Now that we're all knee-deep in economic turmoil, it seems appropriate to take a look back at other iconic downturns. Aside from soup kitchens in the 1930s, nothing symbolizes money problems better than pictures of a bombed out South Bronx, street gangs prowling the Lower East Side and the dichotomy of disco dancing at Studio 54.

If you agree with that photo-montage, you might be interested in spending some of your hard-earned pennies on photographer Allen Tannenbaum's new book "New York in the 70s." There's lot of reminders inside of the best and the worst the decade had to offer -- and how much New York seemed to come alive in those crazy times. The hair was bigger, the pants were (a little bit) tighter and the president told the city to drop dead. From what we can tell, along with a lot of squatting and protesting, a great many people were taking their clothes off -- and that's a good thing, no matter what age you live in.

Do you think it'd be better to be flat busted in the here and now or back in the day?

New York in the 70s