On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 10:19:50 -0400, The Visitor
wrote:

Can't say I have really. For those that have dropped out, many more have
come in.

My other expensive hobby is opera. The opera newsgroups are always
moaning that the audience is dying--just look at them! They're all so
old!

What they neglect to factor in is that there is an endless supply of
old farts to go to the opera, that they're living longer, that they
have more money, and that they're about to be joined by the Baby
Boomers. Almost all the performances I go to are sold out, at least in
the expensive seats.

In the first half of the 20th century there were three classes: poor,
middle, and upper. Then by the 1950s plumbers and auto workers were
making more money than teachers, so we changed working class to middle
class, so we had underclass, middle class, and wealthy.

Gradually however the (temporary) forces that made American workers so
valuable began to disappear with the economic recovery first of
Europe, then of Japan and the Asian Tigers, and now of China, India,
and the rest.

However, it's still true that a Detroit autoworker earns $75 an hour
including bennies. So for an hour of work he can take a 45 minute
lesson at my local airport.

Amazingly enough, a Tennessee autoworker on "Japanese" cars earns
almost as much. He too can well afford to take flying lessons.

I was young in the 1940s and graduated from college in the 1950s. The
minimum wage was 45 cents an hour, and lessons cost $7 an hour. That's
about the same ratio as today.

I suspect the main reason folks can't afford flying is that they're
spending so much on swimming pools, whole house air conditioning, and
trips with the kids to Disney World, none of which existed for us in
1954.

And speaking of the 1950s--gasoline was 29.9 cents a gallon. That was
actually MORE expensive by earning power than $3.60 gas is today. Try
to hire a college student today for the price of two gallons of gas!

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
new from HarperCollins www.FlyingTigersBook.com