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Cake day: June 17th, 2025

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  • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialtoComic Strips@lemmy.worldTrue
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    4 days ago

    I loved ‘The Rockford Files’ when I was growing up.

    Rewatch and notice that they used exact amounts of money in the dialog. “Hey, this is a $75.00 jacket” or “$5 for a martini?”

    They don’t do that anymore, because prices from even five years ago seem insane.










  • Historical context.

    Inflation started becoming a problem in the late 1960s. LBJ wanted to have a massive Vietnam War without raising taxes, so he printed money. Nixon ran as a ‘peace candidate’ and then tripled down on Johnson’s policies. For a while, running the steel mills 24/7 to make bombs was popular with the Unions and Wall Street, but when the Arab Oil boycott hit everything went off the rails.

    Jimmy Carter hire Paul Volker to run the Fed; Volker’s plan worked but Carter lost in 1980 and Reagan got the credit. Worse, Reagan let the banks print money to fund the ‘go-go’ 1980s.

    In 1968, middle class was one income supporting a family of four. In 1992, when Bush Sr. was done, ‘middle class’ was two incomes. During the same time, $1 million went from being a vast fortune to what a rich guy paid for a party.