View Single Post
Old 01-16-2019, 09:37 PM   #458
barryem
Wizard
barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.barryem ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
barryem's Avatar
 
Posts: 2,459
Karma: 68781975
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Arkansas
Device: Paperwhite 4
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer View Post
Whose reasonable, though?
Very few book prices are reasonable today. I bought "Hawaii" in paperback for 35 cents in 1961. Today Amazon has the paperback for $15.29.

I bought "Advise and Consent" about the same time for the same price. Or maybe it was 25 cents. Today it's on sale for $24.99, normally $29.99.

In those days most paperback novels were 10 to 15 cents and thick ones were more. I remember the price of Hawaii because it was the most expensive book I'd bought up till then. I've been using it as a joking example ever since.

In 1961, according to the inflation calculator 35 cents would be $2.98. That means they're now selling Hawaii for 5.14 times as much as they were then, adjusted for inflation.

Again, we live in a capitalist economy and they're allowed to do that. But I'm not willing to call that reasonable. I'm a strong believer in capitalism but I recognize that it has its problems and this seems like a problem.

And no, I'm not trying to justify piracy. That's a red herring and really has no place in this.

Barry
barryem is offline   Reply With Quote