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My What a Difference 50 Years Make …
You go to a restaurant and what used to be $3- and $5-dollar appetizers have now turned into $9- and $12-dollar appetizers, or more…
Many people, me included, can’t down the entire appetizer and still order something else as the main selection. So, I usually forego the appetizer to get to the main course.
Now IF the appetizer was more reasonably priced, I’d go for it.
So, I’m thinking that the store is actually losing money when people forego the appetizer. The same can be said of the dessert.
Now hang in here with me – I’m going to make a couple of points further along. But this is a long message – skip on to something else if you like but a couple of people will benefit from this.
I’m a little tight with my spending for lunch (or anything) so while all this turmoil in my mind is going on about food costs, I think back to the good ol days when I worked at the Ben Franklin Store at age 14.
My monthly treat was to go to Mickey’s Diner for lunch and get a slab of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, a side veggie, a piece of white bread and a cup of chocolate milk.
It didn’t fill me up, but it was sooooo good. The cost? $1.20 and I was making 75 cents an hour at the time.
This meal turned out to be about 60% above my hourly wage. Question: what would a meal cost in this day and age?
Let’s say the average hourly wage for variety store clerks now days is $13 per hour.
Well, 1.6 times $13 is about $21 dollars! I’d be spending $21 for lunch today.
Now you can easily spend $21 for lunch and, in fact, a rough estimate for lunch now days is about $15 to $18.
So, I was treating myself really well once a month. Nothing wrong with that.
Here’s what I want to emphasize, I wonder how many people – especially business owners and younger ones – play around with numbers for both personal and business issues.
Where do you fall on this issue?
Let me say something here (and I’m usually very optimistic) but I fear for younger people. I personally don’t know if they know what’s coming down the pipeline.
I don’t think that current education, especially in high school and college, is worth the time, effort and money spent.
I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you this time on this issue.
Here’s a point: several months ago, I did an informal look into what the costs were 50 years ago for some popular items.
I then did a calculation on how today’s prices compared to 50 years ago.
Then, I did a 25-year projection on these items and here are the results for autos and housing, the two biggest money hits that people are trying to endure.
In 25-years into the future, an average auto will cost over $330,000 based upon my projection which was based upon prices fifty years ago and an average house will cost over $2 million dollars.
This won’t affect me but how do you think the younger ones might respond IF they took the time to investigate this?
In my opinion, if most of the younger people think that wages will take care of them, that’s an illusion.
In my informal study, wages did not come close to increasing as fast as auto and housing costs were increasing.
I truly feel that business owners have a chance to make it. (This is a story for another day).
Business owners, IF THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING, will not only survive but they’ll thrive. This is my humble opinion.
Now a whole lot could, and WILL, change in 25 years, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology and robotics, etc.
Elon Musk and others think no one will NEED a job in the future. He may be thinking of a universal wage for everyone. The government will pay you to do nothing. Hey, sound familiar?
A universal wage does not appeal to me, but it may be the future. Want your kid to become a doctor? or an Attorney? or hundreds of other professions? They’ll be replaced by AI and robotics.
I say all this to say that most people, including our younger generation, are too busy or preoccupied to dig into all this. Sadly, the younger ones while away their precious hours on Tik-Tok, the most subversive and worthless indulgence that ever-hit America and the world.
I don’t like to tell people how to raise their kids or grandkids – but, guess what? I’m gonna do it anyway – GET YOUR KIDS OFF OF TIK-TOK!!!
Now, it may not be all gloom and doom, but the realization of what’s coming may require a major mind-shift for most people. And the big shift hopefully will come sooner rather than too late.
I frequently ask younger people if they are into bitcoin. The answer 99% of the time is, “I’ve heard about it but haven’t really gotten into it yet. I will when I get older.”
I jump on them and say, “Hey! YOU should be telling me about this not me telling you.!” They agree.
Like I say, I’m an optimist and I think people need to plug along the best they can. So, what’s a solution? What is THE solution for you?
Now you may think I’m going to make a pitch for my training – YES, I am! Why not?
Make hay while the sun is shining. If you don’t find an opportunity, create your OWN.
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Lastly, if you like to read, the best book I’ve found on AI is this one: AI Super-Powers by Kai-Fu Lee.