A linen shirt--with knobs on

I was getting in a snit about Adam Smith's linen shirt:

Consumable commodities are either necessaries or luxuries.

By necessaries I understand not only the commodities which are indispensably necessary for the support of life, but whatever the custom of the country renders it indecent for creditable people, even of the lowest order, to be without. A linen shirt, for example, is, strictly speaking, not a necessary of life. The Greeks and Romans lived, I suppose, very comfortably though they had no linen. But in the present times, through the greater part of Europe, a creditable day-labourer would be ashamed to appear in public without a linen shirt, the want of which would be supposed to denote that disgraceful degree of poverty which, it is presumed, nobody can well fall into without extreme bad conduct.

I just don't get it. Exactly what is the modern American counterpart? An automobile, assuming you're someone not in one of the big cities without public transport?

Anyway, Smith also says,

Custom, in the same manner, has rendered leather shoes a necessary of life in England. The poorest creditable person of either sex would be ashamed to appear in public without them. In Scotland, custom has rendered them a necessary of life to the lowest order of men; but not to the same order of women, who may, without any discredit, walk about barefooted. In France they are necessaries neither to men nor to women, the lowest rank of both sexes appearing there publicly, without any discredit, sometimes in wooden shoes, and sometimes barefooted. Under necessaries, therefore, I comprehend not only those things which nature, but those things which the established rules of decency have rendered necessary to the lowest rank of people.

(My emphasis) That was in 1776. Who 'da thunk? Any way, why do people insist on being slaves to society?

In a similar vein, Don Boudreaux argues,

We can get a pretty good idea of changes in consumption-ability by looking at the Fall/Winter 1975 Sears catalog and asking: How many hours did the typical nonsupervisory worker have to work in 1975 to buy an assortment of the goods offered in that thick book -- and how many hours must the typical nonsupervisory employee work today to buy similar goods available now at Sears.com at today's prices?

The results suggest that our consumption-ability today is much higher than it was 30 years ago. For example, to buy Sears' lowest-priced 10-inch table saw in 1975, the typical worker back then had to work 52.35 hours; to buy the lowest-priced 10-inch table saw available today at Sears requires today's typical worker to toil only 7.34 hours.

Here are results for several other goods:

• Sears' lowest-priced gasoline-powered push lawn mower: 13.14 hours of work required in 1975; 8.56 hours of work required in 2006
• Sears Best lawn tractor: 340.1 hours vs. 116.3 hours
• Sears' lowest-priced telephone answering machine: 20.43 hours vs. 1.1 hours
• The lowest-priced garage-door opener: 20.1 hours vs. 8.57 hours
• A one-half horsepower garbage disposer: 20.52 hours in 1975; 4.59 hours in 2006
• Sears highest-priced Die Hard auto battery: 9.23 hours vs. 7.32 hours
• Sears Best freezer: 79 hours vs. 39.77 hours
• Sears Best side-by-side refrigerator-freezer: 139.62 hours vs. 79.56 hours
• Sears highest-priced work boots: 11.49 hours in 1975 vs. 8.26 hours in 2006.

...The amount of time the ordinary American worker must work today to purchase a house, a car and a four-year college degree is greater than it was in 1975. But houses today are larger and much-better equipped than they were 30 years ago; automobiles are enormously improved and more durable; and the addition to lifetime earnings generated by a college education is significantly higher.

...Speaking of things being unavailable, perhaps the most noticeable feature of the 1975 Sears catalog is what it does not offer.

Sears customers in 1975 found no CD players; no DVD or VHS players; no cell phones; no televisions with remote controls or flat screens; no personal computers or video games; no food processors; no digital cameras or camcorders; no Spandex clothing; no down comforters (only comforters filled with polyester).

But they did find typewriters.

Sears--feh. I'm still angry about the knob on the Kenmore washing machine that we got nineteen years ago. The knob, which one must turn and then pull to start the machine, was made of plastic on the part that threaded on to a metallic screw thread on the machine. Unsurprisingly, after many years of stress, the plastic gave way. I repaired it with Probond, but ordered a new knob anyway. Together with shipping, it cost $20 dollars, but the important parts were metal. Why didn't they make it that way to begin with?