FIRST of all - I LOVES me some Salena Zito! Always have, always will. *HEART*
Secondly, times were bad enough that Billy Joel wrote, ‘Allentown.’ That song STILL makes me sad to this day. :(
That said, I was just coming of age in 1977. (I was 17.) Carter was f-ing up EVERYTHING!
We had to wait in line to get gasoline. The Mortgage on our family home was 18%! (Our farm mortgage in 2017, with three years to go, is 3%!)
I couldn’t find a decent job other than Retail after High School, so I joined the Army - only three years after Vietnam ended. My Mom and Aunties and friends thought I was nuts - but it paid for College and I learned skills that I still use on a daily basis.
I don’t know where I’m going with this, other than the mid-to-late 70’s SUCKED in America.
And I guess one (Selena) could equate it to a Trump Victory, because those of us closing in on Sixty (How’d THAT happen?) lived through it and we’re still cogent enough to REMEMBER. ;)
I used to like that song. I could relate to it as I and my dad worked at US Steel in Chicago. I got laid off in '80 and him a few years later. Now, I can't even listen to it because so much of it has hit home.
We live 20 min from Allentown & downtown is crime ridden. Back in the day, they worked at Bethlehem Steel. Now it’s full of illegals. They tore down buildings & put up an event center. People go to restaurants before a concert & then usually leave ASAP.