Idaho Sees Highest Inflation in More Than a Generation

Of course, you’re paying more for goods and services than you did a year ago and it appears you paid more in November than you did in October. Inflation was raging nationally in October at 6.2 percent. Here in Idaho, it was a point higher! In November, the national figure jumped to 6.8 percent. I don’t yet have the latest state number.

Inflation is now the highest it has been since 1982. Ronald Reagan and Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker tamed it by raising interest rates. It caused a deep but brief recession and unemployment reached double digits. It was good short-term economic medicine. No pain, no gain.

Interest rates have been artificially low for well over a decade. It has kept the economy relatively stable since the Great Recession.

We may be in for a rough ride ahead. Inflationary spirals often aren’t easily tamed.

Top Musical Acts of 1982 Were Legends

For a bit of trivia, the top-ranked TV show in 1982 was 60 Minutes! It’s still on-air. Other highly rated shows are long gone. M*A*S*H lives on in reruns. Dallas and Magnum, P.I. were popular, but today would only be known to people with AARP cards.

Olivia Newton-John, Survivor, and Joan Jett topped the Billboard chart. Willie Nelson’s Always on My Mind was the top country song.

There Were Political Legends in Idaho

John Evans was Idaho’s Governor. Steve Symms and James A. McClure served the state in the U.S. Senate. Larry Craig and George Hanson were serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Twin Falls had half the current population.

None of this makes paying for groceries any easier today than it did four decades ago.

Loose Lights or Tight Strands?

See 20 Ways America Has Changed Since 9/11

For those of us who lived through 9/11, the day’s events will forever be emblazoned on our consciousnesses, a terrible tragedy we can’t, and won’t, forget. Now, two decades on, Stacker reflects back on the events of 9/11 and many of the ways the world has changed since then. Using information from news reports, government sources, and research centers, this is a list of 20 aspects of American life that were forever altered by the events of that day. From language to air travel to our handling of immigration and foreign policy, read on to see just how much life in the United States was affected by 9/11.