Welcome Back to the Seventies

Have I pulled a reverse Rip Van Winkle? Did I take a nap and wake up thirty years ago? Is it just me, or does anybody else have the feeling that we're taking a stroll down memory lane to the Seventies? It's just me, you say? Things are different this time, you say? Ohhhhh Reeeaaaallllllyyyy, as a friend from a certain New Orleans tavern is fond of saying. And he's a currency trader, so his "oh really 'carries more weight than mine does.

Let's see. Rocky and Rambo are back; but they never really left, did they? Jimmy Carter is brokering peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That's working about as well as it did the first time around. Today, we have Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas, and Hezbollah supported be Pakistan, Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. In the Seventies, we had Carlos the Jackal, the Red Brigades, Red Army Faction, PLO, and Abu Nidal supported by the Soviets, China, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Yep, things really are different this time around.

Back then, the Soviets had troops moving into Afghanistan, while we were arming and training the rebels using Pakistan as a conduit. Today, we have troops fighting in Afghanistan and SOMEBODY is arming and training the terrorists and Taliban in Pakistan. Back then, the United States and the Soviet Union traded good-natured jabs in the press and at the United Nations. Today, President Bush and Vladimir Putin look into each other's eyes and trade private little jokes about missiles, anti-missile missiles, and the placement thereof. Oh, good times.

And speaking of the President and Vlad, sharks are eating people in California. Just like the Seventies, in the movies, except back then, the shark was eating people on the East coast. You're right. Everything is different today.

Back then, inflation was out of control. Today, inflation is rearing its ugly head. According to the official figures, the current inflation rate is a little over 4 per cent. Yeah, right. Milk went up 5 per cent last week alone. One week. Five per cent. The price of gasoline gets changed two or three times a day. Always to a higher price. We're being told that it might make more sense to use leftover money (Hah! Good one) to buy and stockpile food, rather than put money in a savings account. You'll get a better return on your money with food,. Oh, echoes from the '70's when people were being advised that it made more sense to borrow money than it did to save money, because you paid back the borrowed dollars with cheaper dollars. See what drugs do to you, kids?

Then, there's unemployment. The government says the unemployment rate stands at 5.1 per cent or so. It's rising, but it's not near as bad as it was in the '70's. Then again, does anybody really trust the information that comes from the government? This government? Our government? Really? And I guess that's just another wonderful legacy of the Seventies.