Issue 6, Spring 1993

William A. McEachern, Editor

The Evidence File

• To pay for the average new car in 1980 required the average American to work 23 weeks. By 1992, that figure was up to 32 weeks. Thus a new automobile reflects a growing claim on household income. With the price of new cars up, consumers are taking better care of their existing cars. The service department has become the only growth area at most automobile dealerships. The average age of cars on the road increased from 6.6 years in 1980 to 7.8 years in 1992.

• In 1990 there were 2.0 million people living in U.S. college dormitories versus 1.8 million people living in U.S. nursing homes. Eighteen states in 1990 had more people living in nursing homes than in college dormitories. Florida had a 2:1 ratio of nursing-home residents to dormitory residents--the highest in the country. New Hampshire had the lowest ratio at 1:2.

• Between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on March 21, 1990, the U.S. Census Bureau conducted the first count of homeless people. Their total was 228,621. From that number the Census Bureau estimated there were 400,000 homeless people in the United States. Critics charge that the number is much too low. A lawsuit charged that the Census takers did not check rooftops, bushes, trees, cars, and dumpsters.

• Since 1980 the price index for college tuition has increased by an average of 9.5 percent per year, versus an average of 4.7 percent per year for all items in the CPI.

• The average pay of major league baseball players climbed from $106,500 in 1970 to $1,084,400 in 1992 (in 1992 dollars). Not many professions have experienced a ten-fold growth in their average real income. Cecil Fielder of Detroit and Barry Bonds of San Francisco will earn more than $10,000 for each at bat in 1993--an average of more than $1000 per pitch (whether or not they swing).

• As an example of the benefit of technology, the U.S. Postal Service's cost of sorting mail by hand is $42 per thousand pieces versus only $3 per thousand using automatic processing equipment.

• The automobile assembly line was introduced first not by Henry Ford, but by Ransom E. Olds. In 1901, the Olds Motor Vehicle Company built 394 cars. In 1902 wooden platforms on casters passed between lines of workers who added parts until the car was complete. Output that year increased to 2,531 cars.

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