It's the late 70's,all over again

[phillip d]

I was just knee high to a grass hopper then,but Dad often talkes about how the cost of things just went crazy back then,well,30 years later,here we are again!I despise how much things are going up as well as anybody,but the world probbably won't end,just will have to change.At the end of the day,we will most likely all get somthing to eat and a roof over our heads.May not be able to afford to buy nice things we can do with out,I may end up having to quit farming if milk prices don't adjust accordingly,but we all will find a way to survive legaly somehow.I just feel for the people in the inner cities when we all are there looking for their jobs,and they are all wondering why there isn't groceries on the supermarket shelves anymore.

 

[balatonm]

I live in a town of less than 800 people, it dosent bother me if I have to go hunting just to put food on the table.

The gass prices on the other hand are just plane rediculus.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Let's see here, crops are a commoditiy. They are way up so you get more for your product.

Gas is a commodity. The worldwide demand is up so the price goes up.

Do you see how this works?

 

[CJ3b_jeep]

I agree, fuel prices are driving everything else up. Eggs are over $2.00 a dozen, milk is close to $4.00. The rising gas prices won't put me out in the street, but it will keep up from eating out, going to movies and such.

 

[Ross IL]

I see how it works but after the 70's came the 80's not a good time for farmers. What's your plan for when commodity prices drop and your still stuck paying high rent and input prices? High commodity and fuel prices aren't a farmers friend.

 

[Steven f/AZ]

I"ll make it through just fine... good steady job and income for both me and the Mrs. to provide for ourselves and our daughter.

What will change? No more road trips, movies, eating out, fancy electronics/games, extra car just for something to work on, etc.

The economy better not be waiting on [b:654c4848f0]me[/b:654c4848f0] to stimulate it, because I"m staying home!

 

[Mike M]

I thought you may of been talking about the record snow falls. Here in Ohio we are having winters like I remember when I was a kid.
I guess everything is going in a cycle.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Bingo, Ross! I've put the brakes on any expansion or buying new equipment. I learned from watching things in the 80's. I think there will be some nice cheap farm machinery in a few years that I'll be poised to pick up

 

[Anonymous-0]

The big difference between now and the 70's is that back then there was room for our wages to go up and match inflation. Dad started at about $1.75 per hour and I think he was around $30 when he retired. Now his kids will start at about $14 per hour and retire with no pension and will get wage DECREASES not INCREASES! We have too much global competition from people who make 50 cents an hour so we are still wayyyyyy over paid. In an age where you can be on the internet in 2 seconds and do business on the other side of the planet american workers don't stand a chance of ever demanding higher wages ever again. Unless they have an oil well in their backyard.

 

[VADAVE]

What your really saying is it a matter of supply and demand. You know what I agree except the oil companies, read refineries, are controlling supply.

 

[JDemaris]

I'm not so sure about that. I'm constantly amazed at the money I see many young people making.

I've got four adult children ranging in ages from 24 to 37, and they all make much more than I ever dreamed of making. More than my wife too. In fact, my youngest adult son (I'm not counting my 4 year old) left the Navy nuclear program 2 years ago and he was making over 60K a year with benefits when he left - to make more money in the private sector. My youngest daughter just got her nursing license and her first job is paying $28 per hour in a rural area in New York and is also paying for her Masters Degree in college. My oldest son, who was also in the Navy nuclear program worked in California for awhile - but then moved back here to our hick-farming town. He got a job with a German company (Siemans), and gets the same pay here as he would if he lived in the city somewhere. I've got two more sons living in the Boulder Colorado area - one for IBM the other for Ball Aerospace - and if I made half what they make - I'd be the King of New York State.
That all being said - they're all basically broke - and they spend $2 for every dollar they make. They don't mind living like that - I couldn't stand it.

 

[Bruce Hopf]

I just bought a brand new tractor about three to four weeks ago, well Brand new to me that is, a 1967, 1650 Cockshutt tractor, for $6000.00 Cnd. It had an engine overhaul, with a little over 500 hours on the overhaul. When it was ouerhauled, the engine was upgraded to a 1750, putting out 80 hp. I really didn't need a tractor with that much power, or size, but the price is right. Hopeing for a real good crop this year to override the what the imputs are going to cost, and have a proffit after all the work is done. Cost ot fuel could make or break alot of farmers. If they have all New Eqwuipment, with morgatge payments to make, I don't know how they will survive. I have 4 tractors, all from the 60s, alll bought and paid for, and I know that its going to be tuff. My combine is a 1963. McCormick Deering IH 80 pulltype, and my swather is a 1973 655 MF. If I hade to hire out anything, even spraying, That cuts deep into the profits. I was taught long time ago, to make due with what you can afford, Not what you cant afford.

 

[old]

Well lets see. Back in 1974 January gas prices where $0.0199 per gal. then in late 74 they went up to $0.609 per gal. I was making around $200-250 per week. Fast forward to today. Gas at just below $3 a gal. in town. I now make less then $1000 per month. Seems to be worse now then back then but I could also work a full day back then. If they would use the cost of gas in figuring inflation then things might be a lot better off but they don't so in the end we get screwed.
Hobby farm

 

[rrlund]

YUP,I've been saying it for a while now. We are in 1976 all over again. Ford vs Carter so we're done for either way. You younger folks are about to find out what us older folks went through in the 70s and what OUR parents went through in the depression. Hang on kiddies,this is gonna be something to tell your grandkids about!If you have ANY way of cleaning up debt,or at least not running up any more,DO IT. It's gonna be a ROUGH RIDE.

 

[trucker40]

I think I figured out how to fix this.All those old rich guys that get 40 to 400 million a year just raise the price of their lunch to a about 2 million a meal,and if they need anything else its higher.Tell them it stays that way untill the stock markets especially for oil get back down to 30 or 40 dollars a barrel where they belong.

 

[trucker40]

Supply and demand dont you know?

 

[Anonymous-0]

I hope you're right, and not the early thirties!

Glenn

 

[1936]

Think it was 1974 that gas lines were at the stations and all for not. Turned out to be created for the most part from the white house down. I was driving 60 MPH on a 8 lane HWY today and was like a rock in the road so until the money runs out full speed ahead. Now my 5.0 Chev will get 22 mpg or more at 60, but at 75 it get about 14. Many, Many male workers carry 80 grand on plastic today and think nothing of it plus all the other items in that life style. Remove that male from the picture at say 37 years old and see what happens? I did this past Dec not a good ending.

 

[RodinNS]

I'd hazard a guess that this is more like the 'Roaring Twenties' more than the 70's...
On the bright side though, you can cash out at 30 thou per KG, something you couldn't do in the 70's... Probably no time like the present either. I doubt those prices are going to hold too much longer. The average age of farmers is climbing here every year because there's nobody geting in; just old guys eventually getting out. There's an entire generation about to go. Quota will need to fall in price to make it available to anyone to buy because most of the younger guys are swimming in debt now. It's gotta have a pretty positive cash flow for them to buy any more... which it can't do at 30 thou.
Hope you hang in there... we lost two more here last month. There's hardly anyone left as it is.


Rod

 

[Cummins 1955]

I plan in keeping inputs up to snuff so when prices drop I can make it a year or two without fertilizer. By then maybe they will adjust accordingly.

 

[Spook]

Congratulations on your kids. Sounds like ya raised em right. I agree with you on most of your post. Education pays. But as for spending 2 for 1, I think things just cost more today. Not just gas, but insurance, food, housing, heat etc. I think the cost of living has been misrepresented for years. It has gone up far more than the government admits to.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Remember the good old days in the late seventies or early eighties--13% mortgage rates if you could get one but then if you had any money in cd's they were worth 16% also. In 1970 my brother and I went to Texas. We paid .17 for premium. Was so cheap we thought we could burn that instead of regular.

 

[phillip d]

My 75 year old uncle told me last week when he started in 56' there were 3400 producers on PEI,now only 215,no ,,,214,,,no,well you know the situation.Take care,pd.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Everything thats happening today is exactly what happened in the late 1920's.This will make the 1970's and 80's look like a cake walk.Its going to be ugly for those whom arent prepared.

 

[JDemaris]

Well, in regard to my kids - their spending is not because of higher prices. They think nothing of maxing out every credit card they have, spending thousands of dollars on vacations, etc. They spend more money on Starbucks coffee in a year than I do buying old tractors.

One of my kids has bought new car every year for the past 5 years. He gets sick of them, trades them in on a loss, and gets something else. My oldest - who lives in Westminster, CO bought a new house with a $500,000 mortgage, and interest-only monthly payments - and with variable-rate interest. He argued with me -saying it was good idea because his equity would be in the value of the house that would keep on going up in value. Now, two years later, his wife wants to move to north Texas and he's been told his house is worth $50,000 less now - than when he bought it.
I'm not condemming the life-style - but it's not the way my wife and I live. We have zero-debt and don't buy what we cannot pay for. That's our choice. We don't make much money either. With people living like my kids do (and there are many) - that's fine too - as long as taxpayers don't have to bail them out when things go sour.
Also - about post-education. With two of my kids -they did NOT go to college. Both were offered engineering jobs when they left the military. So, both went to work as engineers with no degrees. One of them also went to work as a highschool math teacher with no degree, but got bored with it. He was hired because he's good a math - and it seems good math teachers are scarce. My point here is - it seems certain parts of the military provide great training that is later in demand in the private sector. Both those kids have degrees now - but that came later and was paid for by the companies they work for. My only son that did NOT go into the military, and went through college instead - up to a Masters Degree - makes the least - and knows the least - out of any of them. That being said, he still makes a lot of money working for IBM. My daughter dropped out of college first semester - she was too much of a party-girl. She then went to a 1 year nursing school, got her license, and then got a $28 and hour nursing job that is also paying for her go go back to college nights.
From what I've seen, the opportunities some of these young people get are amazing - as compared to what was available to me when I was younger. I thought I was rich when I was making $10 an hour working for a Deere dealer 55 hours a week back in the 80s.