Well, brucie:

I remember when a haircut cost 75 cents. But, the minimum wage was also 75 cents. When I was in High School you could still buy a car for $4,000. But, you could work a whole year at General Motors on a mind-numbingly boring job and earn less than that.

Way I see it, inflation is a killer, but we couldn't afford a car until I was 15, and then we bought an old (even then) 1935 Chevy coupe for $150. The house I was born in cost $2,800 when my parents bought it. But, we almost lost it in the depression and had to rent out half the house (and it was a SMALLLLLL house) to keep from having the bank foreclose on us.

Materially, we're most of us far better off than we were fifty years ago. Too many aren't, and that hurts because when everyone was poor, it didn't hurt so much.

Was fighting a war a waste? I don't think so. I honor those who fought for this country (and for other countries we hauled out of the ashes who now hate us.) This Iraq stuff has nothing to do with freedom, as far as I'm concerned. That doesn't in any way diminish what those who fought in the second World War gave to all of us.

Thanks, depressed at 60. 61 will be better...

Jerry