[Romulus]

I remember 1973. We lost our business, thanks to the prime rate rising to almost 20%.

That was in 1980. 1973 was about grain and oil prices.

[CDHart]

Well, we started in business in 1970 in Florida as a construction services business. Everything was going along fine (or so we thought) and then one morning in 1973, I went to the local truck dealer for parts, and there were 15 or 20 trucks that said "repo, best offer" on them. And when we went to the job sites, there were chains on the gates - the contractors had shut it down and gone somewhere. And I remember they were blaming the increase in interest rates.

Carolyn

[Western Phil]

” 1973 was about grain and oil prices.”

It was probably in the spring of 1973, wheat prices were about $1.50/bushel. We were driving to Albuquerque and stopped to eat in Amarillo. Don’t remember if it was USDA or the Texas ag people, but the advice to the Texas wheat farmers was to pasture your wheat and don’t bother to let it mature. It would be worth more as beef than grain. Not long after, Nixon sold a potful of wheat to Russia and the price went up to $5/bushel. That price spike did not last long and soon wheat prices were around $2/bushel. They have remained at that level up till the last year or so.