Monday, September 24, 2012

The 1980s and 1990s Are Over


Click to enlarge.

The 1980s and 1990s are over. Welcome to the new century.

See Also:
Vehicle Miles Traveled per Capita

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

8 comments:

Mr Slippery said...

Hmm, what was so special about the 1980s and 1990s? If I were to guess, I would say an uncontrolled, unsustainable expansion of debt by government and the private sector.

Today, it is mostly government that is trying to continue the uncontrolled expansion of debt. Governments that can print money are doing so and those that can't -- in Europe -- are failing to add to their debt without outside help.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Mr Slippery,

Governments that can print money are doing so and those that can't -- in Europe -- are failing to add to their debt without outside help.

Outside help? Genius! ;)

Troy said...

1980s and 1990s featured peak non-OPEC oil -- Alaska flooded the West Coast with oil, pushing prices back under $1.

North Sea peaked, supplying Europe.

Iran-Iraq I ended, and they got back to pumping, until Saddam's excursion into Kuwait.

Nigeria and other sources came online.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=b0x

shows the miles graph + gas price inflation.

Stagflationary Mark said...

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=b0E

I've adjusted the gas price by the overall inflation rate.

In the 70s we were able to grow mileage even as real gas prices were rising. Now we can't. There's still hope I suppose. First it was just the father working. Then it was the father and mother. Now we just need the father, the mother, and the baby to work. Sigh.

Stagflationary Mark said...

I should have made a link.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Hey, maybe they could car pool, lol. Sigh.

Gallows sarcasm.

Troy said...

Even the cat's gotta work now too, for monetized youtube views.

No commute at least.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Troy,

Here's the cool part. Get 10,000 cats together and they can watch each others' videos. Think of the revenue potential with all those consumer eyes! Hahaha! Sigh.