Monday, April 29, 2013

The Year

The United States in 1973
I was living the summer before my final year at Buffalo High School. These things were going on in the world around me:
January 1 of 1973 began on a Monday.
President: Richard M. Nixon
Vice President: Spiro T. Agnew
Population: 211,908,788
Life expectancy: 71.4 years
News: Nixon, on national TV, accepts responsibility, but not blame, for Watergate; accepts resignations of H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, fires John W. Dean III as counsel (April 30).
Economics:
Median Household Income: (current dollars):  $10,000 – 12,000
Unemployment:   4.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.08

Super Bowl: Miami d. Washington (14-7)

Movies:

The Harder They Come
American Graffiti
The Exorcist
The Sting
Last Tango in Paris
 
Books:
Do With Me What You Will by Joyce Carol Oates,
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon,
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut,

(Source: Infoplease.com)
Prices:
Average Cost of new house- $32,500.00
Average Monthly Rent- $175.00
 
A gallon of gas- 40 cents
AMC Javelin car -$2,900.00
Eggs -45 cents a dozen

 
(Source: thepeoplehistory.com)

 
 

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow a gallon of gas was only twice the price of a dozen eggs. Almost three to four times the price of eggs now per gallon

Fairview said...

40 cents for gas? Unheard of!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Teresa .. I think our British stats on 1973 would throw up similar thoughts ...

I wasn't really into films then, or for that matter books ... sport ruled my life along with seeing friends and debating the road ahead ...

I bought a flat in London Nottinghill area (not posh then) but can't remember whether it was £8,000 or £18,000 - I hope I have the details somewhere!

Cheers Hilary

JoJo said...

My fave movie also came out in 73, 'Paper Moon'!! My dad was an unapologetic Nixon/Agnew supporter in those days.

Pat Hatt said...

Wow, wouldn't it be nice to live off $10,000 this day in age? American Graffiti was a great one too.

Lynn Proctor said...

wow, yes those were the days!

Hart Johnson said...

So interesting the differences in rates of how cost/price goes up. My parents bought the house I grew up in around then (maybe a year earlier) for $28,000. Average income is about three times higher, but average house (and gas) are closer to 9 times higher... Thank you Ronald Reagan for the cheap credit that put the halt to salary increases. #thatwassarcasm

Carol Kilgore said...

Wow. Cheaper for a gallon of gas than a dozen eggs. I didn't remember that all those movies came out in the same year.

Anonymous said...

I love the price of gas and eggs!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Forty cents for gas - and here we've seen over four dollars.

Unknown said...

Awesome! It's amazing how much prices have gone up in twenty years.

Kern Windwraith said...

It was clearly a great year for books, and not bad for movies either. And, wow, 8 cents to mail a letter? 40 cents for a gallon of gas? My how times change.

I'd hate to project costs another forty years into the future--how scary would that be?

Susan Kane said...

I remember those years well. We were newlyweds. I spent $10/week on groceries. Our University housing was $85/month.

Unknown said...

Our gas is now over $4. a gallon and I can remember us kids throwing some change together are filling the tank to drive around for hours. Things have certainly changed!