Life When I was Born
I have heard stories told by my mother about the day that I was born, about how the snow was so high that grandpa had to plow the way to the hospital. If it had been recited once, then it had been recited a hundred times. I can still hear the stories about the long delivery, the excitement of the family and seeing the picture of my “chubby little cheeks” that could not be spoken about without reverting to baby talk. Yes, it was a celebrated moment for the Stacy family, but what was the rest of the world up to on that cold winter day in Iowa? As I began to stroll through the New York Times, dated January 21, 1982, it did not seem that much of anything had changed over the last three decades. The front page was plastered with articles blaming the president for recession, announcing issues we had with the Middle East, and that taxes and gas prices were going up. After thirty years I would have thought that there would be some new problems. War, money and politics: same thing, different decade.
President Regan was in office, and by the looks of the article I have at hand, he was not sitting too high that day. Politics, as controversial as they are, never seem to catch as much attention as when the people’s money is involved. Article titles such as “Debate over Blame for Recession blurs Reagan’s Economic Record” and “Aides say Reagan asks Congress for Excise Tax Rise, Gasoline Levy Affected” are the kind of titles that makes you hold on to your pocket book a little tighter and start to think about how the balance on that check book is going to stretch. After a talking it out with the supply-side advocates, the President thought that raising the gasoline tax 4% would make a significant difference considering tens of millions Americans rely on it to make their daily commutes to and from work. The Senate suggested that doubling the gas tax would do the job. Of course the tax on gasoline was not the only thing they could come up with to tax. There was what they comically referred to as the “sin” tax, taxes on alcohol and Tabaco, as well. Find what people won’t live without and tax it. There was talk about how this plan would bring $30 billion in tax revenue for the 1984 fiscal year. Of course on January 21, 1982, the verdict was still out. During the year of 1980 the tax of $10.50 a gallon, that was placed on whisky 100-proof, brought in $3.9 Billion. Alcohols of weaker proofs totaled $211 million. Cigarettes, only being taxed 8 cents a pack, brought $2.4 Billion. I would say that doubling these would help bring in a little more money. At that point I guess the readers all still had a hope that the taxes would not double.
One a brighter note, who doesn’t like a nice walk in the park? The city had decided to start using prisoners to clean the public parks. Rikers Island jail complex had been bringing crews of 12-15 prisoners to work off some of their time by cleaning and rehabilitating the parks for the community. They were accompanied by a couple of guards and .38-calaber revolvers. The Mayors criminal justice coordinator assured the readers, “We approached this very cautiously.” So, the parks of Brooklyn had freshly raked, trash free parks with some nicely painted benches. If the people of Brooklyn had been asked prior to, they would have said that they didn’t like the idea, but after seeing the handy work of their cities convicted one lady said “they did a wonderful job” and that there were “no incidents what so ever.”
Brooklyn had clean safe parks for the community to enjoy now, but unfortunately one gentleman was not walking through the park guarded with .38-calaber revolvers. 67 year old, David Sol, who survived the Nazi concentration camps of WWII, did not find his walk in the park to be one where he could enjoy the scenery. Around 6pm, after a day of watching his grandchildren, David walked toward home. After not arriving at home the family started to question his whereabouts. The authorities found him face down with a single gunshot wound behind his left ear. The mugger took David’s wallet, which held about $45 and went on his way. What a terrible way to die after having lived through so much. One person made the comment that “something is wrong with our society and must be done.”
Tragedy, it has always been the making of a good news story. Beyond the politics and crime there is always entertainment. The New York Times bestselling book was none other than Red Dragon. Headlines reading that this was the “most popular American novel since the Godfather”, and apparently you could purchase the book for not much less than today’s prices. It was being advertised at $13.95. Opening in theaters was the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the fastest growing magazine, GAMES, went monthly.
Walkman’s, Polaroid cameras, and big box televisions with antennas were all at high commodity. You could purchase your very own betascan for only $649. There was also the “Incredible Shrinking T.V.” This incredible little 3 inch screen came incased in its bulky 8 x 6 x 4 inch case, and yes… the antenna and all. There were ads for a computer, which was no more than a word processor, and that came with the promise of making your business run so much smoother. Every office needed on and I am sure that every office had the space for it. This word processor would only require two stands to hold the huge boxes of equipment and was very reasonably priced at $5995 and 12.9% financing. New fur coats were on sale at Macy’s for anywhere between $370-$5600. Everyone needed a good mink, raccoon or coyote fur, and the word on the street was that dresses all needed to have high, air restricting necklines, a lot of pleats, some sort of little belt and “stripes are in.”
How on earth were people able to afford all of these things? Well, if you owned a wholesome family video store you would be able to buy these luxuries for your family by your sales of X rated films. That little room hidden in the back of the family movie rental store accounted for over 70% of the stores business. It is expected to bring in $1 billion dollars, up from the $ 600 million that it brought in 1981.
On January 20, 1982, life outside of that little hospital room was full of pressures, sex, murder, scandal, fashion and gadgets. The times have made the gadgets smaller, the national debts bigger, and the fashions much more transgender. We still have issues with our President and the taxes are still going up. Makes me wonder what will be in the headlines in another 30 years. I would like to think that I can have more hope for the articles to come.
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