OT Hi Opalapril, RE: "remember the 70's"
Cool post!!!
Here's my memories of the 70's as a child:
Groceries
I would "help" my Dad out with grocery shopping (my Dad did the grocery shopping in our household) and my job was to check on the prices for milk, which were going up, up and up. Weekly. We used to stop by the store the day before the store would do their weekly price increases. This meant the products that were a week old were less costly than the current products. So, as a kid, I'd help seek out the products that were in the back, on the bottom-most shelf because they were cheaper. I remember one time startling a couple that was walking by when I popped out of a bottom-shelf with a can of Campbell's chicken soup and a proud, "I got it!"
Gas lines
Gas lines got scary once when a fight erupted several cars ahead of ours, when a pump ran out of gas. The lines were one, two, or three blocks long from all directions. Someone was always running out of gas during the long wait in line, and this in turn would block other cars. Folks would help move a car out of the way, and were nice in this way, but during the height of the gas shortage, you could feel the tension in the public. The gas stations themselves were packed in with cars, so if a fight did erupt at a gas station (which it didn't, except for that one time), you were pretty much stuck (you couldn't just back your car up and get out). Rather scary, especially for a child. After that, my Dad no longer took me with him when he bought gas for the car, and the day after that, my Dad drove to every gas station in the city to find gas but couldn't find any. The city streets would get blocked by lines of cars. Our city was not routed enough gasoline because we were not a top transportation hub for goods.
Gas shortages
People would drive around with an extra gas container in the back of their car "just in case they ran out of gas." Jokes like, "why don't you just drive a pinto while you're at it" were prevalent. Cars started having locks on their gasoline tanks because gasoline theft would occur while a car was parked in the city.
What about that meat?
We thought my Dad was nuts when he came home from work one day during the summer and said that he and a friend were going to buy part of a cow and freeze the meat for food later on. Many months later, when there were issues with getting meat in our area, suddenly my Dad seemed like a pretty astute person.
What's wrong with the milk?
Anyone remember the diluted milk (i.e. powdered milk & regular milk combo) that was used because regular milk was too expensive (so folks would add powdered milk to regular milk in order to "stretch" their milk supply.) I sometimes wonder if that powdered milk had any impact on my growth in height.
Gardens in the basement?
We grew vegetables and fruit in the basement of our house. Another idea my Dad had, that worked out very nice.
And what was the margarine called that was "just like butter." Anyone remember? (For those who don't know, many folks couldn't afford butter in the 70's).
What about the absolutely freezing classrooms?
Jimmy Carter got the great idea that he wanted to freeze children. It became a law that your school (or public building) could not have thermostats higher than (I think, but don't exactly recall) 67 degrees. All I know is our school felt like it was 55 degrees, I kid you not. Big, cold, wet, and drafty. That was the year I got the worst cold and was hospitalized for it for a couple of days because it spread to my eye. When I got out of the hospital, my parents had a new, warm winter coat for me (not down, but at least heavier than what I had been going around in, and this helped tremendously). Money was very tight. Warmth wasn't a given. I definitely connect gas shortages with being cold and getting a nasty cold. (Where I live now, California is warm even in the winter. Easy)
What about those college riots?
My oldest brother was in college during the 70's and he came home during the holiday break and told us about how he was walking back to his dorm late one night from the lab and discovered there was a riot outside. When he was walking back to his dorm, a "riot policeman" had picked up his stick and was going to hit my brother on the head with it, but my brother shouted and said, "I'm not one of them - stop - I'm a student coming back from a lab!" Fortunately, the policeman stopped just in time. Everyone wanted Peace back then because no one had it.
What about picking up that litter off of the highway?
There was a movement to get rid of litter/garbage that was on the sides of the highways. A good idea which seemed to work.
Inflation eroded debt that some folks had (which was good), however, overall it created a bit of a sense of panic in the public at one point in time (when the gas shortages occurred, I recall food shortages in our local area of certain food products because food transportation got interrupted a bit). Recessions don't do that - recessions create pain, but not panic.
After living through the inflation of the 70's, I don't mind recessionary pain as long as it prevents the inflationary type of panic. Inflation would scare me, because I didn't cope all that well in inflation of the 70s.
Recession simply means (to me) things slow down - you wait it out - the value of your money doesn't erode like it does with inflation. Inflation means you have to scramble with potential shortages, gas (unless you're John Denver - remember that?), maybe food supply interruptions, and your investments erode due to inflation.
I'll take the pain of a recession any day before the panic of an inflationary economy.
Regards,
Amy J |
