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
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)
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)
(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
14 comments:
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
40 cents for gas? Unheard of!
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
My fave movie also came out in 73, 'Paper Moon'!! My dad was an unapologetic Nixon/Agnew supporter in those days.
Wow, wouldn't it be nice to live off $10,000 this day in age? American Graffiti was a great one too.
wow, yes those were the days!
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
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.
I love the price of gas and eggs!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Forty cents for gas - and here we've seen over four dollars.
Awesome! It's amazing how much prices have gone up in twenty years.
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?
I remember those years well. We were newlyweds. I spent $10/week on groceries. Our University housing was $85/month.
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!
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