The Year is 1912

The average life expectancy for men is 47

Fuel for your Model T is only sold in Drug Stores

Only 14% of homes have a bathtub

Only 8% of homes have a telephone

There are only 8,000 cars and 144 miles of paved roads

The maximum speed limit in cities is 10 mph

The tallest structure in the world is the Eiffel Tower at 1063 feet

The average pay in the US is 22₵ per hour

Other high paying jobs (annual): Accountant $2000, Dentist $2500, Mechanical Engineer $5000

More than 95% of all births are at home

90% of Doctors have no College Education

Sugar cost 4₵ a pound, Eggs 14₵ a dozen, Coffee 15₵ a pound

Most women wash their hair once a month

There are 45 States and the population of Las Vegas is 30

Crossword puzzles, canned beer and iced tea hadn’t been invented

20% of adults can’t read or write and only 6% graduated from high school

Marijuana, heroin and morphine are all available over the counter at any drug store

18% of ALL households have at least one full-time servant or domestic help

There were 230 reported murders in the entire US

I am now going to forward this to someone else without ever typing it myself. From there, it will be sent to others all over the world in a matter of a couple seconds.

Try to imagine what it will be like in another 100 years.

Dennis,

What a wonderful post. Makes one stop and think.

With the rapid rate of change , we cannot imagine what kind of world it will be for our great grandchildren.

But they will look back at 2012 and smile at our little universe.

Try to imagine what it will be like in another 100 years.

=========================

The few surviving humans living in caves and planning insurgent attacks against our Zetan overlords who invaded from Planet X on Dec. 21, 2012. Or not.

I'm a little confused about Perry's stance on immigration. I recall he was making some rather thoughtful comments on immigration reform, but then he backtracked if I remember. But wasn't he a supporter of The Dream Act?

I guess if you're a Republican candidate, being heartless is the road to travel - and one thing we know about Romney - he's about as heartless as they come.

Think Progress: Mitt Romney Promises To Veto DREAM Act If Elected | Matt Viser of the Boston Globe reports that during a campaign stop in Le Mars, Iowa this afternoon, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney promised to veto the DREAM Act if it ever passed while he was president. Romney’s promise to veto the legislation is merely the latest escalation in a campaign that has already been marked by extreme anti-immigrant rhetoric from Romney and his fellow Republican candidates. A Pew Hispanic Center poll released earlier this week showed Romney losing Hispanic voters to President Obama by a 3:1 margin, far worse than John McCain did in 2008.

Hey Dennis, love your post!

Dennis, Columbus, Ohio

Great Post!!!

Would like to add one thing though..

A good custom tailored suit of clothes cost $50.00 (or, one ounce of Gold)

Today, the same good custom tailored suit of clothes costs $1,700.00 (or, one ounce of Gold 3400% increase)

A gallon of Gas cost .10 (one silver dime)

Today, A gallon of Gas costs $3.40 (one silver dime 3400% increase)

The innate value of things hasn't changed one iota in the last 100 years.

Pat,

In the third to the last debate, he said he supported the Dream Act in full, In one of the last two debates he backed off full support and has been sliding backwards since.

Today, A gallon of Gas costs $3.40 (one silver dime 3400% increase)

Just in case anyone missed it, that's a 34% average annual rate of inflation since the creation of the Federal Reserve and leaving the gold standard.

A 3400% increase would be less than 4% inflation a
year (compounded) for 100 years.

Don't confuse Egilman. He won't be able to comprehend a challenge to his John Birch Society fantasy that the downfall of American Exceptionalism began with leaving the gold standard. Never mind that the entire WORLD left the gold standard (starting with Britain) because tying currencies together in such an artificial fashion leads to uncontrollable instability in a modern economy...which is why tying the Yuan to the Dollar is already resulting in high inflation for Chinese consumers.

Think about that for a while.

Dennis, Columbus, Ohio,

Thank you, The point gets driven home much better when it comes from someone thinking they are correcting someone else.

John B.

Don't confuse Egilman...

I'm not confused at all, I'm not a Keynesian, I follow the Austrian methodology of economics.
that's why you don't understand me and you guys call Dr Paul a Kook.

Does that sound like I'm confused? Hardly... ;-0)

Egilman,

Remember the rule of 72

Example: at a 6% interest rate it will take 12 years to double your money or at 12% it will only take 6 years.

Another example of the rule: at 4% inflation it will take 18 years to double the cost.

Like many of us when we try to evaluate the future value of property value the rule of 72 is helpful. If the historic increase annual increase in your area is 4% then you should assume that in 18 years your property value will double.

The way I look at a 30 year mortgage (on average – in normal times) with a small down payment and an interest rate of about 6-7% is that after 30 years the value of your home/property will be worth every dollar you paid including interest, property taxes and insurance.

The rule is a quick and easy test for reasonability

I follow the Austrian methodology of economics.

Why of course you are, Egilman, it's why you have so little grasp of reality. The Austrian School is almost as destructive of rational thought among Conservatives as is Ayn Rand. Austrian School Economics is as much a pseudoscience as the Social Darwinism of which Conservatives are so fond.

The Austrian School of Economics is a tiny group of libertarians at war with mainstream economics. They reject even the scientific method that mainstream economists use, preferring to use instead a pre-scientific approach that shuns real-world data and is based purely on logical assumptions. But this is the very method that thousands of religions use when they argue their opposing beliefs, and the fact that the world has thousands of religions proves the fallibility of this approach. Academia has generally ignored the Austrian School, and the only reason it continues to exist is because it is financed by wealthy business donors on the far right. The movement does not exist on its own scholarly merits.

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-ausmain.htm

At that address you'll find an entire series of essays systematically destroying the mythical superiority of Mises and Hayek. Much of the current Conservative Movement is particularly fond of the gold standard. Let's start there;

First, it would make nearly inflexible the total amount of the nation's money supply. Gold bugs claim the value of that money would adjust itself to the level of market activity through inflation or deflation. But although money inflates easily, it suffers from "price stickiness" when trying to deflate. Often, deflation barely occurs, and the result is high unemployment, recession or even depression instead. In other words, money doesn't adjust itself to the level of economic activity; the level of economic activity adjusts itself to the money. History bears this out: the U.S. suffered eight depressions while on commodity money; in the 60s years since, it has suffered none.

Second, gold standards based on a fractional reserve allow the phenomenon of bank panics or bank runs, which leave depositors holding worthless money. This only exacerbates recessions and depressions. The solution to this would be to adopt a pure gold standard. But there is not enough gold in the world to cover the phenomenal amount of economic activity currently in it, without an equally phenomenal revaluation of gold. Furthermore, industry is making increasing demands on gold; a change in dentistry or electronics could deflate an entire economy.

All of which were valid reasons why the entire world abandoned the gold standard as a necessary step in combating the Great Depression.

Even making Hayek work on a theoretical basis requires making a raft of assumptions which are fundamentally at odds with the real world.

Since Austrians are innumerate, instead they must rely on their assumptions, which needless to say tend to have a very right wing bias. Science does not work that way. Nor can Austrians really defend their assumptions: no assumption about the real world is totally true which means that there is fallacy in all their logic about the real world. They make up for this in bluster and old-fashioned appeal to their own authority.

When confronted with real-world problems that could have multiple causes, logical verbal models are insufficient. You MUST introduce measurement and mathematics into your models if you want to have any hope of valid answers. Logical verbal models are sufficient to specify possible chains (or networks) of causation, but telling which are significant is a quantitative problem that requires measurement.

This is not a new position: it is basic to science and ought to be basic to philosophy. Hume said it very clearly 260 years ago:

"Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion."

http://critiquesoflibertarianism.blogspot.com/2009/05/parable-of-ship-why-austrian-economics.html

John B,

Thank you, you just proved my point!

As with most acolytes of Mises and Hayek you avoid any defense of their work...because there is none.

You're not confused because you believe religiously in a theoretical construct of the world that explains everything quite neatly as long as you ignore the fact that it neither explains nor predicts anything...the only two things that are important in science.

I don't have to defend their work, most people who have read it and understand it don't feel it needs any defense, like the followers of Keynes does.

Austrian Economics is all about practicalities, not theories. I will take practical over theory every day.

Economics is NOT science, you Keynesian's would like to make it a science and have tried to have it understood as a science for decades, unfortunately, there is just too much guessing involved in it to call it a science.

Most intelligent people relate it to the soothsayers of the Egyptian dynasties.

Have a nice day.

So it's just a philosophy, one designed simply to justify Conservative positions. At least you're willing to admit that.

Thanks for the info, Domenico.

Consider this: According to Feeding America, $1 is enough for them to provide 8 meals.

Enough said.

Thanks Domenico, for sure the totals will go through the roof. Looking at what you have for Fl. we know that will skyrocket, so far have seen little advertising in my neck of the woods.

I understand the costs, the stakes are very high, but when some of these folks who have known for a while they are not going be viable, still continue to throw good money after bad, it really underscores why we have so many disconnects between politicians and the citizens needs.

Hope you are having a good night in IA. Happy New Year to and yours.

Unfortunately Ginger,

It's about their personalities, it's not about the citizenry...

Happy New Year to you girl...

Agreed and Thanks Egilman, Happy New Year to you and yours,

I enjoy your posts and look forward to many in the coming year.