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Unaffordable Recreation And The Ratchet Effect
Submitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds
Unaffordable Recreation And The Ratchet Effect
What has caused the cost of recreational activities to rise far faster than wages or official inflation? There is not one cause but many.
Recreational activities that were once affordable to just about every family with earned income have slowly but surely become unaffordable to all but the top 10%.
Longtime correspondent Kevin K. responded to my recent blog entry on recreational vehicles with an eye-opening commentary on the skyrocketing costs of what were once working-class and middle class recreations, boating/fishing and skiing:
"I was just talking to a friend about how expensive it is to go boating. As a kid in the late 70s my great uncle took me fishing in Lake Tahoe in his boat and probably spent a total of $5 (including sandwiches and bait). Last year when I borrowed a friend's boat I was amazed what it cost just to use it for one day:
- Tahoe inspection $55 (NA in the 70's)
- Tahoe decontamination (guy pouring some bleach in the bilge) $25 (NA in the 70's)
- Launch Fee $39 (Free in the 70's)
- Parking with Trailer at Launch $20 (Free in the 70's)
- Fishing License for one day $14 each person (Not sure of cost, but we didn't get them)
- Gas for cars around Tahoe $4.60/gallon (<$0.50 in the early 70's)
- Gas for boats on the lake $7.00/gallon (<$0.65 in the early 70's)
- Sandwiches and bait (a lot more than the 70's)
Today (depending on how far you drive and how much fuel you burn in the boat) it will cost $100 to $300 for just one day on Lake Tahoe fishing with one kid.
In the same time period (the late 70s), my Dad (a hero to other parents) would drive me and my sisters and two friends each up to Squaw Valley in our '73 Dodge Van for the day.
At the time adult lift tickets were $13 and kids under 12 (or who were 13 or 14 and and said they were 12) skiied FREE. We always had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with dried fruit (that my Mom dehydrated herself with her food dehydrator) and a bag of mini Snickers for lunch. On the way home we would stop at Burger King in Auburn for dinner.
Today the average family makes about 3x what they made in the late 70's but if an Adult wants to take 9 kids skiing at Squaw last year (I looked and the new rates are not posted yet) it would cost almost $600!! (46x more) at $99 for Adults and $55 for kids ("peak season" tickets last year were over $100 and over $60 around Christmas).
In High School I bought a new pair of ski boots for $53 and used them until well after college when I bought a new pair in the 90's for ~$300. This past winter I went in to the "Surefoot" custom boot shop in Squaw Valley thinking I have had my boots for over 15 years and I'm doing OK maybe I'll look in to some custom boots. When the guy quoted me $1,300 I walked out thinking that even if I was worth $50 million I could not spend $1,300 on a pair of ski boots...."
What has caused the cost of recreational activities to rise far faster than wages or official inflation? There are many factors in play; let's examine a few of the primary drivers of higher recreational costs.
In a follow-up email, Kevin referenced the Ratchet Effect, a dynamic I've often covered in the blog: costs advance incrementally with little resistance but any decline faces enormous resistance.
As noted in the blog entry on RVs, one factor is consumer choice: people could still choose to tent-camp or use a rowboat, for example, but instead the majority have opted for the comfort (and perhaps prestige/status) of large RVs, trailers, boats, pickups, SUVs, etc. This reflects the power of marketing and America's quasi-religious devotion to comfort/convenience as the highest and most desirable good.
The relatively low cost of air travel may also be a factor, as cheap airfare (in the early 1970s, air travel was strictly regulated and high-cost) has enabled millions of people to pursue recreation far from home. A rowboat launched on a local lake is replaced by a rental boat on a distant lake, for example.
Recreation has become name-branded and technologically sophisticated, both of which drive prices higher. Equipment for activities such as golf, fishing and skiing have soared in cost as a result.
An enormous net of regulations designed to increase safety have imposed higher costs on providers, and the out-of-control cost of healthcare in America has further imposed what amounts to a 15% tax on all labor.
Correspondent Ray W. pointed out three additional factors:
1. The need for efforts to protect high-demand public resources from environmental degradation
2. The role of higher population and gains in prosperity in greatly increasing environmental pressure on public resources
3. the shift from paying for government services such as protecting fisheries, water quality, etc. with broad-based income taxes to use taxes/fees levied on users of the service.
These are important elements in higher costs for recreation. The water quality in Lake Tahoe, for example, has been deteriorating for decades as a result of development, and action is required to safeguard the lake's beauty and ecosystem--the very traits that fuel recreation.
Lakes throughout the nation are at risk of invasive species hitchhiking on water craft, and inspections are one of the few ways this potentially devastating threat can be addressed in an even-handed, organized fashion.
But when do common-sense increases in user fees become revenue-enhancement schemes for state and local governments seeking ways to raise revenues without triggering political blowback? When do regulations stop serving the intended goal and become justifications for increasing agency budgets? These are difficult questions, because any increase in regulations and budget is always "needed" by the agencies receiving the funds.
Is imposing a multitude of fees for activities that were once free really just a user fee? If so, then why don't we impose the same metric on other government services such as schools (should only people with kids "using" the local schools pay for the services provided? How about those "using" the healthcare system? Should they pay in relation to how much healthcare they're "using"?)
Affordable recreation may not make the list of entitlement "rights" that many demand, but isn't recreation as much a public good and resource as highways? In terms of jobs created, I suspect recreation is relatively high on the list of jobs created with relatively low government spending.
I cannot shake the suspicion that recreation is an obvious choice for revenue enhancement because it presumes people with disposable income can afford the higher fees and won't complain in politically meaningful ways. We complain privately but pony up the higher fees without questioning their validity.
If we add up these dynamics, we find them everywhere in the economy. Recreation is simply one egregious example of how costs rising far faster than wages end up crimping what was once affordable for the majority. Luckily, we still have tent-camping (oops, tents can cost a pretty penny now, too...).
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'my ski trip to aspen cost more than most 'Merikans have in their savings acounts and IRAs"
That is one great looking catch in the banner pic.
The fish ain't bad either.
That fish would make a nice shark bait!
pods
Uh it's lake tahoe...pretty sure you could choose a less high profile spot (with less very wealthy locals) and avoid the fees.
disagree with the article. my kid's gym teacher rolled up in a new Lexus...and another in a new Audi.
public employees are doing great. and this doesnt count their snowballing pensions that kick in by the time their own kids hit middle school.
it's DC (and their pals) vs everyone else. it's not just rich vs poor.
Re: it's not just rich vs poor.
If you've got a good paying job and a good pension (that survives) what other definition of "rich" is there.
The top 10% aren't weathly, they are just "rich". I don't recall what the break-down is anymore but the top 10% used to be income over 250k or savings over 1 million (I think). There's "wealthy" (the top 1%), the rich (top 10%), the comfortable (top 20%) and the "unfit" (bottom 80% who are being consumed by the top 20%).
A day of fishing on buddy's boat, including bait, runs about $2200...good times!
everywhere i travel in this country i hear goats braying. the silence is where the action is
Like most peasants, I get all my recreation from watching Obozo making an ass of himself...
this is why i no longer ski at resorts(back country is a hike , but free)
this is why i got rid of the jet ski
and i could go on
nice snapper.
If memory serves..
Isn't that Gonzalo's GF?
Really? The top 20% are simply doing well because they consume the bottom 80%? Commie Asshole. Ignorant Commie asshole.
I over heard a police officer who was doing overtime at a bank about how great his pension was gonna be after 3 more years at the ripe age of 54. must be nice, i'll never know. The kicker...in his 22 years he never had to draw his gun. how the fuck did he kill all that time? parking tickets and pulling ppl over
My mom was telling me about my cousin, a firefighter, who is retired in his 50's to Hawaii with his wife. Living the life of a surf bum
Must be nice
***he never had to draw his gun.***
At least he didn't shoot any ones dog.
Exactly. Anyone who hasn't spent at least the time it takes to drink a cup of coffe browing government jobs has no ideas on the extraordinary pay and benefits of these jobs. I did exactly that and was astounded, astounded. Imagine what it takes an entrepreneur to do in order to make the first fity thousand of the year? But one job (and so many just like it) paid $150,000 a year and the benefits were truly beyond the imagination. This was a job at the Veteran's Administration. They had little clips of people who worked there and one woman was going on and on about how she couldn't believe how well paid her job was and how incredible the benefits were (she had only worked there three years and was in her late forties). My neighbor has a retired cop (he retired in his last year of work) who is on "disability" but has no problem building sheds and digging fence poles on his property. Nice shakedown of the taxpayer eh? And then there's the twenty year to retirement. NO ONE my parents age would have ever thought of twenty years work gets you a retirement paycheck, it was forty years minimum. These twenty year retirements are a disgrace as they take our children's money for the self-serving, self-centered Woodstock generation who self-reward. Lastly, my "relative" is a teacher who goes to work sick in order to save the sick days for retirement pay (they can "save" sick days and get paid for them when they retire). So when your kid comes home sick you know why now.
Interesting that you say that, as I am always amused by how many tourists simply MUST go to (overcrowded) Denali National Park, when there are literally hundreds of equally fine areas to see the landscapes and wildlife of Alaska. But sheep will be sheep, and always feel more secure in a herd.
When we were younger and broker, my wife and I went to Alaska for our honeymoon. Best decision we made was asking the nice lady running the bed and breakfast where we should go. We spent $150 on "fees" over the course of two weeks, and that included renting a kayak for a day. Locals FTW, half the stuff we did required finding a place to park and walking around.
.
So true akak. Especially when we traveled in Europe. It was frankly embarrassing to watch the herded Americans stuff themselves in tour busses and be carted around to "Monuments"of which they obviously knew nothing. Why when Americans travel they just want to stare at things?
A work associate of mine spent $15,000 on a 10 day european cruise. I damn near flipped. I told her how to travel more cost wise and she said she could never do what I do. Figure out how to get around without a tour guide? Too frightening. Not knowing where to eat? Too stressful. Not having someone pick you up at the airport and find your hotel for you? Barbaric! I asked her what was so terrifyingly difficult? She manages to go to the bathroom without an official asswipe taking care of her needs, why not live a little and have an adventure? Fucking people live in a can and are only capable of taking canned vacations. She's still not speaking to me. At least I won't hear her brag about it any more.
Miffed;-)
Miffy, have you ever been on one of those cruiseships? they are... soothing, to some. switch off brain, consume. It's all there, food, drink, lots of entertainement, travel, rest, all very family-friendly. Meditative Consumption? Yet very enjoyable, if your tastes go in that direction. Possibly they do even seriously decrease stress levels
;-) not everybody can be as sophisticated as you, willing and capable of venturing to small hotels and small restaurants in the forgotten provinces of countries which sport a different language, different customs, etc. for many this would raise their stress levels
and then don't forget the Iron Rule (just invented for you) of Competitive Consumption (aka Conspicuos Consumption)
it has to be comparable. note that this info (spent $15,000) is the first one mentioned
The Socialite's Way would have been to either trump her (with quantity or quality - "I spent X, went there, Y was there, too") or to fan her butt: "Oh, wonderful. We shy away from that kind of expenses for vacations. Oh, can I admit to you that you make me just a little envious? What a wonderful man you have married" ;-)
now if you think this is just joking, think again: the biggest part of the economy serves the needs of females for this kind of conversation
You have shown me I had failed to play the game properly because of my failure to understand it was a game in the first place. My response was to point out the previous year my family of 4 spent 14 days in Paris for a grand total of $4500. She pointed out she saw more "things" than I did. I pointed out we, by living in an appartment, experienced the culture far better and interacted with people more on an intimate scale. I see by her response to me this was not of any value and she had won the exchange by default.
Clearly I have failed to have been indoctrinated properly on how to mind numb myself on a vacation and brag how much I could afford. Somewhere in my life I have failed to stand in a key line of life, especially being female.
The idea of taking a cruise makes me ill. Spending days trapped on a slow moving ship with steamer tray,trough eating zombies is my personal definition of Hell.
Miffed;-)
That's a fact. We frequent the Okoboji's here in IA and the first four fees I had never even heard of.
I grew up going to Okoboji every summer for family vacation. I have family living there to this day. Small world...
AMerican pussy is the most over valued "commodity" in the world atm imo.
You are not counting South American. Just watch out for the "just the tip" stuff, they will anchor your ass in a heartbeat.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ai_fGcmjqAE/T75m7qc6Y3I/AAAAAAAAGaQ/ibI54uUiX38/s640/sg1.jpg
Recreation is making hay with the extended family on a pleasant summer day.
Everything else is a cheap substitute.
Mountains ? Foreign countries? That`s recreation for the warrior caste.
I have affordable recreation... It is called an imagination... Used to come standard...
In what world?
Does frequent masturbation count?
That uses lots of imagination!
mmmmm ta-a-a-a-aperrrrrrr...
fap fap fap
Was just in Panama City last week, they use USD, nothing was cheap except the miles of pseudo dollar stores on Central avenue carrying the finest plastic cell phone covers from China.
Seems like the USA's main export these days is inflation.
Litigation is high on the export list as well.
Dirtbike registration $75 (up from $25 4 years ago, but we have no inflation) gasoline 50% taxes, parking pass for off road park (owned by me & my fellow citizens) $50 fee
Problem: there aren't enough regular people anymore.
It's probably the best reflection of true inflation.
Re: It's probably the best reflection of true inflation
Also the "wealth effect". The top 10% have no problem with inflation if their income and wealth is increasing at the same rate.
There are now two separate economies. The "fittests" member of society will increasing be able to affort to separate themselves from the slime at the bottom (which, of course, they should do. Who wants your DNA bling to get dirty from mixing with the slime at the bottom).
Second/third gen Country club wouldn't be caught dead on the water unless someone baited the hook, reeled the fish and cleaned it. You are asking a lot of people that hire other people to sew buttons back on their shirts.
Two economics, and two justice systems, is also the hallmark of a 3rd world country.
People in America think 3rd world means there are no rich people in a country. Not at all. It just means there is a tremendous gap between the few haves, and the many have-nots.
So now we get to deal with 3rd world levels of corruption and cronyism too. Yay!
Even if I didn't know I was better than 90% of people, I certainly don't want my DNA mixing with the worst 10%. Why make short, bald, asymmetric children that learn slower when you have a choice?
Stop eating out every fucking day, then maybe you can afford to go on vacation, dumb asses.
the cost of putting together a healthy and tasty meal is fucking banannas. probably cheaper to eat out as long as you are savy.
It's not expensive to eat healthy meals, unless by "healthy" you mean "what Whole Foods says I should eat."
Its not. Effort is required.
Yeah and so you stop eating out every day and save yourself, what, $5 per day! Ballin out of control now! Do that for 30 years and you've saved up ~$54k, which will be like $30k in today's dollars. So live frugally your entire working life, serf, and you might survive in retirement for an extra 6 months before its cat food time.
My family of 3 eats well for ~$250/mo (way, way less during harvest time, but I'll stick with the higher number instead of trying to average).
Let's put decent numbers up for eating out:
- Breakfast out: ~$3
- Lunch out: ~$5
- Dinner out: ~$8
For one person. I think I'm being generous to the low side, but I admittedly haven't interviewed the behemoths leaving Mickey Ds every morning with bulging bags o' food. And I can't even imagine what slop you'd have to eat to keep your numbers as low as I'm allowing.
So for one person we're talking ~$480/mo if my numbers are reasonable. So my family of 3 is making out ~$230/mo better. I think we'll stick with that plan.
Re: Let's put decent numbers up for eating out
And the number you put up are ONLY if you plan on eating corporate simulated food-crap. You'd have to tripple those numbers (at least) to avoid the simulated food-crap.
Exactly right.
I eat organic grass fed beef for less than 3.50 p/lb. Granted I had to buy a whole cow, have a chest freezer to put it in. It also helps to be a personal friend of the farmer but regardless its still way cheaper and healthier than any mystery meat you get in the store.
I eat organic grass fed beef for less than 3.50 p/lb. Granted I had to buy a whole cow, have a chest freezer to put it in. It also helps to be a personal friend of the farmer but regardless its still way cheaper and healthier than any mystery meat you get in the store.
There is not an establishment within 30 miles that offers dinner for $8. You'd be lucky to get a cheap barebones house salad a la carte for $8.
My family of 4
2011. Spent $15000+ in food. (went out to eat all the damn time)
2012. Spent $11000+ in food. (RARELY go out to eat)
2011. - No vacation, 2012 - No vacation. 2013(used money saved in 2012) - Trip for 4 to Nederland for snowboarding for a week, and out to eat every fucking day (while we were there).
And not only that, but actually spend time with my family at home now.
Yes, it requires discipline and effort, but it can be done.
As the top 10% (the fittests) pull away from society's losers, the cost of stuff the top 10% like will increase beyond the reach of society's losers.
Vacations in Tahoe, high priced females (of various varieties), airline travel, high-end restaurants will "seek out" the fittest members of society.
Survival of the fittest doesn't always work out the way the semi-autistic males think it will.
Get used to living in a society like India which has had "survival of the fittest" for some time now.
hopefully survival will not deem you the fittest
Re: not deem you
I didn't say I agreed with it (necessarily). It's just life in a society where everybody thinks they are all above average and able to out-compete "most people". In reality, 50% of the population are just food for the other 50%.
a very dr. henry goose outlook
There is only one rule that binds all people. One governing principle that defines every relationship on God's green earth: The weak are meat, and the strong do eat.
i prefer this outlook
Belief is both prize & battlefield, within the mind & in the mind’s mirror, the world. If we believe humanity is a ladder of tribes, a colosseum of confrontation, exploitation & bestiality, such a humanity is surely brought into being, & history’s Horroxes, Boer-haaves & Gooses shall prevail. You & I, the moneyed, the privileged, the fortunate, shall not fare so badly in this world, provided our luck holds. What of it if our consciences itch? Why undermine the dominance of our race, our gunships, our heritage & our legacy? Why fight the “natural” (oh, weaselly word!) order of things?
Why? Because of this: — one fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. Yes, the Devil shall take the hindmost until the foremost is the hindmost. In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.
Re: i prefer this outlook
Agree. But what "we prefer" doesn't really matter to the DNA competing in "the game".
I prefer a more philosophical and spiritual outlook on life. I believe in reincarnation, and as a corollary, I want the world to be a better place in the future, than it is presently. I also believe that I can't force other people to 'be good', because that only makes you a dictator, using force to carry out your will. So I can mainly impact the world through my own thoughts, words and actions. And I try to live accordingly.
I don't shop at Walmart, and don't have a bank account with a TBTF bank, that is for sure...
"In reality, 50% of the population are just food for the other 50%."
Actually not true at all, particularly in this tech culture.
Re: Actually not true at all, particularly in this tech culture.
Probably true, more like 90% of the population are just for food for the other 10%, which is reflected in the income distribution we've got.
I think it was 2006 when I was shopping for a newer, better road bike and the salesman had just closed a deal on a $6000 Trek 5500 US Postal Team edition to a guy WHO HADN'T RIDDEN A BIKE IN ALMOST 20 YEARS!. But of course, you wouldn't want your equipment to hold you back.
>> you wouldn't want your equipment to hold you back.
America's garages and U-stores are stuffed with high priced shit. The thrill is in the shopping for most. My now ex had every square inch of the house filled with expensive clothes she could never in a million years wear, due to them being a dozen sizes too small. After many years of fighting, raising hell and clandestinely throwing them out, her shoe collection was down to 300 pairs. We are a sick society. Yet here I sit in a T-shirt that has to be 20 years old, full of holes and stains, because I'm more comfortable. I've also got a closet full of clothes with the tags still on them that she bought for "me" (actually her because the thrill is in the shopping and buying, I was just a likely excuse). In reality, I'm a bit sick in the other direction.
We see this mindset every day. For me, the most noticeable "Must Have" is the "latest model Mobile (Smart) 'Phone"; about 50% of colleagues / acquaintances will upgrade within 6 months of purchase, and the amusing thing is that they never use the majority of functions on their existing handset!
Shoes are important - we spend most of our working day on our feet, and this is an area where quality really does count, however repair is more environmentally responsible than replacement, so a good pair can (and do) last a decade.
We have transitioned from a "care for and repair" society to a "must have the latest model" society, where sustainability relates more to Manufacturers "bottom line" than the global environment.
I'm lucky if skate shoes last six months, but that is a lifestyle choice. The important thing is to skate your shoes till they are holey. :)
Having one good thing to serve its purpose and 'care for and repair,' as you say, is a mentality of the past. It's unfortunate, because along with the mentality goes the appreciation for quality, craftsmanship, finesse.
Skate shoes.....funny right? I remember in the 80/90's when all you had was vans and shoe goo. Make that shit work. Hahah. Right?
That's the power of Lance!!!
I find my decades - old Claude Butler Dalesman still works just fine. The parts that wear (hubs, cassette bottom bearing, chains, groupset, chainwheels, tires(!!)) are obviously not original, but the bike is as useful (and as much a pleasure to ride) as when first purchased in late 1988. Still very good for 30 mph ++ on the flat, and a great commuter bike. Cheap exercise too!
It's definitely not survival of the fittest out there.
That aside more people travelling and yes of course there's inflation - everyone wants to go to the same places.
Typically DNA survival is about producing the most offspring. Yet the dirtiest, poorest people always seem to make more. Please explain.
Humans must be the only species on Earth whose fertility is inversely correlated with material abundance. In a pure meritocracy of boundless opportunity (e.g. the early Roman Republic, or 19th century America), everyone strives to raise as many children as they can. Once that society congeals into a hereditary plutocracy, families limit their fertility in hopes of concentrating their wealth. More often, they produce one or two spoiled trust-fund babies and the family line dies out.
Fuck yeah, CHS! Excellent article. Correspondent Kevin K was quite naive going into the shop at the ski resort these days and expecting reasonable prices...
Custom boots at a ski resort?
You gotta be fuckin kidding. Who in their right mind shops there?
i would find that girl very recreational, but alas, i'm sure her price has risen as well.
Yes I clicked for the girl too... )-: disappointed again...
Life is very unfair. If you have a blinged-out twin diesel sport fishing boat in the harbour here in Hawaii; the girl, and her girlfriend, and the girlfriend's girlfriend, are all free. they don't cost anything. We, (the boat owners), call them "deck glitter". I understand they know this now, and they sometimes refer to themselves as deck glitter. So, basically, what's un-affordable to the working man is available for nothing to the useless parasite like me who has the big fishing boat and the private estate in Hawaii. You have to shoo them away if you want to get anything done; unless, you want to get the other thing done; then you offer to show them the privacy area where the bunks are, "downstairs". That's not a bad looking one in the picture; I recently asked a pair of 18yr. old (?) blondes what they were doing on a friend's boat, cause I didn't know them, and they answered in a perfect simulataneous duet; "we're the new deck glitter"; so I said, oh, okay.
I really don't want to hear about it, your troubles like this such as they are, but please do go on ...
When we sail our "Mobile Home" to Tasmania, or South Island NZ in the Winter months, we also get overnight "Deck Glitter", commonly known as hoar frost! A very spectacular sparkle - especially in low-angle moonlight!
Thanks for (indirectly) reminding me to order a new exhaust bend for the Perkins. Buying direct from Perkins Peterborough (UK) saves a lot of $$$s!!
Answer: No. I used to, can't afford it anymore.
The author failed to mention the increase in State and Federal fines in recreational areas.
At Red River Gorge in Kentucky, it will cost you $2000/person for illegally camping in a rock shelter.
Re: illegally camping in a rock shelter
Like speeders and red-light runners, I'd just shoot them. Just more criminals that think the law doesn't apply to them.
>> I'd just shoot them.
You'd end up with caves full of white trash bones. Better to fine the life savings out of them then let them die in their trailers.
While I am entirely sympathetic to the 'much higher than advertised inflation' meme, it is still entirely possibly to enjoy great recreational experiences without spending anywhere near that in the example used in the article.
To use one of countless examples, when I go hiking in the Adirondacks, I spend a dollar or two on a sandwich and an apple that I bring along, a few bucks on gas, and not a single penny to park at the trailhead.
Whether recreation or everyday living, expenses can be radically reduced by those who make careful choices.
I paid $23 to camp overnight on pesceo lake this summer. Nysdec site real nice on the lake saw an owl made a fire. weill worth that trip
People like a write articles pandering to people that always have to bitch about their life, but aren't creative enough to think of something new to bitch about. Then the readers here can parrot the sentiment of the article to their co-workers - who they look down on if not agreed with.
What's a Motel 6 go for now?
What do game tickets cost vs. 1965?
How about concert tickets?
The only thing that hasn't skyrocketed in the last thirty years is crap made in China.
Re: The only thing that hasn't skyrocketed in the last thirty years is crap made in China.
The only thing that hasn't skyrocketed in the last thirty years is stuff that requires labor which can't be outsourced to China.
Right. A room at Motel 6 used to cost . . . $6.
Concert tickets. I remember paying something like $15 to see the Grateful Dead at the Worcester Centrum in the mid-80s. Maybe as low as $12, can't remember exactly.
$20 bucks for the Stones in '78 at Warner Theater in DC. 2000 seat joint. Great show. $600 today? NFW.
I remember paying nothing (zero) to watch Worcester play at the Deanery. Being hammered by Hampshire was not exactly a pleasant match for us "local Team" supporters . . .
(Oops - wrong thread / blog. Should be on the County Cricket UK threads . . . .!)
>> What's a Motel 6 go for now?
Last time I stayed at a Motel Six it cost me $2,065.00. Of course, $2,000 of that was a robbery, inside job, but still, it had a sting to it.
In the late 70's, there were a lot more pleasure boats on the upper Chesapeake Bay. This past season was the worst ever for Marina operators as far as slip rental and gasoline sales.
The skies have been empty since 9/11.
Extra costs and bull shit flight plans for every Sunday afternoon sightseeing trip have finally killed general aviation.
I hear it's too many jellyfish. I once planned a summer-long Chesapeake vacay and canceled it when I found out you can't go in the water b/c of all the jellyfish. That, and the weather sucks in the summer.
Like the Health Industry having double digit inflation increases with no corresponding wage increase for the consumer... for decades.
Someone should do something about that, oh wait.
Dear Sheeple,
Inflation really isn't 1%. We lied.
Sincerely,
Ben
Hell just look at movie theatres.. Nowadays it's like $12 per ticket, $5 for a large soda and $10 for a large popcorn.. Date night can easily run over $50 just for an average movie.
>> $5 for a large soda and $10 for a large popcorn.
If you're eating and drinking that shit you've got more to worry about than inflation.
I think inflation covers everything: inflation of the moolah and inflation of the waistline.
Just wear your coat in and sneak some Milk-duds in your inside pockets. That's what I do. Or, if you're with a date, have her sneak some chocolate covered Godiva pretzels in her purse. That way you're both happy.
I've lived near the ski areas of the Sierras most of my life. Learned to ski in my early teens and skied up until my late 20's. Saw the lift tickets keep going up every year. Had all my own gear until the tune up shops stopped touching that old stuff for liability reasons. Haven't skied since, way too expensive. Took my kids up for the day a couple of years ago, cost us about $200 bucks for them to get a lesson and ski the bunny hill. Me and the wife drank a few in the lodge and watched the kids have fun. Can't afford to do it again.
All snowsports have become very expensive for commonfolk to afford on a yearly basis. The parents took us skiing a couple of times when we were kids - they hung out also. You know as a kid the subtleties of facial expressions when your dad hears the amount of the final bill hehe. I went a couple of times with friends over the years. Used to be a $100 day, then a $150 day. I don't think I really intend on going again.
Inspection/launch/decontamination/fishing license are yearly fees if you only ever launch the boat at Tahoe and aren't a slob.
The fees seem perfectly reasonable to me ... those assholes who in the 70s spread all the invasive species in the first place and made the utter necessity of these regulations and checks abundantly clear are the ones to blame, not the government. We live on an overcrowded planet full of assholes ... we just don't have as much natural resources to mercilessly exploit as in the 70s, that's part of the reason the costs are going up.
Please reduce the crowding starting with yourself.
It became much more common to trailer your boat around to many lakes in the 60s and 70s. I cannot speak for Lake Tahoe, but it was in the 70s that eurasian milfoil began showing up in MN's lakes. Since common sense was evidently omitted that one must clean one's boat upon exiting a lake, the local government had to write into law to do it and someone to enforce it (DNR). Since that someone needs to be paid, a use-fee had to cover that wage. I'm OK with that. I hate fishing in milfoil.
I much more prefer use-fees (taxing consumption) rather than production (confiscation of wealth).
Is that fish I smell.
I've got to take a nap so I won't be around for the close. But that's ok I'm going to make a prediction:
Stocks up. Gold monkey-hammered.
Look at the price of a trip to Disneyland. Inside the gates, a slice of pizza will cost you like $6 or so. People cannot afford it, but they feel social pressure to pay anyway, even if it means ringing up credit card debt.
Re: social pressure to pay anyway, even if it means ringing up credit card debt.
That's how you separate "the fittest" from "the food". The dumbasses are easily manipulated by bullshit created by "the fittest"; in this case advertising. So, the dumbasses, being dumbasses, believe the bullshit and the result is "the fittest" (the manipulators) get money from the dumbasses (eat the dumbasses).
It's how humans complete, and bullshit is the best weapon.
Fuck Disney. Have never been, will never go. I actually had a coworker argue that I "have to go at least once" and repeated it 3 times as I said no I don't 3 times. Of course the kids thought I was Ebenezer Scrooge himself for not taking them and my oldest included it in a list of grievances she wrote out while still in high school so I don't know, maybe in this day and age you really do fuck the kids up if you don't haul them down to that mind fuck money trap.
"A list of grievances she wrote out while still in high school..." Now That's interesting. And exactly the problem. Children who are fed, have a roof over their heads, shoes on their feet, and are prayed for, have No Grievances and should be reminded of this periodically. We need to return to the fundamentals: Our children need to be taught, as the Asians teach their children, that all that they have is because of the parent who is to be adamantly respected. Period.
And I couldn't help thinking, sure do hope that wasn't related to a "school assignment." If so, that's an entirely "nother" kettle of fish to fry.
No, not a school assignment thankfully. This is a particularly "entitled" generation and I'm as guilty as many parents of spoiling my kids...to a degree. My oldest just didn't think she had been granted enough entitlements at that time and couldn't understand why she was required to hold a part time job to pay for gas and pocket money. She's learned and grown over the years.
Tinky, while I agree with your general point, that affordable recreation may still be had depending on where you look, what your are advocating is the same as the chained CPI concept. You are suggesting the author give up on the preferred activity of fishing for the cheaper substitute of hiking. This is not equivalent for many reasons though, and I think many people here eschew chained CPI for that reason. Cat food is not steak/chicken no matter the calorie equivalency, no?
By comparing the cost for the same activity in two time periods I think the point of the article is well illustrated. One may cherry pick examples to show no change, such as yours, but the general trend across the board does appear to be inflation well above the laughable official statistic.
The $25 fee for someone pouring $0.03 of bleach into one's bilge handily demonstrates the core of the problem in this example.
Go overseas. Even with air fare to SE Asia it's still cheaper than a 'holiday' in Kalifornia. You can stay in top flight hotels, the street food is wonderful and cost of living in general is about a 3rd of the States. As well you have a history as rich as Europe's at your fingertips.
The cost of family entertainment/vacations in the States is off the charts and a complete rip off by any measure.
Hahaha you thought you could play in the dot com rich boys mountain chateau lake? They crowded your poor ass out, mystery solved. There is a nice KOA site in El Centro...
And... you can run the nightly knife gauntlet for entertainment in beautiful downtown Mexicali.
Winners get a nice Our Lady Of Guadalupe glass candle as a souvenir.
My strip bass trip from S.Central Pa to Cape May NJ in 2007 for 2 days in November total costs 45.00 a nite motel,gas,tolls,booze,food etc 150.00 total.No boat,surf\Inlet shit.Now,fuckin 225.00.Fuckin Jersey for shits sake,in November.
Hot women will have a tripling effect of all rec expenses.
Two years ago, a decent on-the-road hotel was $89 a night. Now they are running $119 to $124. Prices in any major city have rocketed to $189 or more during the week and go way up from there. Resort areas are up even higher. Joe Six-Pack and his mini-van full of kids are NOT the ones staying at these places.
What kind of dumbass fishes in New Jersey. I wouldn't pay for a fish sandwich from that shit hole.
True. From NYC you can take a bus to the Catskills or Adirondacks for $26, get a cab to the trail for another $25, stay out as long as you're prepared for and then head back. Considering tolls and gas it's actually cheaper than driving. Add $50 for 3 days of camp food, and you have a nice 3 day vacation for $150.
True. Pays to be upstream from the NYC shit pit.
I used to ski every year but now I almost never go because of the lift ticket prices. Screw em..
Here's a recreation money can't buy (or does it?): http://www.odditycentral.com/news/woman-claims-overeating-gives-her-orga...
His basic point is that, in a Potemkin economy, to determine real inflation and cost of living, you have to peak into the comparatively free economic areas.
Looks like BenCorp needs to move Recreational Costs to the housing-energy-food column. You know, the column that doesn't figure into their inflation number.
Local lake 5 miles away, gas pontoon boat at gas station instead of lake, cooler full of bbq stuff , fish and swim all day, party like hell at night with locals and campers. Cost? A few bucks for boat gas. Food and booze the same as you were at home. Free to camp overnight at somebody's campsite if you want.
12 Volt blender for Margaritas been going strong for 5 years now. Take a big bag of crushed ice from home so it works less. After 4 wife wears a ski jacket so she floats. I hate divingfor her.
Annual boat pass for lake with no load fee $35 (Raised it $5 last year)
Whats a fishing license? kids under 12 don't need em. Kids end up with 4 rods each when the warden in his spot it a mile away boat goes by. Toss on some bass with the steaks and burgers.
I've spent less for a week in the Carribean than most people spend for a weekend car trip. I gave up expensive vacations years ago. A bit of planning and some finagling here and there makes a big difference.
You'd be surprised at how many people own timeshares that will trade out time for less than 50% cash.
I read an article this summer about some dude in NYC that charges people good money to go on Firefly Watching Expeditions. Hell, they don't even know that they are Lightnin' Bugs, not fireflies!
Inflation hits recreation in two directions at once: 1)higher costs and 2) lower 'attendance' by people seeing an erosion in their incomes and therefor having less to spend on attendance at some recreational activity.
To offset higher costs the recreational 'owners' must raise prices but know that doing so will lower attendance further so they raise prices higher than necessary to 'squeeze' more from their higher-income customers. Lower-income customers will see attendance priced even further out of their reach and at an accelerating rate beyond inflation.
Now add in the criminals of government milking all, including recreational owners, more and more and eventually only the top 10% can afford to 'recreate.'
The top 10% recreate, whilst the bottom 50% procreate.
Welcome to the New Normal!
No looting opportunity left behind.
On top of the inflationary effect, there's the revenue/fee shell game. By breaking it out of that and into fees, licenses, etc, now it tugs at the heartstrings. We can't let little Timmy miss out on a day fishing at the lake, can we? C'mon man, it's for the children! Your general taxes went down to reflect this, right? Right??
Keep the hoi polloi out of our parks and natural areas! They don't have proper respect for mother Gaia. Hell, they even like hydrocarbons!
If your camping/fishing trip costs more than staying at home...
You're doing it wrong.
And really, who the hell pays to fish?
Dammit Charles, you got me to click cause of the picture. -Click-baiter!
Our standard of living has decreased. In the '70's and '80's, a middle class family could own a Cessna 172, or a couple of horses, or small luxuries like this. No more. Now you can barely afford a dog or a cat .... Even small pets are getting to become un-affordable.
The current "fashion" for the "Designer" small breeds, with the designed - in problems.
The Veterinarians love 'em - an almost guaranteed income stream from the families who "must keep up with the Joneses"!
da'fuq? My dog costs 10 bucks a month to feed.
You have a broken definition of "middle class". In the 70s, the median income was about $36k/year...none of those people were buying Cessnas or horses.
Charles, Charles, Charles - when will you get with the program. 1st there is no inflation - Benjie ad Bamy say so. 2nd you are just paying for some of those valuable/essential government services we are all hungry and clamoring for. Every party needs a pooper so I guess that means you <sarc>
In the future, affordable recreation will be the family crowding around google 3D maps while dad splashes water on you and mom plugs in a heat lamp
Population of CA in 1970: 19M, Population of CA in 2013: 38M
Leave it to Charles of No Minds to take a real problem and couch it in an easily-dismissed, petulant diatribe backed with idiotic inferences.
Washington State requires a stupid Discover Pass to park at State Parks, so now I don't go to State Parks.
Here in Ohio the hunting fees were getting to high and the number of hunters started to decline and therefore the deer population started to expand. They had to adjust some fees. So, the various governments will take as much as they can until hit them in their own revenue pocket.
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He's missing the idea that most of this is nothing more than fees, designed to increase the coffers of government. Javex your boat?
Where did we get all the money to build all the roads and infrastructure in the 50's and 60's with half the population? And no debt to speak of?
Why can't we do it now?
Because we have 15% of the population on food stamps. Do you get foodstamps when your on UI? What about all the bums on disability? All these interwoven govy programs, giving the lazy turds a life for nothing.
That's where all this money is going and why we're fee'd to death.
Perhaps if you're on government assistance, you should be denied the right to vote yourself a bigger and bigger chuck of the free money?
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