I noted the other day that an Australian media outlet had dedicated an entire section to “cost of living”, which got me thinking about the ebb and flow of things that are really important to people. Like everyone else in Australia, except the Coalition right now it seems, I am obsessed with cost of living. Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary even named “cozzie livs” the 2023 word of the year, so I know I am not alone.
With this in mind, I have just discovered the esteemed news company The New York Times has a very cool piece of tech that allows you to go back in time. Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion. The aptly named TimesMachine allows readers to search all the newspaper’s archives from 1851 to today.
Search for the term “cost of living” on the TimesMachine and you’ll find a link to an article from November 1937 about then US President Franklin D. Roosevelt writing to the Federal Trade Commission to investigate retail monopolies for contributing to the increased cost of living America was facing. In the letter, President Roosevelt called “monopolist practises .
.. unwholesome methods of competition”, which directly impacted increased cost of living for Americans.
Bill Shorten There were countless interesting search results for this phrase stretching back more than a century and what this showed me was that addressing cost of living and protecting consumers never goes out of fashion. It’s a tale as old as.
