Gas Prices and Minimum Wage

Last week a reader wrote to inform me my facts were incorrect regarding gas prices in 1970.  First, thanks for keeping me on my toes. I love criticism and critiques.  

The reader referred to the average national gas price in 1970 as 36 cents, saying I was wrong quoting the price at 27 cents. We are both correct. I was buying gas in Keysville, Virginia for 27 cents; the national average didn’t affect me. 

I bought gas at Clyde’s Texaco (where Pino’s is now), Gordon Hurt’s Shell (now Red Bird) and Simmons Truck Terminal (Save-U-Time) at 27 cents a gallon.

A few years later I bought gas in Dayton, Tenn. for 13 cents a gallon. They were having a gas war.  Then the OPEC embargo started in 1973-1974.  Gas prices jumped, rationing was enacted. Those of you my age remember gas lines, $6.00 purchase limits and only being allowed to buy gas every other day depending on the last digit of your license plate – if you could afford it. 

This is why America must be energy independent.

Regarding the minimum wage in 1970 which our reader correctly stated was $1.60 an hour.  I was being paid a dollar an hour and was delighted to get it. Having a regular pay day was something I never had.  Everyone knew back then that teenagers weren’t worth minimum wage.  Reaching minimum wage was a dream for adults.

 My dollar beat the heck out of five or six dollars a day for farm work and I got to work regardless of the season and the weather. 

As a point of fact I have never been paid minimum wage. I have made less and I have been paid more. 

I continue to subscribe to the fact that raising minimum wage reduces entry level jobs and increases prices.