Buying a car has changed over the years. No longer do you have to go
from car lot to car lot to find that perfect car. No more spending your
week-ends car shopping. Years ago car shopping was a big thing. Having a
car wasn't as casual or as necessary as it is today. People in town
walked or took the bus.
See my family has always been sort of dysfunctional and
encountered endless arguments over senseless topics for as long as I can
remember. The lesson of karma is that at some point in time, God, the
Universe and the "powers that be" will step in with the intent of
rebuilding the structure of a family broken down.
According to statistics, the average household income in 1970 was
$8,734 and it rose to $16,461 in 1979. The unemployment rate was 3.5% in
1970 and up and down all decade landing at 8.5% in 1979. Heart disease
was and still is the leading cause of death. Also, Aids and HIV was
discovered in the seventies. There were many major medical break
throughs in the 1970's. One of the most noted being the completion of
the MRI scan in 1977. My mother recalls having medical insurance and
being able to get a tooth pulled at the dentist for $15.00.
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Considering cost of
living in her area in the seventies, her income was suitable. A new home
could be purchased for $25,000. A postage stamp rose from $0.06 in 1970
to $0.15 in 1979. I asked my mother if she could recall some prices of
the decade. She remembered bread being $0.29, gas $0.74 a gallon, candy
bars $0.05, soft drinks $0.10-0.15 a bottle in the early seventies and
in the late seventies prices started to rise. She remembered cigarettes
costing $1.00 a pack, cracker $0.29, milk $1.00 and most canned goods
$0.10. Since
Jay Leno took over the hosting duties at "The Tonight Show", he has
earned another nickname-"The King of Late Night." So, how much money
does the king earn? Another little known fact about Jay Leno is that his
annual salary is reported to be a cool $17,000,000, according to
Forbes.
There were three major car
manufacturers. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Each manufacture had a
following. Arguments could erupt over which car was the best. A man's
Dodge pickup was a source of pride. Sunday morning the family would
dress in their best clothes and get into a Buick for the trip to church.
The Cadillac represented power and money while the Ford and Chevrolet
represented the working people. People that lived in the country had a
buy truck or
car. It was a working
truck and on Saturday's the kids jumped in the back for a trip to
town. From shopping around and purchasing just the right part, to finding
a mechanic that can work on classic cars to purchasing an already
restored car; the Internet has already transformed a chore that used to
take weeks and sometimes months, into just hours, or possibly days. The end of the story is
we were able to get the lawyer for Ford Motor Credit to accept a much
lesser amount because he was trying to get a default judgment on his
fees. That was illegal here in Florida, so with his hands in the cookie
jar, he just wanted to get it over rather than have his name placed in
front of the Florida Bar Assn. In October, the U.S. State Department released a the results of a
survey of 220 U.S. private companies which showed 15 percent of them
have postponed investments or expansion plans in Mexico due to the drug
violence now paralyzing that country.