Ever wonder how much a Rockefeller Christmas tree is worth? Well, the 80-foot Norway spruce costs approximately $25,000; the tree is decorated with 45,000 LED lights that would cost you a mere $13,500. The whopper is the star on the tree-top: the Swarovski ornament weighs 550 lbs., consists of 720 LED bulbs and 25,000 crystals and is worth $35,000. A grand total of $73,500. 
The first tree was erected in 1931, in the midst of the Great Depression, when construction workers at the yet to be built Rockefeller Center site, decorated a 20 ft. tree with tin cans and scrap paper. That year, the average wage for a common laborer was 36 ¢ an hour.
Do the math: a 1931 laborer would have to work 23 years to pay for 2012's tree.
