Post by estebans on Oct 3, 2012 12:26:12 GMT -5
Can anyone give me an approximate figure for what $1000 in 1840s Texas would be worth in today's dollars, especially if it were specie? The nifty Consumer Price Index calculators only go back a century, and I've been wondering what it means when I read that somebody paid $25,000 for something in 1849, and so on. I may be giving an informal talk to some people this month and would like to be able to give them at least a very rough idea of how to think about the sums involved. I know I need to get that recent book on RoT finances: it's on my to-do list.
Was anyone else annoyed to read some of the recent spate of fine biographies on 1950s blues stars and the author will say something like the band had to drive clear downstate on the weekend for $500-a-night gigs and never mentions that is equivalent to three to four thousand dollars today, which most bands would be rather happy to get now? That's what I mean by giving the audience a clearer idea of what kind of sums are involved.
Stephen Schneider
Was anyone else annoyed to read some of the recent spate of fine biographies on 1950s blues stars and the author will say something like the band had to drive clear downstate on the weekend for $500-a-night gigs and never mentions that is equivalent to three to four thousand dollars today, which most bands would be rather happy to get now? That's what I mean by giving the audience a clearer idea of what kind of sums are involved.
Stephen Schneider
