[cva66snipe]

I remember 1982 real well. In My neck of the woods the 1982 Worlds Fair had just closed at a huge loss. Two large banking failures an insured bank and uninsured S&L own by two East Tennessee brothers failed and they went to prison for bank fraud. I worked in maintenance at the Worlds Fair till a few weeks before it closed. The banking brothers were heavy invested into it. No one was hiring at any place and to even get a part time job at Mickey D's required connections.

I was real lucky. I was among the last persons to qualify for full Veterans Benefits under the old GI Bill. My company in Navy Basic Training was last in a group to get it. I used that to survive. I went back to school at a tuition free state Voc/Tech and worked on minimum wage contract for the VA at a National Cemetery mowing grass and digging graves with a pick and shovel.

[EVO X]

I missed out on the 82 recession. I was floating around on CVN68. I was busy stuffing my bank account and contributing to the 2 for 1 GI bill. It paid for most of my college when I got out in 84...

[bert]

......two East Tennessee brothers.....

You are much to kind. The Union County brothers were the head of the current democratic leadership and it was only by the grace of God that one was not governor. He hyped the fair, created a bubble of exuberant expectations.

I was dealing with a Florida vendor at the time and he wanted to come to the fair. He couldn’t find a hotel in Knoxville and got one in Pigeon Forge. Ha called me to ask “Where in the hell is Pigeon Forge Tennessee” :)

[2111USMC]

I remember those days as well.

Agricultural equipment manufacturing (Deere, Case, International-Harvester) took a big hit. We lost thousands of jobs. The people that lost the jobs did not stay. There was a mass exodus out of the Midwest.