I hate it when things are taken out of context. This is the shit that makes millennials think the boomers had it so easy.
Sure a meal was $2 but the internet tells me that the average blue collar (the majority) wage was $3.50 an hour and minimum wage was $1.60. Calculating inflation that $2 had the same buying power as $12 today. Since a 1/4 pounder, large fries, drink and apple pie (roughly $2 as stated) would not cost you $12 today (I looked it up it is around $7) that meal was actually way more expensive in 1972.