MD, Sorry I was pulled away earlier and didn’t finish my thoughts.
I’m not saying there hasn’t been inflation. I’m saying manufactured goods have gotten cheaper, more affordable over time.
Those items you mention are not the same items in 65 as they are now. It would be like saying the house I had the cost x and the one I have today costs 10x, well it isn’t the same house and doesn’t take into account external market pressures.
We all know the gun and ammo market has been disrupted the past 6 years or so not to mention the changes caused by the 65 gun control act. I remember buying guns through the mail, can’t do that today, lots of regulations and changes in the entire distribution chain.
Gas cartels?
You can still buy scopes probably as good as the old Leopold’s for not much more than that, they have a strong following brand loyalty and I believe it affects their pricing.
But what about Radios, a $80 radio would be $800 today? Or a $20 wall clock for $200? $50 coffee pot for $500? TVs are better have larger screens, color, and cost less than they did them.
Same deal with microwave ovens. They can be had for less than $100.
I think of a 1911 as a commodity these days, you can get one for about $400 and up, I recently paid $630 for a Ruger CMD SS, what did a 1911 go for back then? But again big changes in the gun market since then.
Back in the mid 60’s I had to have a CB radio. I got a Courrier 12, it was about the size of 2 shoe boxes and weighed about 20lbs. Marketed as a mobile or base as it came with attachments for mounting in a vehicle and a 12 volt adapter.
It was a Currier 12 because it had provisions for 12 channels. A send and receive crystal was needed for each channel and cost $5 each. I don’t remember if a Microphone came with it. Anyway, the radio was $100 and the crystals for 12 channels would run another $120 that's $220 for a 12 channel radio. I bet any decent size truck stop sells functioning 23 channel CBs for $100 or so.
It holds true for computers, they have gotten smaller, faster, more powerful, and cheaper over time.
People are buying this stuff because they can afford it and it’s cheap.
Anyhow that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
