by John Phelan
The Daily Economy
Fifty years ago, the Minneapolis Tribune reported a silver lining in an otherwise gloomy economic climate.
“Christmas tree prices aren’t expected to rise this season,” the newspaper reported in November 1974, “a small solace for many struggling Minnesota families.”?
That month, the annual rate of inflation hit a peak of 12.2 percent. It would fall to 5.0 percent in December 1976 before peaking again at 14.6 percent in March 1980. Between 1970 and 1979, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 86.9 percent compared to 24.0 percent from 1960 to 1969.