The only thing that I can even begin to say about this is that it provides additional proof that the problem is not the people, it’s the system.

Facts from 1949 …

• Harry S. Truman started his second term in 1949, defeating Thomas Dewey. He became U.S. President when President Roosevelt died in 1945. During his second term, he brought the United States into the Korean War.
• Communists forces gain power in China; nationalists flee to Taiwan
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization established
• Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb
• Israel admitted to U.N.
• Soviet Union lifts Berlin blockade; Berlin airlift ends
• Apartheid becomes official government policy in South Africa
• West Germany, East Germany formally established as nations
• Vietnam, Indonesia gain sovereignty
• Nearly 500,000 steel workers strike
• New York Yankees over Brooklyn, 4-1
• Americans are buying 100,000 television sets a week
• “Silly Putty” introduced

Cost of things in 1949

• Car: $1,650
• Gasoline: 26 cents/gal
• House: $14,500
• Bread: 14 cents/loaf
• Milk: 84 cents/gal
• Postage Stamp: 3 cents
• DOW Jones: 200
• Average Annual Salary: $3,600
• Minimum Wage: 40 cents/hour