Klarinet Archive - Posting 000263.txt from 2003/01

From: "mlmarmer" <mlmarmer@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] New Obituary
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 10:53:01 -0500

Mark,

Thanks the information about credit cards and income, as I hope the main
reason of my email, was more important than my wrong statistics, as Mr.
Levin did allot for kids in the area of band rentals, which probably was a
pain to the store and costly overall, due to mis-use, etc. He didn't have
to do that, as he was quite successful in the music business in other areas.
And yes, some renters probably did buy an instrument in the end, like I did,
but most kids gave up playing quickly, before they got to that next step.

If mean income was 11,106 per year, that is about 214 per week before taxes,
still allot for a $295 clarinet for most families.

Yes, BankAmerica and other credit cards, were available back then, but not
easy to get, as credit today, is way overuse by many people and very easy to
get. Back then, saving for something was still part of the way to buy
something. Today, no body wants to save for things, for the most part.
Household credit card debt is way too high today, as the cost of the R-13,
new, has gone up quite a bit since 1970. So do people charge for the R-13,
when a high schooler wants one today and pay it out over time, or do they
save up for it?

Mike

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
Subject: RE: [kl] New Obituary

> > From: mlmarmer [mailto:mlmarmer@-----.com]
> > I was one of those who rented from him a clarinet and was able to bring
in
> > money to his store, weekly, on account, to save up for that $295 R-13
> > clarinet in 1970, as those were the days of no credit cards and
> > the average
> > incomes was $8,000!
>
> For the sake of accuracy:
>
> Per capita income in 1970 in the US was 3,177, an equivalent of 12,543 in
> 2001 US dollars (http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/p01.html)
>
> Mean income/family was 11,106, an equivalent of 43,846 in 2001 US dollars
> (http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/f06.html)
>
> If indeed an R13 in 1970 was $295 then it would be $1164 in 2001 US
dollars.
> 1950 saw the introduction of the 1st Diner's Club card.
> 1958 saw the introduction of American Express.
> in 1967 BankAmericard (now Visa) had 2.7 million members.
> 1969 saw the introduction of Mastercard.
> 1970 was the "big year" for credit cards - it was the year of the
> standardization of the magnetic stripe.
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>

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