Posted on 06/24/2005 9:04:37 AM PDT by missyme
The Economy Boom The western economy boomed. Youth culture stopped hogging the scene as the teenage market lost impetus. The dominant market was getting older and was also financially secure. Demographics changed the face of society. People were living longer and seemed to act younger at the same time. Old industries died, while new technologies developed and boomed.
Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan in the USA celebrated presidential success with a style that used fashionable conspicuous clothes and social events to display the affluence of American society to a world audience.
The world was in flux; ever changing. The USSR relaxed rules and opened up to private enterprise. The Berlin wall came down and other eastern bloc countries craved western clothes and liberation.
In Britain Thatcherism promoted privatization and the idea that greed was good was given credence. Temples to modern living, shopping malls sprang up throughout Britain. Western society consumed and consumed. Yuppies Yuppie was an acronym for 'Young Upwardly Mobile Professional Person'. The word was coined by the advertising industry to capture the essence of a particular type of work hard, play hard, ambitious minded city career person of either sex. The hectic lifestyle of a yuppie meant that after long hours of work, rare free time was spent in a self indulgent way frittering away the cash earned on anything, from expensive make up and perfume, to a bottle of fine champagne. Conspicuous wastage was part of the attitude.
For day Yuppies sported wide shouldered jackets and for weekends they wore a Barbour to effect a country aesthetic or a ballgown to assume the appearance of a more advantaged lifestyle.
"I know people went thru this a lot in the 70's, but the 80's?"
Yes, we seen a lot of downsizing in heavy industry. That was the time when the Japenese were "going to eat our lunch". The Japenese were making huge investments all over the country. Their heavy industry were trying to take over our markets. Our workforce was cut in half. Today, it's about a third of what it used to be. Now, the threat is to export our jobs to China & India.
I had a summer job working for my dad in oilfield construction.
I am part of the software industry and know all about outsourcing jobs to these countries, having lost a job a year ago because it was sent to Singapore.
Ah yes, you would know that well. My job now is in a similar situation. It is a tech job that is that increasingly sent overseas.
Yep, same situation. The company I am at now tried to outsource pieces to China and it was a disaster. (heh heh heh).
People don't realize that outsourcing to a foreign country sounds good, until reality sets in.
Being born :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.