I have lived through end of the world scenarios, end of the US economy,

[Peacetrain]

end of the US status as a world power, end of everything, more times than I care to count.

I think I have lived through four end of the world predictions.. (and that does not even count 2000 can anyone forget that)

When I was in high school the one thing every guys in my class could count on was going into the service if he did not get into college. 58,000 of my generation died in Vietnam.. That of course was after spending a few years as a little kid doing duck and cover or sitting in halls during drills. Talk about fodder for nightmares.

Of course people were building holes in the ground to survive the nuclear war Russia was going to start with us.

There was no medicare till 1965.

The 70's were a damn nightmare.. you paid 15% on a mortgage if you were lucky..and the same for a car payment.

Lots of scary times.. lots of enders who are always telling us all the good times are behind us.

Let me just share this with you.. You don't want to go back to those times. They were NOT GOOD times for many many people. That is except the music. We had really good music..

Just sharing some memories

[DesertFlower]

1. i'm 69 and i remember. we had air raid

shelters and were taught to get under our desks at school in case of a bomb.

the high interest rates were great if you had money to save. i remember paying 19% interest on a car loan, but that was in '84.

the music from the late 60s and early 70s were the best.

[Peacetrain]

2. 19% ouch!

but the music yep the best

[RebelOne]

7. I am 72 and remember those air raid drills only too well.

I would have nightmares of mushroom clouds.

Yes, and the '60s and the '70s music was the best. In fact, the only music station I tune into on my car radio is the one that plays the classic rock.

[Peacetrain]

11. CCR is still a favorite band of mine

I really did used to have nightmares about getting blown to kingdom come..

[DesertFlower]

17. that's the only one i listen to.

[pansypoo53219]

15. yes, good for savers, AND

by lowering it you COULD stimulate the economy. the rate is too damn low now. greenspan had to keep it low to make georgee's NEMIC ECONOMY look good. we have to raise it. OMG NOOOOO! INFLATION.
the bankers are fucking us.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Cuban Missle Crisis...remember how scared our parents were???

People were truly afraid we would be attacked, or that WW3 would start in some manner. A collective holding of breath for days across the country.

And the Red Menace was alive and well.

[1620rock]

6. And don't forget the "Yellow Peril". If we don't stop them over there...

The "gooks" will be climping up the beaches of California...such ignorance.

[Peacetrain]

8. Oh my gosh... the Russian Missle Crisis.. had my folks scared to death

True story here dixie..

One of the Chicago teams won a major playoff game.. I don't know which one.. I can't remember the year exactly I was pretty young..but my Dad was going to college in Chicago.. well they set off the sirens with no warning .. my parents bundled us kids into a car and they headed out of Chicago thinking we were under attack from Russia.. that is how scary things were then

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. I came from a home where the parents did not talk to the kids about "serious" stuff

but we could tell they were upset, there were conversations about " bomb shelters" and "what if" etc between them,
we picked up on the tenseness and then, for some strange reason, every night we kids were allowed to sit down in front of the tv news while Cronkite did the play by play of daily build up to Armageddon.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Thanks for sharing memories, they are my memories too.

Good times, bad times, scary times. Boom and bust. This experience allows me to roll with the punches that come from the economy and war and the government and industry. The stock market soars, and it crashes. Unemployment goes up, and it goes down. Gasoline prices up and down, supplies low then stabilized. No matter what I am living through that really sucks, I know that it will end and reverse itself at some point. I rarely panic anymore.

[Peacetrain]

9. Same thing here Curmudgeoness

I have been through it so many times.. up, down, up, down.. can't imagine what the great depression would have been like..

[Curmudgeoness]

13. I can't imagine either, but it really did have a lifelong impact

on the people who lived through it. I can think of nothing that has had that big an impression on me. Watching my parents and the way that they lived their lives, it never was far from their minds. They always tried to prepare for the next time it happened.

[tularetom]

5. On the other hand...

When I was discharged from the army in 1963, I was able to attend and graduate from college, get married and have a child with no student loans while working at two part time jobs.

After I graduated in 1966 I could choose between several job offers, any of which had a decent salary and good benefits.

After graduation, we were able to purchase a home with no down payment on a 30 year fixed rate loan with very affordable payments (which we were able to make on one income) and raise two kids.

The birth of our daughter in 1963 cost $250 which we paid in cash. The birth of our son in 1966 cost $525, also paid cash.

I remember paying 17 cents for a gallon of gas at Ft Benning GA in 1962. And buying two bags of groceries including five lbs of hamburger, chicken breasts, and all kinds of fresh veggies at Lucky Market in Berkeley CA in 66 or 67 for $12.

The music went down the shitter about 1961 and didn't come back for three or four years. Then it got really good.

[RebelOne]

10. Yes, I remember the cheap gas.

I lived in Miami, FL at that time and there were gas wars every where. And the gas prices were in the single digits. Those days will never come back.

[Peacetrain]

12. We had the best music..no doubt about that

and I remember the 19 cent a gallon gas wars.. but I also remember paying 15% interest on the car loan and trying to get a house loan in the 70's... oh my GOD.. we got one for 15% and were lucky to get that..

[Little Star]

20. I've been waiting for someone to say they purchased a home...

with no down payment on a 30 year fixed. That is how we got our first home, no down payment/30 yr. fixed. I don't think we would have ever had our own home if not for that fact. We have owned our own home(s) for 40 something years. Just makes me wonder why I see so many saying that a big down payment makes you less of a credit risk because I don't think many people default unless they have no other choice (even those who had zero down payment)jmho.

[lib2DaBone]

16. We are in worse times.. sorry to say.....

Elected Reps could care less what the voters want... it's all about lobbyists and revenue.

The highest bid controls America and all its citizens.

[Peacetrain]

18. Well you might want to look what people had to live through with the McCarthy hearings

period..black listing..not being able to vote..literacy testing.. trust me, these times while challenging are hardly the worst times we have lived through..

[earthlight101]

19. there were also HELP WANTED signs on many store windows

the govt folks and their allies took care of all that with tons of cheap labor immigration

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

21. Outsourcing to China had nothing to do with that, of course.

:eyes:

[Hannah Bell]

22. but we never had three years of 9% unemployment.

[livetohike]

23. Recurring nightmares of running away from an atomic bomb

blast :scared:. Those nightmares stayed with me into my 30's!

Those high interest rates...I remember when banks would let you pick out a gift for opening an account. I have a nice set of crystal liquor glasses :-).

The VietNam war, sitting around with male friends watching the lottery for the draft, a few friends went to Canada, the assassinations, etc. Good thing we had great music. Those were not good times.

[sendero]

24. Just because someone cries wolf..

... a hundred times, it does not mean a wolf can never be there.

Our economic situation is completely unprecedented for America, but it has played out many times in history, every one of them ending badly.