchasing power of the dollar is certainly less than it was. The other side of the coin is that lots of us – probably most of us – are being paid less dollars, too. Usually for longer hours and more work. I didn’t work seven days a week back in the ’90s or even the early-mid 2000s. Now I do – and I make less than I did.
I realize I am lucky in that at least I and others who can remember ’79 had some good times for awhile. I was able to buy the Trans-Am I still have back in the ’90s when I was in my 20s and it was still just a old car. I had no idea it would become a “collector” car. It was just the kind of car I liked and that’s why I bought it and – the thing that mattered most – I could afford it, because even when it was new it was affordable. I still have the original window sticker for it, which came with the car when I bought it (I am the second owner). Back in ’76, when it was new, it sold for $5,400 – so a bit more than the ’79 models you see in the video, but keep in mind that back in ’76, a brand-new Trans-Am was almost in the same price class as a new Corvette and my particular car was loaded (AC, still considered a luxury option back then, plus power windows, locks, the upgraded “custom” interior, electric rear defrost, etc.). And yet, it was common for high school-aged kids to be driving such cars by the mid-late 1980s because by that time, they cost less than half what they sold for new and it wasn’t an impossibility for a high-school-aged kid to come up with the $2,500 or so it cost to buy a used one.
Today, “inflation” has caused the asking price of a car like my TA – used – to increase by a factor of six or more from its brand-new MSRP – along with the gas on top of that. Cue up the Pumpkins.
It was nice while it lasted.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is: EPautos 721 Hummingbird Lane SE Copper Hill, VA 24079
The Frankfurt School Long March will leave no Western Civ intact.
At least we get the cornucopia of blessings from our greatest ally that we are joined at the hip with.
The happy hook nosed merchant laughs as you pay more due a shrinking fiat currency and wars of choice at $40 trillion in debt.
I still think the major problem is regulation. Maybe some of it was justified four score years ago, when having a factory rep nearby was more important. But anymore? Nope. Bring back the shadetree mechanics of the ’70s and ’80s. Bring back the days when, if we wanted to use a Mopar tranny on a Ford engine, it often worked, but worst case, we only had to look into the J.C. Whitney catalog to find an adapter plate.
But then we got the GD government telling us all the “features” we had to have in our vehicles. The days of a few high schoolers putting a chain hoist onto a tree and trading out engines on the weekend ended. To the detriment of everyone.
I agree, Steve –
I also have the solution to the “safety” excuse, which is the courts. If a vehicle is found to be defective, then damages can be recovered. If it is found to be deliberately defective, perhaps criminal charges can be pursued. The “emissions” thing is a non sequitur at this point. Simple EFI, an 02 sensor and cats eliminate almost all of the meaningfully harmful combustion byproducts. I may write about this …
Was a freshman in HS in 79. It was a year with many firsts. By my sophomore year nearly everyone drove to school. We had a giant parking lot and it as always full of mostly old beater cars. The school was new and a bit off the beaten path. At lunch, we’d all pile into one car and race to McDs. If you hit every light, and the line wasn’t too long, you made it back just as you were finishing your QP and fries.
About 10 years later they began closing the HS’s, not allowing kids to come and go. All in the name of, you guessed it, Saaaaafety.
Hi Norman!
Same for me in the early ’80s. We routinely went out to lunch; there were no security Hut! Hut! Hutters! at the door or metal detectors. either. Jesus, it’s depressing what high schools are like now.
Hey, Eric,
It’s no wonder kids are so depressed. It’s really a sad thing to observe. Being new, our HS was one of the first in our district to have bars/gates on all the access points, but there were like ten access points and they were always left unlocked, even on weekends. Never had anyone monitoring who came and went.
Its pretty clear now how one minor change at a time was the slow boil of how they get everyone accepting all these heinous infringements. The safety culture leading into the nanny state, into the security state, ultimately ending in drone wars, robotic police/dogs, and rigid social credit systems.
The future is so bright you gotta wear (reflectacles) shades.
My senior year was the last one they allowed rifles in gunracks in the HS parking lot. My sophomore year they ended their riflery team.
It’s easy to blame the commies, but I think it’s probably the proliferation of low-trust people and the decline of family. When the sheriff didn’t do anything about the beer he caught you with other than tell your dad on Sunday at church, it was a different world.
It was a different world indeed.
I remember rifles in gunracks. Don’t remember the exact year that ended. We were all pretty much taught at a young age to shot safely by our dads. As we got older we would go out to South mountain and shot rabbits. Had bonfire parties on the side of the mountain where Guadeloupe rd ended. Often with a keg. Sherifs would park a ways away, creep up all sneaky like and have their little fun. People got their weed and beer taken, but I don’t ever remember anyone going to jail or getting hut hutted over it. The times they took the keg was always an unhappy ending to a promising Friday night.
None of the cops went to our church. Moms was the only reason we went to the church of hypocritical bullshitters. Once they got divorced I no longer had to attend. I picked living with dad because I felt sorry for how shitty he was treated in the divorce. He lost all their friends, his house, pretty much everything except his job. But he still stuck to that, and I picked up my work ethic from watching him.
The upside for me was he traveled 10-15 days a month for his job, so, I sort of got to be raised by wolves. Good times.
1979 freshman also. I remember seniors going across the street to the bar when school got out at 2:00 pm in their varsity jackets. High school had a smoking lounge, too.
Tempe being a college town we had few bars that you could get away with drinking at 16, 17 if you behaved and kept a low profile. I think Arizona was one of the last states to raise the drinking age to 21. If you wanted to smoke at school you had to go across the street. It was the same at all four high schools.
That wee window of freedom and prosperity was to suck you in to a system, a jew system, of endless war, debt and inflation. This way, post 911, gung ho goyim, went and killed all their enemies, for Amerika YO. Now it’s just eugenics, austerity, and ripping you off fee by fee, till you’re broke. Until the jew $ system changes, where they print paper from nothing and demand real shit, labor and effort, in return, not a fucking thing will change. It will get worse.
Did scams like this exist in 1979? Went to a motorcycle dealer today and test drove the Royal Enfield Bear 650 pictured in this ad:
https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/2026-Royal+Enfield-Bear+650-5040290055#sid=949064
Tons of fun! Then the salesman asked if I’d like to ‘see the numbers.’ Here they are:
List price …. $7,299
Freight ……. $1,050
Dealer prep … $895
Doc fees ……. $595
Total …… $9,839 – 36% higher than MSRP
Including sales tax and registration, the full total came to an astounding $10,580, on a $7,299 bike. I walked the hell out like my poor feets were on fire.
A bit of online research reveals that unlike for cars, where freight is included in MSRP to facilitate price shopping, these fee scams are endemic in the sleazy, less regulated motorcycle industry. The prices shown on cycletrader for new motorcycles at dealers aren’t real prices. Screw the dealers, and screw cycletrader.com — NO SALE, sleazeballs!
By 79 that Mickey menu pictured was over 5 yrs old. I paid $2.08 daily for 2 filets lg fry and drink walking to work after school in 73. But yup, inflation sucks.
Yeah, probably. Their ad in the mid ’70s was burger, fries and shake, and change back from a buck. ‘Course, who could afford to spend a whole dollar on lunch?
My brand new 1979 Mazda RX7 (with a/c) was about $6,900 plus tax in October of 1978.
It was less expensive than a new Datsun Z.
Luxury cars and muscle cars were considerably more expensive than $6,900 in 1978
(or I’d have bought a Firebird or Camero then.)
That RX7 lasted me until 1993 when an uninsured driver t-boned it after changing lanes to be certain of hitting it (and the racist judge “decided” that I was at fault and scolded me for thinking otherwise.)
We really need to stop using the Trotsky-coined term “racist”. Not that we don’t need a term to describe racial bias, it’s just that we have one, it’s called “bigoted”.
The problem is just that the usage of the word “racist” is completely inverted (Trotsky was a jew, of course).
A pian-ist LOVES music.
A chem-ist LOVES chemistry.
A botan-ist LOVES plants.
By extension…
A rac-ist LOVES THEIR RACE. There is a reason the jew Trotsky wanted to invert the meaning of “racist” and use it as a pejorative – it became an easy label to use in the jew-controlled propaganda engines of the media to detract from anyone that speaks ill of them and cast them in a bad light.
He wanted to make it seem SINFUL to LOVE YOUR OWN RACE. Of course, it was focused solely on white people.
EVERYONE should be a racist. EVERYONE should love their own race, and to be a racist should be the de facto standard state of being for all people rather than a propaganda pejorative focused on the degradation of the white race.
The judge may have been bigoted or racially biased, but being a “racist” is a positive thing, not a negative thing as the jew would have us believe.
What’s wrong with being racist ? I love NASCAR.
There’s nothing wrong with being racist. Everyone should be racist…that’s the whole point.
As far as NASCAR…it was cool when it started when they literally raced cars that were stock off the showroom floor. There were actual differences between the cars, and it really showcased automobile technological gains one season at a time. There isn’t anyone that follows NASCAR that isn’t aware of when the Plymouth Superbird stepped onto the scene, for instance. Had it remained what it started at, I would probably enjoy NASCAR today.
The truth is, however, that NASCAR became a “sport” that basically epitomized the communist mindset of “equality”, because every chassis, every engine, every suspension, everything is the same, and the only real difference is how good someone is at turning left ad nauseum with as little variance as possible.
When NASCAR goes back to showroom stock cars, which really pitted manufacturers against one another to see who could build the best, somebody call me. Until then, it’s little more than a gigantic left-turning commercial.
Morning, letmepicyou!
I think they ought to stop calling it “stock” car racing. A V8-powered, rear-drive/two-door Camry is “stock”?
It’s WWE wrestling on wheels.
Morning, Eric.
Yes. It’s absolutely WWE on wheels. It’s an abomination as far as “racing” goes. Watching the latest Mustang or Corvette crush sub-7 minute lap times on the Nurburgring? Now THAT’S racing. NASCAR’s winners should be a reflection of the record setters on the Nordschlife.
Mercedes AMG ONE | 6:29.09 minutes | 20,832 km | September 23, 2024
Ford Mustang GTD | 6:40.83 minutes | 20,832 km | March, 2026
Porsche GT2 RS 991.2 MR | 6:43.30 minutes | 20,832 km | June 14, 2021
Porsche GT3 RS 992.1 MR | 6:45.38 minutes | 20,832 km | April 15, 2026
Mercedes AMG GT Black Series | 6:48.04 minutes | 20,832 km | November 4, 2020
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X | 6:49.27 minutes | 20,832 km | June, 2025
Porsche GT3 RS 992.1 | 6:49.32 minutes | 20,832 km | October 5, 2022
Lamborghini Aventador LP 770-4 SVJ | 6:49.42 minutes | 20,832 km | July 26, 2018
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 | 6:50.67 minutes | 20,832 km | June, 2025
Porsche GT3 992.2 MR | 6:50.86 minutes | 20,832 km | April 15, 2026
Now THAT’S a who’s who of racing.
And for that we can thank GovCo. As you have pointed out, V8s have been regulated out of existence for the commoners. Now we have spec racer Nascar with minor engine variations. As far as “stock” racing, IMSA’s GT classes are the closest we have. It will be on NBC today, Sunday, from Virginia International. And, the MX-5 Cup will be streamed on imsa’s website after that if you want to see some real spec racing.
imsa.com
Morning, Mark!
Just as I prefer to watch old, pre-politically correct movies and TV shows, I prefer to watch old racing. The recent movie, Ford vs. Ferrari, captured it. Stock car racing was interesting when it was stock cars and real drivers, not fake cars and “personalities.” I lost interest when they banned cigarettes and Confederate flags.
Yep. Go out into the junkyards in the hinterlands and buy up V8s while you still can.
But preferably not in my hinterlands, thank you.
Walk down memory lane with Cal Worthington, for sure, Eric.
But where is his dog Spot?
For those not from SoCal, “Spot” was never a dog, it was always some kind of exotic animal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iFlPiZnEag
If you want to chage your luck,
Buy a car or buy a truck,
Go see Cal,
Go se Cal,
Go se Cal.
He expanded from So. California and opened a dealership in Federal Way WA, and we got to enjoy the cheesy TV ads too. He always mis named Hwy 99 I think just to piss us off: “Come see me at our new location, on Pacific Coast Highway South”. No, it’s Pacific Highway, NO COAST, here in WA.
Our local car celebrity was Dick Balsh, his TV ad schtick was taking a sledgehammer to the hood of a new car. Good times. He also sponsored a top fuel dragster, which my buddy’s dad talked him into bringing to our high school assembly. Big gym doors, rolled it into the gym and started it up! Now THAT was entertaining!
For those who mourn the lost automotive arts, take heart! Have a look at this beauty (Bugatti’s latest). Of course, no mere mortal can hope to afford one.
https://youtu.be/CtX_4LEYRdA?t=1177
My first car was a 1977 Ford LTD II station wagon. The tailgate opened both ways, which was pretty cool. I could haul 6 people with comfort, and a few extra folks could sit in the back if they chose. It had a 351, and when I had it floored on the highway, when it got close to top speed, I remember the hood shaking back and forth like it was about to fly off. I wish I still had it…sigh.
The $3.35 minimum wage of 1986, when I was in 11th grade, bought two cheeseburgers, a large fries and a soda. The current $7.75 minimum wage doesn’t come close to purchasing that. When salaries were typically under five figures, people paid off their homes before retirement and never had to use credit, like my grandfather. When he retired, he made less than 10K annually and his home was long paid off and he owned additional small plots of land that he paid cash for. He never had a car loan and always had a running Cadillac and one that wasn’t, in addition to his pickup and two VW vans, one of which functioned as a third tool shed. He never had a credit card or bought anything on store credit. He did all this as a janitor at Liggett & Myers because the rules at the time said only white men could work on the lines making and packaging cigarettes. He had a sixth grade education.
The liberal establishment and its woke, young, educated foot soldiers demanding communism seek to erase my grandfather’s story and the millions like it.
“ people paid off their homes before retirement “
Yep! Senior year of high school, attended a “mortgage burning party” at my friends house. Dad worked at Boeing tech job but never in management, mom worked part time at the school district. Four kids, vacation property lakefront place near Olympia, ski boat, dirt bikes. Decent middle class house not huge but worked fine for raising four kids 1952 thru 1974. Everyone was handy at fixing stuff and they built their cabin at the lake place. Oldest brother built his own house late ‘70s.
Funny how that used to work out for most everyone willing to show up for work and consistently do a decent job. You know, when American companies at least somewhat valued honest American workers?
“..people paid off their homes before retirement and never had to use credit, like my grandfather.”
Yep. Still can, but you have to stay with the same company throughout. Otherwise, you restart the mortgage timer.
Dad showed me his Diner’s Club(?) card, looked me in the eye, and said something like, “Only an idiot gets one of these before he can afford to pay it off every month. Don’t be an idiot.”
I loved the Lincoln that Frank Cannon drove around in the TV show of the same name. Mad Magazine even did a parody of it in one issue. My (younger) brother had a Lincoln Continental, ‘70 or ‘71, that was a really great land yacht. My first car was a ‘57 Ford, 312 V8, a hand me down from my parents; I rebuilt the carburetor and was able to fine tune it to idle as smooth as the proverbial Swiss watch.
Hey Eric, thanks for that pic of the McDonald’s board – 15 cents for a cuppa coffee, wow. I think it was ten cents when I started drinking it, and a regular McDonald burger (not the Big Mac) was a quarter. Good, actually better, times indeed.
Don Gay of Gay Pontiac in Dickinson, Texas, doin’ the quarter mile in a 1963 Tempest station wagon equipped with racin’ slicks and a homemade sheet metal hood scoop the size of a wheelbarrow:
https://tinyurl.com/5djf5hpj
Vroom, vroom!
Incredibly, this Tempest wagon was factory spec:
‘Pontiac produced just six 421 c.i. Tempest Super Duty Wagons. These dual quad beasts were made for drag racing in the factory experimental class A/FX. The factory shipped these cars with 10″ M&H slicks on black steel rims, wide white walls on the front and without hub caps. At the heart of this car is the following…. • Pontiac 1970 455-cubic-inch 4-bolt main engine block dyno’d 572 hp • Edelbrock twin 750 CFM 4 BBL carburetors / Aluminum intake manifold • Factory #64 high performance ported heads.
https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1444593/1963-pontiac-tempest-for-sale-in-cadillac-michigan-49601
Ralph Nader like to died … Joan Claybrook had a cow. Mommas, don’t let yer babies grow up to be drag racers!
Think I gave just under $500 for the very used, very mistreated Vega Station wagon back in the early 80s. I miss that old beater; miss those days entirely.
The fed has done a good job of devaluing our money making it worth a small percentage of what it was when I started driving in 1973. I bought my first brand new vehicle in 1977, a ford econoline, making about four bucks an hour. I could also pay for apartment rent and all else needed to live. My first car was free because it wouldn’t run, a tune-up fixed it. One could get end of life cars for under $100, often $35, and keep them going by repairing them.
A friend of mine, their great-uncle’s first house cost $30,000 dollars. Most pay more than that now just for a vehicle. A co-worker of mine has a nice, Toyota Forerunner. She paid well over $50,000 for it.
Truth. Lots of guys in high school got cars off the res for $50 cash. Or even raced for pink slips.l
Talk about a blast from the past, Eric. I was curious: How many miles were on your Trans-AM when you bought it? That car still reminds me of “Smoky & The Bandit”, with Burt Reynolds and Sally Fields. Some classics never go out of style! Meh, except maybe the mullet hairstyle (ha ha).
Gasoline when I started driving in ‘85, .89 cents/gallon. A Big Mac meal, under $2.50. My first part time job working the horse stables, $3.35/hour. It was less money for wages then, but that money went a lot further then. Hell, a twenty dollar bill then lasted all week. We had a vast selection of affordable used autos to pick and choose from them. We didn’t at the time know how good we had it!
I know, Allen!
I was there, too. But tell it to “Barney.” Maff and stuff.
In 1985, a McDonald’s Big Mac value pack or meal—including a Big Mac, fries, and a drink—typically cost around $2.59 to $3.09, depending on the specific promotional regional pricing at the time.
$2.59/$3.35=0.773 hours of labor
0.773 hr @ $15/hr (current fast food wage) = $11.59
The national average price for a Big Mac combo meal in the United States is approximately $9.45 to $10.19, though pricing is set independently by individual franchise owners and varies significantly by region.
Maff and stuff
And in 1985 that McDonalds also came with a really cool playground. Nothing was better than those spring rides where if you got going fast enough your head would touch the ground.
Ha!! Don’t forget the creepy clowns and other characters that would now scare the fragile children to death.
Or the Monopoly game that started in late 80s and eventually up with the McMillions Heist & game fraud.
Good times indeed.
Cars and TV commercials for dealers/service were still fun in the 80s in Central Florida.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P79Vn4rbXFM
Yes, we had no idea what kind of Golden Age we were living in at the time. The competition was fierce, however.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LJLGyJO2o4
Sam Behr, Central Florida TV legend. His day job was running Behr’s ‘We Fit Any Human’ Shoes.
BTW, that commercial ran only once.
Classic gag car commercial from 1968.
Ralph Williams Bayshore Chrysler-Plymouth 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh3Di3LY6Ns
This “gag” commercial never aired of course. The pitchman was well known in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s-70s. While taping commercials for the dealership in 1968, the pitchman made this gag take to poke fun at his boss. Ralph Williams owned many California car dealerships and had quite a notorious reputation.
This was deliberate.
It was done by the corporate CEOs, the politicians and the Fed. It was done through money-printing, debt, MFN for China, and NAFTA.
It was done by abandoning Bretton Woods.
It was done at the same time that the ideology of feminism was implemented by the courts as national policy, adding tens of millions of women to the workforce when there was no real demand for them, thus undercutting wages. (I know RG is going to shit herself because I said that, but it is simple economics — supply-and-demand for labor).
It was done at the same time they let millions of Third World immigrants in to undercut American wages.
The billionaire globalist oligarchs didn’t even bother to say “Thank you” after robbing the middle-class blind…
X,
Unfortunately, your comment today doesn’t promote as strong a reaction as yesterday’s. Who hired the tens of millions of women at lower wages? It wasn’t female business owners. A lot of men’s anger (and I don’t blame them for having it) should be directed to the very beings that caused it. We are all pawns in this chess game.
Indeed RG,
When the PTB were done encouraging immigrants to take the low wage jobs we had after school and over the summer they began importing H1B workers to drive down the wages of higher paid tech workers. My son lost two different jobs to that scam, even though H1B employees were supposed to be temporary and not used to replace American workers, as if any of our overlords obey “the law”.
It’s always the men’s fault, of course (funny how that works). But who insisted that women abandon their family roles and demanded they become part of the work force instead? It wasn’t men.
No, it isn’t always the man’s fault.
Women made the choice to leave the home and go to work.
And men/society accommodated them. Was it a good move?
It depends. I don’t believe there is a right or wrong answer.
I have been working for myself since I was 24 years old, before my husband and I had children. That flexibility allowed me to homeschool both of our children who usually came to the office with me daily. It also allowed me to assist my husband with the bills taking a greater pressure off of him. If his work was slow mine made up for it and vice versa.
I was fortunate that I was able to raise my children away from the indoctrination camps of today. Not everybody has that chance.
Each family needs to decide what is the best decision for them, but both spouses must be on the same page.
The problem as I see it is that control of the family is solely female today. It doesn’t matter what ‘page’ the family is on, it only matters what page the woman is on, and the state with its monopoly on violence backs them totally. There’s no incentive for men to form families and father children, only downside. So the family is dying, as we can all see, and with it will go civilization.
We did the same, but I homeschooled the kids in the conference room behind my office. My wifely unit (also an engineer) eventually decided to do home and church stuff, which was fine, but she still showed up to my office to show her appreciation from time to time.
And I think that was a good thing. The kids learned that flirting+ within marriage was not only acceptable but good.
“ We are all pawns in this chess game “
That really sums up all the back and forth yesterday and today- yep.
Tens of millions of women, who paid taxes. Not quite doubling the the tax base. Had little to do with “liberating” women, other than liberating their money.
It also captured the labor of the home economy, whereby home-making women canned and froze and gardened and cured a lot of food products and provided child care and other services that directly benefited the family but weren’t taxable until they went to work in some cubicle and had to outsource that production to taxable businesses.
This blaming women for everything shit is getting beyond tiresome. What have YOU done to fix any of this may I ask? Oh yeah NOTHING except bleat endlessly on forums like this about “feminism” (a word that has lost any meaning, much like”conservative”) and the imaginary “gynocracy”. It’s funny, when I look at who is dealing the death blow to this country it is still the likes of the Orange Douche, Petey Kegsbreath, Howard Nutlick, Scott Pissant, Pedo Mike Johnson, Tom Cottonmouth and of course the late unlamented Ladybugs Lindsey. Not a female among them.
I abandoned Karl Denniger’s forum because it devolved into mostly angry white dude whining and this forum is unfortunately trending in the same direction. How about getting off your ass and DO SOMETHING POSITIVE rather than endlessly bitch and moan how awful half the population is.
Bingo!
Anyone remember back when the comments section here was more about automobiles than lobbying for one’s victim hood?
Back when the article was about something automotive and the comments largely stayed on topic?
Miss those days!
I do too. I have noticed of late anything I have posted about my own experiences with cars it gets no responses but when I post something that is in opposition to the certain posters pet grievances it triggers a whole chain of bitching and moaning. It is tiring.
Lindsey was a female wannabe, he dropped more boxers than Iron Mike.
There actually are a lot of people, mostly men but a few women, who ARE trying to fix things, without success, because no media, no politicians, no public figures, even acknowledge, much less address, men’s issues. That includes the folks you named, all of whom support the status quo.
You complain about ‘angry white dude whining.’ How is men pointing out that social, political and legislative outcomes alway favor women in defiance of constitutional law ‘whining’? Consider rebutting those points, rather than offering emotive negations based on your feelings.
Better yet, explain to me how murdering full-term infants constitutes justice, just for starters.
It’s not necessarily “blaming the women for everything.” Men advanced feminism just as much as women did. Maybe more. Seven men and zero women were the majority in Roe v. Wade. Male executives and judges and university deans have deliberately “advanced” women at the expense of qualified men just because they are female. Male police chiefs have accepted unqualified female cops, and male army officers have accepted unqualified female soldiers. Marine Corps General “Mad Dog” Mattis caused a stir because he said that it was “fun” to shoot the Taliban because of how they treated their women. The “learned asses of the male sex,” as Nietzsche put it, are just as responsible for feminized society as women are.
This is not personal, and you (and RG) should not interpret it as a personal attack. There are three-and-a-half billion women on the planet, and there is a lot of variation among them, obviously (which includes the butch lesbian feminist Camille Paglia, who said “we’d still be living in grass huts if society had been ruled by women.”)
But the fact is that we live in a highly ideologically feminist society, which is also a misandrist society. Men are quite literally disfavored (and WHITE men in particular) by the institutions of society from the university to law to business to medicine.
The simple fact is that men and women are different, and a society rule by and for women will be different than a society ruled by and for men. Aristophanes recognized this 2,500 years ago in his comic spoof “The Assembly of Women.”
And yes, there is reason for men to be “angry.” A society where women do not reproduce will go extinct. A society where men and women compete for scarce good-paying jobs will drive families apart and reduce wages. (It will enrich the capitalist oligarchs, though.)
A society that thinks women soldiers are equal to men would lose the battle on D-Day if it sent battalions of women instead of men to Omaha Beach. A society that thinks a five-foot tall woman can be a cop or corrections officer and singlehandedly fight a 6′ 4″ 250-lb ‘roided-up black dude… is insane.
>A society that thinks women soldiers are equal to men would lose the battle on D-Day
https://www.corvus-rising.net/blog/posts/sex-not-gender/
Feminism is a jewish attack on the white family, period.
Agreed. As always, there are two sides to every bargain.
It is true that women in the job market drastically reduced the wage, but it is also true that men did not give them a good reason to do otherwise. Increasingly through the ’70s and ’80s (which includes my age group) men chose to seek the 40-hour workweek over the more challenging but more lucrative entrepreneur. Which left women little choice if they wanted even the lifestyle of her parents.
“ I also remember being able to fill the gas tank of my ratty old ’70s Camaro for $20 in the mid ’80sand being able to drive it around. . . “
$20/$3.35 =5.97 hours of labor
5.97 hrs of labor x $15/hr (current fast food job) = $89.55
Maff.
Barney, gas was $1.30 a gallon in 1982. So yes he could fill the tank for $20.
What you’re forgetting is that insurance is now mandatory, other taxes and costs are a lot higher such that whilst I can see your point that gas could now be considered cheap the other costs leave you unable to find the money to buy 15 gallons of gas after paying more for everything else.
Heck in 1982 a quart of motor oil didn’t cost what it does today either.
“Heck in 1982 a quart of motor oil didn’t cost what it does today either.”
Never mind 1982, since 2022 a quart of motor oil has doubled in cost.
Thanks oh so very much every helicopter cash FED president ever.
-anon
Heck Anon, I’ve bought cars that sorta ran for what it costs me to fill my tank with High Test today and for all you youngins out there until the money printing stops you’ll be the ones saying the same thing in 40 years about Mickey Dees not costing $500 for a Happy Meal 40 years ago. 🙁
Mandated insurance has been around in many states since the 50s. It just so happens that VA was one of the last states to mandate it so Eric is a little late to the party that others had been living under for decades upon decades.
Living at home and not having to pay bills severely warps the memory of how much $20 would buy in the 80s.
For all those here that seem to pretend that they understand inflation, its causes, and its effects; the real question is what are you doing about it?
Or are we just going the play the victim game some more. Or, maybe pretend it’s the fault of women. Damn that Janet Yellen.
What I find ironic, Barney, in that with regards to car insurance, women generally paid a lower rate than the men. BUT….they wanted to be equal. The result? States simply jacked up the car insurance rates for the women, so they could be the same.
Morning, Shadow!
Yup. “Equality” on the plantation. I have tried hard for years to persuade people that forcing anyone to buy insurance is not only a moral wrong (because merely not having insurance causes no harm to others) but also a surefire way to make insurance exorbitantly expensive for everyone. This is what happens when you’re not allowed to skip buying something. That so many people do not understand this truism is a sad commentary.
Barney, you are using the national minimum wage for your 1979 calcs. Why are you not using it for the current calcs? Because your “maffs” don’t have the impact if you use $7.25/hr?
“…the real question is what are you doing about [inflation]?”
Something that gets me derided here. Growing my own food, building my own house for both me, and later for my parents in their waning years, as in personally finishing the concrete, setting the block, doing the shingles, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc.
What exactly have you done about it?
Hi Steve,
I need to get back to raising chickens. The reason I stopped was the constant hassle of predators slaughtring the birds. It seems the only viable way to prevent this is a completely enclosed coop or chicken tractors.
RE: “The rich kids had IROC-Zs.”
My best friend at the time had a new one in ~ 1988 while working a $10 an hour factory job. He obsessed about keeping it perfect.
Yah, for some of us workin’ for $7.50 an hour, I suppose he was “rich”.
For Sure: “I was able to buy the Trans-Am I still have back in the ’90s when I was in my 20s and it was still just a old car. I had no idea it would become a “collector” car.”
Que my ’66 GTO I sold.
IMHO, it wasn’t that they became “collector” cars, rather, all the new cars after that, were self-destructive Crap planned obsolesces with safety b.s. up the wazzoo, etc that nobody valued.
Anyway, just wanted to post a link to a song every American male should know and that can’t be posted on many sites except Eric’s:
‘Hank Williams Jr. – A Country Boy Can Survive (Official Music Video)’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10qEOmZaYZg&list=RD10qEOmZaYZg&start_radio=1
Just, Because.
Welcome back, helot! Glad to see you posting. 😊
RG!
You’re among the NightWalkers too, I see
I like my coffee and quiet time….5 am on a Saturday is when I get it. 😁
Hi Helot!
In re the ’66 Goat, I think you’ll like this video. It says so much about what’s been lost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezFX2NTRSwQ