DAILY DIRT: It wasn’t that long ago a $5 bill could go a long way at the supermarket or a fast-food stop

Daily Dirt for Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024

In thought No. 2 today, I find it rather alarming what Coca-Cola is used for in India … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,105 of The Daily Dirt.

1. If you’re like most of us these days, a trip to the gas station, supermarket or your favorite fast-food emporium can be down painful in the pocketbook.

But it wasn’t that long ago when a gallon of gas or a few tacos did not empty our wallets. I thought it might be interesting to do some comparative pricing in this area, so I went back to before 2000 to see how much of a difference that past 25 to 30 years has made in trying to make ends meet.

I have to admit, I was surprised — and not in a good way.

Here’s a sampling of the prices we were paying just a handful of years ago:

• — You could get 30 cans of your favorite soft drink for less than $5. Thirty cans.
• — Gas was about $1.20 a gallon in the late 1990s.
• — A McDonald’s, a Big Mac meal cost between $4 and $5.
• — You could get three Taco Supremes or five Chicken Burritos for less than $5 at Taco Bell.
• — Four dozen eggs could be bought for under $5.
• — Five dozen oranges would set you back less than $5.
• — A Hershey’s candy bar was 85 cents.
• — A Laffy Taffy was 25 cents.
• — A bottle of Heinz ketchup was less than $1.
• — A gallon of milk? How about $1.90.
• — You could buy four loaves of bread and still have change left from a $5 bill.
• — A movie ticket was around $3.75. 

Oh, one more item for consideration. Minimum wage was $4.25 in 1995, increasing to $5.15 in 2000.

2. Did you know (Part 176)

• — That Americans consume roughly 50 percent of the world’s chocolate.
• — That Coca-Cola is used as a pesticide by farmers in India because it’s cheaper and gets the same result.
• — That Americans consume enough peanut butter each year to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon. That’s about 500 million pounds of peanut butter.
• — That Froot Loops are all the same flavor, no matter what color they are.
• — That bags of dried ants — and not popcorn — are the most popular movie food in Colombia.

3. How would the world have been different if the following had materialized?

• — If Orson Welles had been able to direct a “Batman” movie he planned to do in 1946? That film would have starred Gregory Peck, and we would have likely never heard of Adam West 20 years later.
• — If Patti LaBelle had not turned down the role Whitney Houston eventually accepted in “The Bodyguard? (LaBelle also auditioned for Whoopi Goldberg’s role in “Ghost,” but was not chosen.)
• — If Madonna had been chosen (yes, she auditioned) to play “Rose” in “Titanic” over Kate Winslet?
• — If first choice Demi Moore had accepted the role that eventually went to Sharon Stone in “Basic Instinct”? (Stone had earlier turned down the role of “Jenny” in “Forrest Gump”.)
• — If Bill Murray had accepted the role in “Kindergarten Cop” that eventually went to Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Steve Thought O’ The Day – Two immediate thoughts about No. 3: Madonna in “Titanic” would have been absolutely crazy, and Bill Murray should have accepted that “Kindergarten Cop” gig.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Gee, prices have gone up at a higher rate than the minimum wage. Go figure.