Political Memes

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.

https://gasprices.aaa.com/

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.

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!

I'm sorry. "as a college student", "72 yrs ago". You guys really need to cap the age at which a person is allowed to make decisions that impact the lives of millions of people. Jeez, at least make cognitive testing mandatory.

He's a really fucking old ass dude. When he was 20 years old gas was around $3.05 a gallon if you adjust for inflation. It's $4.50 near me right now.

But hey, let's talk about wages and electricity costs. Let's chat about rent and the cost of a house these days. Let's see what the cost of goods and groceries is doing. Most of us need computers, so let's talk about RAM and SSD costs under this regime that just dereguated AI and is nullifying state AI laws.

It's all worse.

Edit: let's just do the first two.

1. prices for electricity are 938.39% higher in 2025 versus 1953
2. prices for rent of primary residence are 1,177.60% higher in 2025 versus 1953

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.)

That's because our taxpayer dollars are used to subsidize this obsolete form of energy. We should be focusing on energy of the future instead of energy of the past.

Mf is really over 90 y.o. I had to check his wikipedia page 😱

Meanwhile everything else is much more expensive today.

Gas could double in price and it would still be the least of my concerns.

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 in Iowa where he is from. (Not sure where he went to college but whatever.)

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.

What if he can math but knows his constituents can't or won't.

Guys, why aren't you giving Trump credit for 72 years of progress in petroleum engineering and decades of wars for oil?

If elected, I'll make gas even more expensive, and spend the tax revenue on bus/train infrastructure.

"And we got free lead in it too!"

It's apparently $3 adjusted for inflation.

25 years ago, I regularly filled my tank for $1/gallon. Gas prices have more than quadrupled in 25 years.

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)

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

And yet the media just repeats this bullshit until most low-info Americans think it's the truth.

Just think how cheap it can go if the US drinks Venezuela's milkshake.