A 1975 Datsun in every shed!
The news is telling us that inflation is the highest it’s been since 1981. I was intrigued by the declaration and decided to follow up a little more, especially since 1981 is the year I graduated high school.
I asked my friend Bob how many years ago that was and Bob took a big swig of his PBR, set his can down and began to work out the calculations with his fingers. He got confused a few times and I saw him bend over to pull off his shoes and that’s when I stopped him. Bob fancies himself somewhat a whiz at math but when he gets confused he uses all the digits he has available to help him with the calculations which is amusing to watch but it’s a little rough on the sniffer.
Despite his valiant efforts throughout the years, Bob has never conquered the foot odor problem so when he goes into calculator mode, I either put some distance between me and Bob or I simply stop him and open up the calculator app on my phone. Since he was wearing his good boots today, I had plenty of time to stop him because he has so much trouble getting his good boots off.
Now, in 1981 I was 17/18 years old and I pretty much knew everything, I didn’t need any advice from anyone and since I was somewhat of a loner, I never really got advice from anyone. If I felt like someone my try to give me advice, I would dodge it like a striking rattlesnake.
I had a mullet, I drove a 75 Datsun pickup, I worked on a trout farm for 4$ an hour, I lived rent free with my parents so my biggest concern was getting a zit in the middle of my giant forehead that could be seen from a NASA satellite. My next biggest concern was putting gas in my spiffy Datsun pickup. A nice supply of gasoline would allow me to spend as much time away from my rent-free accommodations as I could. Despite my efforts to get them ti stay in their lane, my parents tended to offer their advice, rules, demands and expectations without my permission. It was excruciating times so inflation was not my concern.
Even though I already had the number, Bob just informed me that 1981 was 41 years ago. Apparently, he worked out a counting method using his dentures. He had to take them out of his mouth which is not a pleasant sight and he tends to make soft whistling sounds when he speaks without his teeth. Certain days, it can actually be soothing if you are in the right mood.
When I graduated in 1981 as a proud Mountie (school nickname, not hobby) $100 was worth $312.12 today. That’s a pretty good jump considering gas was 1.38 per gallon in 1981 which means that I could fill up my spiffy Datsun Pickup for under 15 bucks, the real trick was having 15 bucks on me though, and if I didn’t… I can remember pumping a dollar’s worth of gas in that bad boy just to get me to the next paycheck.
Now, when I stop to get gas, before I can even grab the pump handle, the pump has already charged me a dollar for parking and tried to kick me in the nuts at the same time. I understand a little better these days what inflation is because the spiffy 75 Datsun pickup with a 12-gallon tank morphed into a Ford F150 with a 26-gallon tank that apparently has a hole in it somewhere. I recently drove the gas guzzling beast out to see my daughter in Arizona and I had to stop and get three loans and I refinanced the first two before I even made it to Arizona. Yes sir, I understand inflation better these days.
I was thinking of coming up with a way to earn some residual income while I am retired from real work to help with the rising cost of goods and services and decided that I should go into politics. Those guys don’t seem to know squat about inflation or the economy and…with the exception of a few, most politicians go into office with meager incomes and come out millionaires. On second thought, maybe the politicians know more about economics and inflation than I ever give them credit for. My campaign slogan will be…Vote for Randy! He will put a Datsun in your shed.