Even if his math is correct, it’s a stupid point cause our incomes haven’t matched inflation and that’s all that really matters.
this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2025
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Our incomes should have matched productivity to get ahead. Matching inflation is just treading water.
We drowning
True, especially because isn't gas prices one of the things that define inflation so doing that calculation doesn't really mean anything? Also so many fewer people were driving in those days.
Why the fuck is a 92 year old man still actively holding office?
And what insane political system would allow this to happen?
This is elder abuse!
You mean the elderly is abusing us, I totally agree
In this case both works.
This guy doesn't get to enjoy his pension, while younger generations has to wait longer to get actual representation of their views among serving politicians.
Except, as far as we know, nobody is forcing him to be there. He could just resign today if he wanted to.
If my napkin math is right*, he was in college between 1951 and 1956; with gas ranging from .24 to .27 dollars a gallon.
Adjusting for inflation that’s be about $2.40.
Sunday I paid 2.90 at Costco. It seems he’s full of shit.
(My napkin math is notorious for breaking the laws of physics. Best do your own… or else we might end up dividing by zero.)
For some bizarre reason I was able to get gas at $2.05 on Monday.
The next day it was back to $2.92.
Must have been a weird price war between a handful of stations that day.
Or someone messed up programming the machine.
But still, that’s a score.
I checked around and about half the gas stations in the area were around $2.05 and half were around $2.90.
It's possible one was accidentally set and a bunch of other gas stations price matched (possibly automatically?)
or it was cut with water
It was 1953 @ $0.25/gal. The CPI puts that at $3.00 in 2025 dollars. So literally the exact price.
... now taking into account purchasing power, since earnings did not keep up with inflation he was still much better than us.
I've noticed that a common sign of dementia is thinking gas costs what it did decades ago. My step dad would be sent in to pay for gas and he'd come back thinking $10 was more than enough to fill the tank. This was when gas was $4+ a gallon.
Chuck's math is 25¢ a gallon. As you point out that is right about the price it was when he was in his prime. His post isn't just about lying for Trump. It's about mental decline.
You may be asking why my step dad with dementia was being sent in unattended to pay for gas when you could pay at the pump. Denial by his primary caregiver was also a factor. Make him do as many normal things as possible and then be shocked when they didn't work out.
Gas price ranges are huge by what area you're in. You may have paid $2.90, but I paid $2.15. there's a few areas in other states that I know are under $2.00. California probably mostly over $3.00.
It's apparently $3 adjusted for inflation.
Problem is our wages have not adjusted for inflation
I haven't seen it under $3 in a long while
I managed to get gas for $2.31 on Tuesday. It was a Christmas miracle.
Chuck Grassley is 92 years old.
He was college age from 1951-ish to 1954-ish.
Gas prices were $0.27 to $0.29 a gallon back then.
https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-741-august-20-2012-historical-gasoline-prices-1929-2011
Adjusted for inflation, that's $3.37 to $3.49 today...
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
Buuuuut... Another way of looking at it...
The minimum wage in the early 1950s was $0.75/hr.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart
So a gallon of gas was between 36% and 39% of an hours worth of minimum wage work.
The current minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. A gallon of gas at the current average of $2.847 is 39% of an hours worth of minimum wage work.
Adjusted for inflation from '53 to today that’s like $3 per gallon. Converted to metrics I understand that’s like 0,68€ a liter. That’s that‘s about a third of what you pay in Germany these days (incl. tax) on a bad day. (Typically around 1,80€/l)
My version of 'adjusted for inflation' is to look at what a paycheck could cover.
In 1960, the minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the average US home was $11,000.00 A high school graduate could own their own home. In those days, $1 million would buy you two fine homes, a fleet of cars, and enough left over to live off the income.
In German we‘d call that kaufkraftbereinigt. Adjusted for purchasing power.
Merry Christmas.
If you've never seen it, watch Marilyn Monroe in "How To Marry A Millionaire."
Two lines I always remember. The three gals walk into a Park Avenue duplex apartment and one gasps "This place must rent for $1,000.00 a month!"
They go to a nightclub with a live orchestra and a twenty girl chorus line. "My God, the cheapest thing on the menu is $5.00!"
Thanks, fuck everything that isn't metric
25 years ago, I regularly filled my tank for $1/gallon. Gas prices have more than quadrupled in 25 years.
To be fair, it's also become more difficult to get oil, relying on methods such as fracking. But also, OPEC.
Guys, why aren't you giving Trump credit for 72 years of progress in petroleum engineering and decades of wars for oil?
Americans don't know how cheap they have it. Although adjusted for their engines and driving habits it's probably not that much different than the rest of the world
Meanwhile everything else is much more expensive today.
Gas could double in price and it would still be the least of my concerns.
And yet the media just repeats this bullshit until most low-info Americans think it's the truth.
If elected, I'll make gas even more expensive, and spend the tax revenue on bus/train infrastructure.
Shut up and take my vote!
Just think how cheap it can go if the US drinks Venezuela's milkshake.
Yup at the low low cost of checks military budget oh. I love when we subsidize car drivers and oil tycoons with young people's lives, foreign state sovereignty, and the habitability of the only planet we currently occupy.
Spending a dollar to make a dime -- Might as well be the official slogan for US government spending.
But his math is correct?
¢25 in 1953, 72 years ago, is $3.03 when adjusted for inflation according to US Inflation Calculator.
And the current gas price is $2.4 per gallon.
It's ¢60 cheaper per gallon now, when adjusted for inflation.
If he's right about the price he paid, he's also right about it being cheaper now.
Surely Trump didn't help during all these 72 years but the math is correct, even if the logic is flawed.
It sure as hell ain't $2.4 a gallon here.
Welp, you gotta compare apples to apples.
ChuckGrassley isn't wrong, but he should have concentrated more on proper phrasing instead of using textspeak.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the national average for the cost of gasoline remained steady for the first three years of the 1950s at $0.27 per gallon. That low price might sound practically idyllic, but the average household income at the time was $3,300 per year. Adjusted for inflation, $0.27 in 1950 equates to about $3.52/gallon in today’s dollars. Nowadays, the median household income is $74,580.
And according to the AAA the national average as of today is $2.847.
HOWEVER, and I cannot stress this enough, this is about the only thing MAGA policy is running on (probably because they can directly influence gas prices). If you want to criticize the current government I suggest you look at the larger picture here.
You do have to take into consideration that part of the reason that prices fell is mostly Saudi Arabia deciding to pump a ton of oil, and the fear of cooler global demand (this one due to MAGA, since they caused fears of a global recession)
Turns out OP can't math hahaha
It’s still more expensive than the last time he tanked the economy. He can still fuck it up more.
Fuck schumer, but I'm not sure where he's wrong here.
Gas is absurdly cheap rn and the math seems close?
Edit: nvm, noticed musk.
This is from Senator Chuck Grassley, not Chuck Schumer