The Lesson of 1975 for Today’s Pessimists

livemint.com:

On Dec. 31, 1975, I drove into Manhattan with a few friends to see the New York Rangers play at Madison Square Garden—“The World’s Most Famous Arena." We sat in the blue nosebleed seats and a cigar smoker a few rows down—yes, this was before they banned smoking indoors—would sometimes block our view with smoke rings. There were more fights in the stands than on the ice.

Anyone remember the Atlanta Flames? They won 8-1. Afterward, we walked to Times Square. I remember it well because it was nasty cold and fogged in.

We could have used some flames. We went into the Playland arcade with its cling-clang of pinball machines and early blocky video games to try to warm up. We walked some more and visited one of those touristy stores selling cameras, watches and T-shirts until they threw us out for not buying anything.

There were, at most, a few thousand folks in socked-in Times Square that night—certainly not the million who show up these days. It was way too cold. Even Guy Lombardo, playing “Auld Lang Syne" at the Waldorf-Astoria, wasn’t dumb enough to be out in that weather.

Back in 1972, the first “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve" on ABC was hosted by the band Three Dog Night with Dick Clark anchoring from Times Square. If he was there that cold evening, I didn’t notice. The ball dropped at midnight and few paid attention.

Maybe it’s because of that experience that whenever I think of the ’70s, I shiver. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed that afternoon at 852.41. Four years later it was basically the same.

The skies were always gray and smoggy. Beyond air pollution there was destitution in 1975: 8% unemployment. And while inflation was dropping, it was still running hot at 7%.