What if he can math but knows his constituents can’t or won’t.
This statistic is so useless all it is proving is that not all statistics are useful in proving a point.
Chuck Grassley is 92 years old.
He was college age from 1951-ish to 1954-ish.
Gas prices were $0.27 to $0.29 a gallon back then.
https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-741-august-20-2012-historical-gasoline-prices-1929-2011
Adjusted for inflation, that’s $3.37 to $3.49 today…
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
Buuuuut… Another way of looking at it…
The minimum wage in the early 1950s was $0.75/hr.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart
So a gallon of gas was between 36% and 39% of an hours worth of minimum wage work.
The current minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. A gallon of gas at the current average of $2.847 is 39% of an hours worth of minimum wage work.
Well … fuck, I just got done grabbing the BLS inflation calculation for .25 from 1973 and that’s $3.05 today but your post is just already here making me feel silly for even thinking about commenting.
Cool stats though, it’s interesting to see how the cost has more or less stayed in line with inflation. I think that’s what you’d expect to see with most commodities from that time to now, but I’m also an idiot who got like a C in my macroeconomics class so I don’t really know.
Actually kinda cool stats.
Almost as if inflation is a function of energy prices, as everything we consume requires energy to produce and transport.
Meanwhile everything else is much more expensive today.
Gas could double in price and it would still be the least of my concerns.
But his math is correct?
¢25 in 1953, 72 years ago, is $3.03 when adjusted for inflation according to US Inflation Calculator.
And the current gas price is $2.4 per gallon in Iowa where he is from. (Not sure where he went to college but whatever.)
It’s ¢60 cheaper per gallon now, when adjusted for inflation.
If he’s right about the price he paid, he’s also right about it being cheaper now.
Surely Trump didn’t help during all these 72 years but the math is correct, even if the logic is flawed.
Now do minimum wage
It sure as hell ain’t $2.4 a gallon here.
Welp, you gotta compare apples to apples.
I added the detail about the gas price in Iowa, where this senator is from. Not sure if he went to college there but meh.
If elected, I’ll make gas even more expensive, and spend the tax revenue on bus/train infrastructure.
Shut up and take my vote!
Turns out OP can’t math hahaha
Guys, why aren’t you giving Trump credit for 72 years of progress in petroleum engineering and decades of wars for oil?
Even if his math is correct, it’s a stupid point cause our incomes haven’t matched inflation and that’s all that really matters.
You don’t even need to bring income into it. Inflation is the whole point of the “things were cheaper in the old days” trope, if you adjust for inflation then all you’re saying is we’ve seen zero progress. Even on its own terms it’s still not a brag.
Not to mention that gas is a larger part of the average persons budget than it was 72 years ago. We live in a car distopia without any good public transit. It’s also why looking at a single thing like gas prices is a dumb way to judge how affordable living is.
We live in a car distopia[sic] without any good public transit.
Are you based in America?
Yes. And the context of this post is talking about America.
Alright, just checking. 🤷♂️
Our incomes should have matched productivity to get ahead. Matching inflation is just treading water.
We drowning
True, especially because isn’t gas prices one of the things that define inflation so doing that calculation doesn’t really mean anything? Also so many fewer people were driving in those days.
Post not accessible: needs link to source
Is the joke that the replier doesn’t understand inflation? CPI calculator
Why the fuck is a 92 year old man still actively holding office?
And what insane political system would allow this to happen?
This is elder abuse!
You mean the elderly is abusing us, I totally agree
In this case both works.
This guy doesn’t get to enjoy his pension, while younger generations has to wait longer to get actual representation of their views among serving politicians.
Except, as far as we know, nobody is forcing him to be there. He could just resign today if he wanted to.
25 years ago, I regularly filled my tank for $1/gallon. Gas prices have more than quadrupled in 25 years.
To be fair, it’s also become more difficult to get oil, relying on methods such as fracking. But also, OPEC.
If my napkin math is right*, he was in college between 1951 and 1956; with gas ranging from .24 to .27 dollars a gallon.
Adjusting for inflation that’s be about $2.40.
Sunday I paid 2.90 at Costco. It seems he’s full of shit.
(My napkin math is notorious for breaking the laws of physics. Best do your own… or else we might end up dividing by zero.)
For some bizarre reason I was able to get gas at $2.05 on Monday.
The next day it was back to $2.92.
Must have been a weird price war between a handful of stations that day.
Or someone messed up programming the machine.
But still, that’s a score.
I checked around and about half the gas stations in the area were around $2.05 and half were around $2.90.
It’s possible one was accidentally set and a bunch of other gas stations price matched (possibly automatically?)
or it was cut with water
Gas price ranges are huge by what area you’re in. You may have paid $2.90, but I paid $2.15. there’s a few areas in other states that I know are under $2.00. California probably mostly over $3.00.
I’ve noticed that a common sign of dementia is thinking gas costs what it did decades ago. My step dad would be sent in to pay for gas and he’d come back thinking $10 was more than enough to fill the tank. This was when gas was $4+ a gallon.
Chuck’s math is 25¢ a gallon. As you point out that is right about the price it was when he was in his prime. His post isn’t just about lying for Trump. It’s about mental decline.
You may be asking why my step dad with dementia was being sent in unattended to pay for gas when you could pay at the pump. Denial by his primary caregiver was also a factor. Make him do as many normal things as possible and then be shocked when they didn’t work out.
It was 1953 @ $0.25/gal. The CPI puts that at $3.00 in 2025 dollars. So literally the exact price.
… now taking into account purchasing power, since earnings did not keep up with inflation he was still much better than us.
And yet the media just repeats this bullshit until most low-info Americans think it’s the truth.
It’s apparently $3 adjusted for inflation.
Problem is our wages have not adjusted for inflation
I haven’t seen it under $3 in a long while
US national average is $2.85. https://gasprices.aaa.com/
lotta bumfuck nowhere in the us
I managed to get gas for $2.31 on Tuesday. It was a Christmas miracle.
