Posted on 07/14/2022 11:34:44 AM PDT by Red Badger
In Wednesday's release of Consumer Price Index data June showing prices jumping 1.3 percent from May to June and 9.1 percent in the last 12 months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that inflation has not been as red-hot since November of 1981.
To add some context to the four decade-high that inflation has hit, Townhall took a trip down memory lane and a look into the 1981 almanac to see what was going on the last time prices were as out of control as they are today. Here's what we found.
In 1981, the federal minimum wage was $3.35 per hour and the average national income was $10,495. The best-selling car was the Oldsmobile Cutlass and songs like "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie and "9 To 5" by Dolly Parton were topping Billboard charts. Superman II was the top-grossing movie, and Americans put Dallas, The Jeffersons, and Three's Company at the top of the TV ratings.
IBM's First Personal Computer Is Released
The first PC from IBM was rolled out on August 12,1981 with an introductory price tag of $1,565 and came with 16 kilobytes of RAM and a port to allow the attachment of a cassette tape recorder.
Ronald Reagan Shot in Assassination Attempt
On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan is shot while departing the Washington Hilton.
Raiders of the Lost Ark Premiers
The first Indiana Jones film directed by Steven Spielberg hits theaters on June 12.
The First Space Shuttle Mission Launches
The first Space Shuttle mission launches when STS-1 flown by Columbia takes flight on April 12, returning two days later on April 14.
The Band Metallica is Formed
James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich team up to create Metallica in Los Angeles in October 1981.
Sandra Day O'Connor Nominated to the Supreme Court
President Ronald Reagan announces his nomination of O'Connor — the first woman on the highest court in the land — on July 7.
The Mario Franchise is Launched by Nintendo
Recommended The States Doing the Worst Post-Pandemic All Have One Thing in Common Matt Vespa On July 9, Mario is debuted by Nintendo in the first release of Donkey Kong.
MTV Debuts
On August 1, 1981, MTV launches at 12:01 a.m. with Warner Cable's John Lack declaring "Ladies and gentlemen, rock 'n' roll."
If you're feeling nostalgic (or confused by what a cassette tape is) then you get the idea of how long it's been since inflation was running near double-digit levels and seemingly out of control. Joe Biden was a sprightly 39-years-old then, so he should remember how much pain Americans felt until the Reagan administration took the reins of government and put the country back on the right track while reigniting patriotism and defeating the hostile Soviet Union in the Cold War.
Ahhh!! back when MTV just played music videos. I remember being mesmerized by it for hours until the neighbors mom sent me home because we didn’t have cable.
Also, companies were forced to increase pay through cost of living adjustments (COLAs).
Radio killed the TV News..........................
“Get down, boogie oogie oogie. Get down boogie oogie oogie...”
They don’ write lyrics like that anymore.
Thank God!...........................
“I worked in a warehouse, short order cook and house painter.”
Is that you Hannity???
I was working for $6.50 an hour at a Harley-Davidson Dealership in Honolulu.
I was working part time to put myself through college. I had a scholarship that covered part of it, but it wasn’t enough. Still managed to have fun with very little extra. Maybe that’s just because I was young, though, or maybe because I knew how to pinch pennies.
I too was 23 in 1982 and stationed in West Germany as a Spec 4 Armor crewman. Those were the days. Listening to AFN Casey Kasem lying atop my tank in Hoenfels traning area...
I went to work for the AL State Banking Department in January 1980. The banks learned what interest rate risk was when the rates got high. Deposit interest rates were de-regulated during that period because without the ability to increase deposit rates, deposits were leaving banks for higher yields: disintermediation of funds.
Lots of borrowers got hammered with high loan rates. Bank investment portfolios, mostly consisting of fixed rate investments, experienced heavy market depreciation. Because of that, those with thin liquidity had to take huge securities losses to raise cash. Finally, the number of banks considered “problem” status, were the highest in my examiner career, which ended in 2005.
It was a very tough environment to learn the job of an examiner. A number of bankers were shell-shocked at conditions and there was a lot of tension between examiners and bank management during that period. Interesting, but not fun.
That would be 640K.
Stop it, thats ridiculous. No one will ever need more than 2.
Correction
Stop it, thats ridiculous. No one will ever need more than 2MB of RAM.
Might not make sense except that Ive been running into young uns that dont know memory and storage are not exactly the same thing.
Of course none of us here are all that young so that probably doesnt make sense either...so, nevermind.
Was working at a bank at the time. The Prime Rate was above 18% for months and topped at 21%!
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Back then, I seem to recall, you could get 10% on the then-new money market accounts at a bank.
Ping
And on TV was “Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century” fighting the evil Vorvon, the space vampire (whom I named cat after: Vorvy for short).
I could have bought a 4 story Victorian, overlooking Port Townsend Bay with views of Puget Sound, the Cascades and Olympic Mountains for $1,500. A few years later, it sold for $1 million.
1981 - I was 30. Working at a hospital in Baltimore County.
$20.00 an hour - I was doing ok.
Got married that year.
1981 - I was 30. Working at a hospital in Baltimore County.
$20.00 an hour - I was doing ok.
Got married that year.
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I think around that time I thought, man, if I could ever make $24K a year I’d be all set. No way could need more than $2,000 a month.
1982 and stationed in West Germany
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12-13 years earlier, you would have been trembling at the 4 Soviet Mechanized Shock Armies with 400,000 troops and 35,000 tanks just waiting for the go signal to pass through Fulda Gap on their way to the English Channel 3 days later.
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