1. Chart of the Day I (above). According to data from the Airlines for America (available here), the average airfare round-trip airfare last year was $377.39 (see light blue line above), the average baggage fee was $12.51, and the average round-trip airfare with all fees (baggage and fees to cancel or change reservations) to $400.47 (see dark blue line above). The chart shows average annual inflation-adjusted airfares (in 2014 dollars) back to 1979. Real average airfares last year were the highest since 2000, but still almost $250 (and 39%) cheaper than the peak airfare of $644 in 1980 (in 2014 dollars).
2. Chart of the Day II (above). The chart above shows that the average the average miles flown per domestic round-trip journey increased last year to a record high of 2,379 miles, and up by more than 500 miles (and by 27%) from the 1,874 average trip length in 1980. On a per-mile basis, the average cost of about $0.17 per mile last year (in 2014 dollars, including fees) is about 50% below the peak cost per mile of $0.34 per mile in 1980.
As I concluded controversially several years ago: As much as travelers frequently complain about baggage fees, crowded planes, smaller seats and the discontinuation of “free” food, the “miracle of flight’ is still close to the lowest cost in history, and air travelers today are getting a great bargain, especially compared to the airfares of the 1980s and 1990s, and compared to the sharply rising costs for other services like college education and medical care. Considering that the average flier today is saving about $250 per flight (in 2014 dollars) compared to the cost of flying during the early 1980s, and is flying longer distances than ever before, the average baggage fee of $12.51 in 2014 should seem like a real bargain.
3. Chart of the Day III (above). The chart above shows the percentage increases since 1995 in: a) the nominal, net cost of college including tuition, fees and room and board (net of financial aid) at 4-year public institutions based on data from The College Board (available here) and b) the overall CPI. Over the last two decades, the annual cost of a college education (including room and board) has increased 143%, compared to the 57.4% increase in the CPI-All Items.
4. Chart of the Day IV (above). Adjusted for inflation, the chart above shows that the real, net cost of college has increased by 55.3% in just the last 14 years since 2001.
5. Chart of the Day V (above). The chart above shows how the “time cost” of college at 4-year public universities has increased over time. For the 1994-1995 school year, it would have taken 3.7 months of work at the average hourly wage then of $11.47 to earn enough money to pay for the net college cost of $6,752. By the 2014-2015 academic year, it required two additional months of work – a total of 5.7 months – at the average hourly wage of $20.72 to earn enough income to afford the net college cost of $18,940. In percentage terms, that would be a 54% increase in the “time cost” of college over the last 20 years.
6. Chart of the Day V (above). America’s reliance on foreign sources of petroleum is lower this year through June at 25.4% of the total petroleum consumed than any year since 1971, when US net oil imports were slightly lower at 24.3% (see chart). And as the chart shows it took 34 years for America’s net oil imports to increase from 24.3% to the peak of 60.3% in 2005, and then only a decade to bring net imports back down to a 44-year low. For that dramatic turnaround, we can thank America’s Amazing Shale Revolution.
7. Markets in Everything: a) the FDA just approved the first 3D printed drug and b) Poop bag entrepreneurs see opportunity in Chicago’s plastic bag ban.
8. Drug War Updates: a) Add Another Body to the Pile: Memphis cop killed after interrupting $20 deal for weeds, b) Another senseless Drug War Death because the state of South Carolina deploys men with guns to prevent citizens from smoking weeds.
9. Video of the Day I (below). How robots are saving the dairy farm.
10. Video of the Day II (below). In her last Factual Feminist video, Christina Sommers gives some timely advice to college students on how to survive the wacky gender politics on today’s college campuses.
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