Wonder what shape the banks were in in 82, since they are only focusing on unemployment. As I understand it, in this situation, the unemployment is being caused by banks drying up.
I lived through the 80’s, it was not as bad, and no the banking system was not on the verge of collapse. Back then, there were regulations in place...the banks acted more responsibly.
“Wonder what shape the banks were in in 82, since they are only focusing on unemployment.”
They were in good shape, they didn’t loan to flakes.
My construction company had very good times in te early 80s.
Personally 81 was the highest income year I’ve ever had.
The banks were a rock of stability in 1982 compared to today. Financial markets were “stone age” compared to today; “innovations” like CDOs didn’t exist. So while there was some turbulence due to foreclosures, the damage was localized and manageable. You didn’t have trillions in assets just disappearing into thin air. You also has Chrysler asking for a (small) bailout—you didn’t have a sizable percentage of the Fortune 500 asking for one.
It's a difficult comparsion because there were so many smaller banks back then but my recollection is that there were about 80 failures that year. That's probably right plus or minus 5. Until the total and complete melt down of the S&L mess there weren't any big institutions that failed until 1984 when Continental Illinois, at around $40 billion, folded.