[SentraSE-R]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Since when is your minimum wage Joe Sixpack the average American, though? Joe's pretty close to the bottom of the scale, really. (Though Jose seems to prosper even further down.)

Spare us your racist stereotyping BS. You don't improve your credibility with your gratuitous editorializing.

In 1972, a federal entry level GS-5, step 1 job earned $7,319/year. Today, it only earns the worker $27,431/year. That's only a 374% increase - far less than the 1440% increase in gas, and the 900% increase in cars. Average incomes don't mean much if you have 10000 Joes earning $25,000, and 100 millionaires to raise the average income to $35,000. That's how our US economy is skewed, and the average income doesn't tell the story of the average Joe's loss of earning and purchasing power.

Originally Posted by jamesqf

But the price of a decent used car, which is what Joe (and everybody in the next several levels up) would buy was maybe in the $500 range (IIRC - I'm going by memory here). Indeed, looking back I can't actually recall anyone I knew ever buying a new car.

Just like salaries, used car prices are all over the map. I used new cars, because they're a relatively standard yardstick, not because they're actually purchased by minimum wage earners.