[Cloud9]

In Sebring Florida in 1967 when I was a bag boy at Publix gas was 25 cents a gallon. Minimum wage was $1.00. By my crude metric a minimum wage earner could buy four gallons of gas with one hour’s worth of labor. How does that stack up to the current situation? Once you sort that out you might be able to visualize the trend.

[dolanbaker]

In Sebring Florida in 1967 when I was a bag boy at Publix gas was 25 cents a gallon. Minimum wage was $1.00. By my crude metric a minimum wage earner could buy four gallons of gas with one hour’s worth of labor. How does that stack up to the current situation? Once you sort that out you might be able to visualize the trend.

By that logic with petrol at USD 3.50 ish four gallons would be USD 14.00 what is the minimum wage?

[The Practician]

In Sebring Florida in 1967 when I was a bag boy at Publix gas was 25 cents a gallon. Minimum wage was $1.00. By my crude metric a minimum wage earner could buy four gallons of gas with one hour’s worth of labor. How does that stack up to the current situation? Once you sort that out you might be able to visualize the trend.

By that logic with petrol at USD 3.50 ish four gallons would be USD 14.00 what is the minimum wage?

$7.25 is is the federal minimum wage, a lot of states have higher. I would say the average is closer to $8.00. Enough for just over 2 gallons. To be fair, cars are more fuel efficient these days. Then again, they cost more to own and operate, adjusted for inflation and cost of living.

[kublikhan]

Well done kub.Your starting statement is right. But your conclusion is wrong.
Are you going to venture where else I could have gotten my figures from?

My guess would be you were trying to use non inflation adjusted values for a barrel of oil. This is a faulty comparison method for several reasons. First off, you ignored the effects of inflation in your comparison. This is economics 101 stuff so I assume I don't have to expand further on why that is bad? Secondly, even if ignoring the first point your numbers are still off. I could not find any source that supports crude oil was 1 dollar in 1970, even using nominal numbers. Third, you were talking about how much it hurt people to buy gasoline. Therefore you should be talking about gasoline prices not oil.