Why even in 1976-1982 color tv where still expensive for people from USA?

[mr_fixer]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

Why even in 1976-1982 color tv where still expensive for people from USA?
I've read (even around here) that some people could only afford a color set only after 1976, and some get one only in 1978-1982 + a 2nd color set was expensive for a lot of pepople. Where price so big? Did it count that most people from U.S.A. had to invest in car so there where less money left for an tv set?

I think the issue isn't about "why were they so expensive back then but why are they so cheap today" Case in point: If you purchase a big box store HDTV today and it fails within the guarantee period, The factory will ship you a new set vs fixing your old set. The only way this can be profitable is if the cost to build a new set is cheaper that the cost of fixing it in the home market. The only way this can happen is through the "dark magic" for foreign currency exchange where 1 hour of labor of a person in China is only worth a small fraction of a hour of labor from someone from the EU or USA.
Just my opinion,