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1971 was a watershed year for the US economy. Pres. Nixon imposed price controls that summer. He also suspended the convertibility of the dollar into gold. The controls were aimed to stop the impulse of inflation after the elimination of the gold standard.
The unintended effect of Nixon's decision was the 'stagflation' which cursed the US economy throughout the 1970s.
I view 1971 as the last year of almost continuous post World War II economic boom for the US.
Very interesting. I've always wondered what caused the "stagflation". Reagan got elected in part by denying it existed, or that there was any problem at all with the economy. He made Carter look like a worry-wart, who was campaigning in part on the need to address severe economic issues. At some point, interest rates on home loans were in the mid-teens.
I remember it. It was a great time to live. So many less issues and garbage. And with less junk, all the good and healthy aspects were more profound and stood out more.
I know we can't go back to that time, but I'm thankful I lived then, and experienced it personally.
I wouldn't call 1971/72 a great time for me. The business my family had operated for 60 years, went broke at the end of 1970. So we moved into a crappy $50 a month rental house. My mother started working a minimum wage waitress job, and my dad was doing traveling sales work. It was strange my parents not being home all the time. In 1972 we moved into public housing, which was slightly better then the $50 a month rental house, and my parents enrolled in a vocational school.
I do remember that during that time my mother bought us a lot of these stickers, which we stuck on pretty much everything in the house. So it was pretty hard to be too depressed about the situation. LOL.
1971 was a watershed year for the US economy. Pres. Nixon imposed price controls that summer. He also suspended the convertibility of the dollar into gold. The controls were aimed to stop the impulse of inflation after the elimination of the gold standard.
The unintended effect of Nixon's decision was the 'stagflation' which cursed the US economy throughout the 1970s.
I view 1971 as the last year of almost continuous post World War II economic boom for the US.
I agree 1971 was the start of a downward spiral. The 1960s seemed like a pretty happy time to me. I realized different people had different experiences. But most people seemed to be doing well in the 1960s. In the 1970s everybody was hurting from inflation. That is if they even had a job, and weren't laid off or something. I don't have good feelings about the 1970s.
I remember it. It was a great time to live. So many less issues and garbage. And with less junk, all the good and healthy aspects were more profound and stood out more.
The crime rate was much higher (and rapidly rising) in the early 1970s than it is now. The environment was a disaster (the Clean Water Act was still new - remember the Ohio River burning multiple times? - and the Clean Air Act was just being implemented). It was still the height of political assassinations/attempts. The U.S. was still mired in a war that would kill an order of magnitude more Americans than the current wars have killed. And everyone who wasn't straight and white and male (which is to say, most of the population) was far more marginalized than they are now. And terrorism (oh, you forgot, didn't you?) - the 1970s are called the Golden Age of Hijacking for a reason). Inflation. Unemployment. Relatively primitive medicine. Unsafe vehicles (the highway fatality rate was far higher then) that on average didn't last anywhere close as today's cars and trucks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thoreau424
I know we can't go back to that time, but I'm thankful I lived then, and experienced it personally.
These threads always devolve in the same way: people who came of age in the era being queried waltz in and tell us how wonderful it was and how much today totally sucks in every way. What they're really saying (but which eludes them) is that the era in question was their era, their formative years, and they're emotionally attached to them. There's nothing more to it than that.
And it never changes. Go back to 1971/72 and ask the commensurate question and you'd hear wonderful stories of the glorious 1920s and how much the (then) modern era (ie, the 1970s) is bad. Go back to 1921/22 and you'll hear the same waxing nostalgic of the latter decades of the 19th century. And few in any generation have the self-awareness to see that they're just serving up the same old nostalgic platitudes that every generation does as it ages and sees that the more recent generations are doing things their own way.
I remember how popular photography was getting in the seventies. Photography used to be something associated with a professional studio or an older relative with a Polaroid. There were many of these Kiosk or photo mats where you could drop off your film. The Instamatic Camera became popular as well as many other small cameras. Some were quite pricey and some were cheap. It wasn't long before the cost of developing was equal to the cost of the camera itself.
I bought my first 35 mm for $50.00 used in 72. It was an Asahi Pentax and later I bought an Rollie for $40.00. I was about 15 then. I have managed to collect a few cameras from that era which my digital friends call "paper weights."
Last edited by thriftylefty; 09-08-2019 at 10:45 AM..
The crime rate was much higher (and rapidly rising) in the early 1970s than it is now. The environment was a disaster (the Clean Water Act was still new - remember the Ohio River burning multiple times? - and the Clean Air Act was just being implemented). It was still the height of political assassinations/attempts. The U.S. was still mired in a war that would kill an order of magnitude more Americans than the current wars have killed. And everyone who wasn't straight and white and male (which is to say, most of the population) was far more marginalized than they are now. And terrorism (oh, you forgot, didn't you?) - the 1970s are called the Golden Age of Hijacking for a reason). Inflation. Unemployment. Relatively primitive medicine. Unsafe vehicles (the highway fatality rate was far higher then) that on average didn't last anywhere close as today's cars and trucks.
These threads always devolve in the same way: people who came of age in the era being queried waltz in and tell us how wonderful it was and how much today totally sucks in every way. What they're really saying (but which eludes them) is that the era in question was their era, their formative years, and they're emotionally attached to them. There's nothing more to it than that.
And it never changes. Go back to 1971/72 and ask the commensurate question and you'd hear wonderful stories of the glorious 1920s and how much the (then) modern era (ie, the 1970s) is bad. Go back to 1921/22 and you'll hear the same waxing nostalgic of the latter decades of the 19th century. And few in any generation have the self-awareness to see that they're just serving up the same old nostalgic platitudes that every generation does as it ages and sees that the more recent generations are doing things their own way.
I don't believe the crime rate is lower today. It's pretty much exactly what it was in 1971-72. Crime was certainly on an upswing from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. We solved that by hiring an army of militarized police and throwing 2 and a half million American citizens in prison. But even then the crime rate is about the same as 1971-72. So I fail to see any improved quality of life there. We are just a lot less free today. As for wars, we are still involved in them. But yeah I guess war technology has improved. So not as many Americans are getting killed. Civil rights was actually improving pretty good in the 1970s. I don't see much improvement since then. As for Terrorism and hijacking, same as the crime rate. We solved it by turning the US into a police state. But people seem more afraid today, then ever before. I'm also not sure the environment is that much better. But I'll give you one point, that motor vehicle deaths have gone down.
I remember how popular photography was getting in the seventies. Photography used to be something associated with a professional studio or an older relative with a Polaroid. There were many of these Kiosk or photo mats where you could drop off your film. The Instamatic Camera became popular as well as many other small cameras. Some were quite pricey and some were cheap. It wasn't long before the cost of developing was equal to the cost of the camera itself.
I bought my first 35 mm for $50.00 used in 72. It was an Asahi Pentax and later I bought an Rollie for $40.00. I was about 15 then. I have managed to collect a few cameras from that era which my digital friends call "paper weights."
I think the popularity of personal photography goes back well before the 1970s. Probably to the 1920s. Before the 1920s it was mostly professional. Though it has never as big as it is today. Simply because it has never been cheaper. With digital photography there is no cost involved except for the camera and maybe an SD card.
The 72 Olympic terrorists who killed 11 Israelis, moving from Detroit to the mtns of Western NC, freshman year in HS, in NC a pack of Winston's was 35 cents, Vietnam and watching Walter " and thats the way it was..."Cronkite on the CBS evening news...
The Nixon years. I have written about intergenerational conflict before. That was happening then. I don’t remember when the “generation gap” was first used to describe the conflict, but it applied to the early seventies. Some families were fractured over it.
We heard other phrases too: pigs(police), male chauvinist pigs, hippie scum. Jeans became day to day apparel for everyone. And they ultimately became designer apparel for women, who resorted to having them dry cleaned, instead of washing them. But others preferred the look of faded, worn jeans. Men wore ever longer hair and young women wore their hair long and straight,
Work dress codes were stricter than they are now. More women than before were seeking careers. Workplaces began having to adjust because college educated women sought careers. But many women stopped working when they began having children.
We cooked differently in the early seventies. Our cuisine was still influenced by former recipes and methods, but newer foods were becoming common, and the organic movement was starting to have an influence. Writers like Adele Davis wrote about natural foods and whole grains. For most people, these were novel and even threatening ideas.
People had children younger than they tend to do now. I well remember the youth of the mothers of my kids’ friends. I was always older than they. Today I would be considered a younger mom. It was normal for women to marry before they were 21.
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