1977

     Some of us remember 1977, others reading here weren’t here yet, or are too young to remember!

       Let’s start with $3.00 — that bought a movie ticket (and we still had drive-in theaters, and real butter on the popcorn).

      Some more important 1977 markers were:

                       Population                         220,239,425  w/ life expectancy of 73.3 years

                       Inflation                             11 %

                       Consumer Price Index        60.6

                       Unemployment                   7.7 %

                       Cost of a New Home          $54,200

                      Median Household Income  $13,572

                       First Class Stamp               $0.13

                       Gallon of Milk                    $1.68

                       Dozen eggs                       $0.82

                       Gallon of Gas                    $0.68

                       Federal Spending         $409.22 Billion

                       Federal Debt                 $706.4  Billion

        In the White House, we had President Jimmy Carter (D).

        The Speaker of the House was Rep. Thomas “TIP” O’Neill (D-Ma).

        The Senate Majority Leader was Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV).

1977 marked the last time that the House, the Senate, and the White House were all controlled by the Democrats.

Let’s see, a few weeks ago I paid $4.03 per gallon for gas (today it was 2.95), the milk I bought today was $4.59, a first class stamp is $0.42, the median household income was $50,233 (2007),  Average cost of a home is $221,900 (Aug 2008), the unemployment rate is 5.8% (10/22/08), CPI is 218.28, and inflation is 4.94%. Of course, we know the federal spending and debt are in the trillions!

Just some food for thought as we contemplate the idea of a possible Obama administration, coupled with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid, all running the show!

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