So much marketing today. Very high profit margin in all too many things. Well at least they got your prescription and grind right. Hearing aids are even worse for those factors. Personally I find money has lost so much buying power.

Everyone has to make a dollar. I have no issue with that. I do have an issue with what I consider gouging though. A byproduct of aging probably. You tend to remember what things used to cost in relation to work and wages.

The stunner though is I could buy a decent new house for well under twenty thousand. Same house in that location at the time now. One point five million. Plus it is 55 years older now. Even just the property taxes would be a concern today.

I pay more for a tire or battery than I used to have no trouble finding a really decent older car. For less. No wonder many in my age group forged ahead. They were really prosperous times. In fact I remember that we felt if we had 100 dollars a week in the future when we retired we would be really well off.

I estimate our basic cost of living right now at 1000.00 Canadian a week. Or around 700 American. With everything paid for. Not servicing any loans or credit instruments.

I hope this virus episode slows down prices for the estimated fifty percent of society that have not kept up. Even a recession might be better for that percentage of society. We in my mind have some money not primarily because of abilities. Just somewhat of a factor in our case. It was the prosperity of the times more than anything. That was the enabler.

We lived through really prosperous times in comparison to the last few decades. Starting in the very early 1980s when our industrial system was substantially leaving for China. May have been the watershed.

Where we live today was a depressed area before 1980. Slowly it became better and better. Today you can live a lot better here on Average than in the hot spots of Canada. The wages are about the same but costs are much lower for a lot of essentials.

If we were a young couple buying our house here today. The mortgage might be a thousand a month. In Toronto possibly five thousand a month. Plus much higher property taxes and insurance costs. For the same property.

In many countries only the rich own housing and we may be going in that direction. For some areas of Canada. Home ownership in Toronto and Vancouver has passed the possibility some time ago for average Canadians. It is starting to impact the selling prices of homes even here.

Looks like I bought a pair of Randolph frames...

My dispensing optometrist buddy came by and said no one in America is making the glass lens blanks anymore, that's why I've had to pay so much for the damned things .

Nate, is it possible you an I have defective mirrors ? .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Hopefully the mirrors are cracked? I do not wear glasses when looking in them. That seems to help the issue.

Yes, this time .

It isn't a given .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better