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The Great Inflation In The 1970's

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The 1970’s was a time of stagflation, which is a constant increase in both inflation and unemployment. The Great Inflation took place from 1965 to 1982, but the majority of inflation took place in the 1970’s. This occurred because there was too much money being pumped into the economy, which ultimately raised prices of goods and services. The events in this slide had an impact on the economy as well. I included women’s rights because women at the time of Roe v. Wade began to work outside the home, which added to the workforce, ultimately increasing the GDP. I also felt that adding Nike to this list was important because by 1980, Nike owned 50 percent of the market share of all athletic shoes sold in the United States; they revolutionized the …show more content…

Sales of albums, 8-track tapes and players, cassettes, and associated promotional items soared. Music superstores started springing up all over the US. In 1971, Nixon cut ties between gold and the dollar wages(Sandra Kollen Ghizoni, 2013). The dollar was no longer backed by gold. He did this because the Vietnam war was expensive. It cost hundreds of billions of dollars. The FED therefore was able to print more money to help pay for the costs of the war and to buy oil from Saudi Arabia. Printing more and more money waters down the value of a dollar as seen through recent US History. The GDP with current prices increased every year(U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2015). However, with constant prices, there was some fluctuation, especially around 1974 and 1975, when the oil crisis and Vietnam War had ended. The constant prices take inflation into consideration, which is why the data is different. In 1973, the growth rate was the highest in the 10 year period at 5.7 percent. This occurred because the war wasn’t quite over, and we, the United States, were still manufacturing weapons, helmets, etc, and then the economy started to slow …show more content…

Output slowed down because, at that specific time, most goods produced in the United States was for the military. To help the economy, Nixon put into effect a freeze on prices and wages(Sandra Kollen Ghizoni, 2013). Overtime, this actually worked; the economy slowed started to recover. The demand for oil was extremely high. In 1973, the oil crisis began. There was an embargo on oil to the US because we supported Israel. This made oil prices skyrocket. Americans couldn’t really afford to heat their own homes, and even schools had to shut down. This caused panic everywhere around the US. With the dollar value decreasing in the early 1970’s, this was one of the reasons as well why the oil prices increased drastically(Oil Shock of 1973–74, 2013). The Vietnam War had ended in 1975, which impacted the US economy negatively. Inflation and unemployment drastically increased afterwards. The unemployment rate in 1975, was 8.5%, which was the highest since 1947 at that time. In 1974 and 1975, the US inflation rate, by year, was 9.39% and 11.80% respectively, which is extremely high. After any war, inflation occurs though, and it continues for several years before the economy stabilizes

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