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Sales - Is $500 too much? - View Post

Kasz216 on 10 April 2013
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theRepublic said:
supermario128 said:
BasilZero said:

;o....are you saying...I AM WRONG!?

No, I'm just saying $200 back then was worth a lot more than $200 today. :P

 

snyps said:

if you're wages stayed the same like it did for the majority then inflation is irrelevent imo..  You can only afford what you can afford.

Minimum wage was $3.80 in 1990. It is $7.25 today. The relative value is still similar, but wages have increased. They will always have to increase as prices increase...

If we are talking the US, wages are pretty much flat or down since 1970 adjusting for inflation.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-american-wages/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/31/wages-arent-stagnating-theyre-plummeting/


Although that's misleading.   US wages are pretty much flat  (on average but no in practice) since the 1970's since raises since then have been based on things like better healthcare, dental and stock options.

US wages may be down... but total compensation?

 

 

So theoretecially you could be spending 500 on a videogame console because you don't have to sock away as much for retirement, have stocks of don't have to pay for healthcare.


However, additioanlly wages have gone up more then suggested, it's just hidden by the fact that a lot of mid level union work has disapeared due to globalization and been replaced with low paying service work.   Your average worker is actually keeping up with inflation fine, just so long as they don't lose their job.    So I guess that'd suggest a $500 console could have  a strong start, but would struggle to find long term userbase.

 

Then again, the brokest dudes i know seem to be the ones who own multiple game systems.