WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS IS A GOOD 75 CENT MUFFIN

In 1918 during a speech in congress, the orator kept referring to: "What this country needs is..."

Listening to this long winded "needs" speech, Vice President Thomas Riley Marshall leaned over to a clerk and said: "What this country NEEDS is a good five cent cigar." (Thirty years later we teen-age boys might have told him about John Ruskins, King Edwards, and Swisher Sweets, all good five cent cigars, we thought! LOL.)

Let's get to the point of this post. OUR DOLLAR IS BEING INSULTED! My heart bleeds for our dollar. Whatever happened to it? Why, I can remember in 1944 when I walked the neighborhood, mowing lawns @ 50 cents each, with an old push mower, in the summer heat,  ("uphill both ways," as Bill Cosby says), and getting paid with those wonderful Walking Liberty silver half dollars, one of the most beautiful coins ever designed. That was a lot of money then.

"Okay," you say, "but don't you know times have changed? Everything is up, including salaries."
But doesn't it irritate you to pay two dollars and fifty cents for a little old muffin--one that you could bake at home for twenty cents? Friends, some people in our society are profiting off us.

It is not a matter of whether we can afford it--it is a matter of principle; the dollar is not worth much if it takes two and a half of them-- or more-- to buy a silly muffin. Particularly bad are these expensive coffee shops (about which my old-timer friend says he'll never pay two bucks for a cup of coffee)--they offer little puny pastries of three bites at $1.95 each.

It's no wonder restaurants don't make it nowadays. They not only go up on their prices but go down on the amount/quality of the food. People WILL pay more for good quality.

When a young man in high school, I sold Arrow shirts for $3.95 to $5.00. Ties were $1.50 to $5.00 each. A pair of Levi's jeans was $3.75. Curlee suits were $65.00; Hart, S.& M. suits were $95.00; Hickey-Freeman suits were $125.00. Socks were $1.25 pair; tee shirts were 3/$5.00. A Stetson hat could be bought for $20.00. The best Stetson, a 7X, was $50.00. And on we could go...

Now shirts are shown at up to $218.00 each; mens' Levi's jeans go for $50 to $60; suits run up to two grand, the Italian ones of course. Oh, and neckties I have seen at $98.00 to $118.00 each. Tee shirts, the better ones can run $20 to $40 each. Stetson hats can cost $400 or more. Are you ready for this? Socks @ $25 to $40 a pair.... And let's not forget womens' clothes and blouses at $80-$90 each.

Admittedly, I have quoted prices from supposedly top of the line catalogs...but if you think I'm far off, go out there and do some pricing.

My first new car was a '57 Chevrolet Impala Hardtop, gold and white, @ $2700. Now I know a man who recently had to pay $3100 for a set of hearing aids. Which do you think took the most work to build?
A whole new post could be written on who is getting rich off old folks, with prescriptions running sometimes $250 to $500 each.

Well, let's stop there. It's just kind of "the principle of the thing" that gets me...and my heart bleeds for our GREAT DOLLAR, now gone. But, hey out there, couldn't somebody give us a 75 cent muffin? Please....

----30----
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