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In a message dated 3/18/2004 6:07:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Today, the minimum wage in Ontario was bumped up (finally) from $6.85/hour to $7.00 (I think). Figure on that basis... ...stevenc **************** I wonder how many people earning a "minimum wage" in 1914 actually purchased records. According to the calculator mentioned elsewhere "$1.00 in 1914 had the same buying power as $19.95 in 2003" and $7.00 inflates to $139.65. Would a minimum wage MacDonalds worker be willing to pay that much for an hour of music, let alone five minutes? As I go through stacks of single-sided Victrola discs I always wonder who it was who actually paid the prices listed on the labels. Few collectors would pay the inflated price now for most of them though half that would hardly cover shipping and handling. As for real estate as a reference, I recently realized that even if I could sell the property my parents purchsed for $75.00 in 1929 for the $20,000 the lakefront lot near Albany should be worth, it would not cover 75 years of taxes, inflation and compound interest on the original investment. And that is without any maintanence expense. Mike Csontos