YOU ever live "Through a Catastrophic economic DEPRESSION"....???

[Sourdough]

It is very "Depressing". From about 83' to 92' 77% of Alaska banks, credit unions, savings and loan co. went bankrupt. It was very depressing to try to stay in business. We thanked God for the "Joseph Hazelwood Economic Recovery" (More commonly known as the Valdez Oil Tanker Spill).

 

[INresponse]

I thought it was about"78 to "82 or so.
My parents were kids during the Great Depression so I am well educated in being cautious with financial expenses. I am out of money until I get this house done and pull the some money out of it, but I am at least educated.

 

[Caribou]

Got sick and couldn't go outside for half a year, or I'd go blind. When I could finally got back to work I was in really poor shape.

 

[Sourdough]

I thought it was about"78 to "82 or so.

There was a LOT of optimism 78' to 83' They were going to start another (Second) pipeline any day. And the State of Alaska was urinating away wealth, from oil royalties.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

I lived thru Jimmy Carter and the aftermath, which lasted most of Reagan’s first term.
Interest rates for car loans were 18%, credit cards were in the low twenties, I bought my first house in 1980, mortgage interest was 14%.
Gasoline was hard to get for a while too.

But no, none of us have lived through what my parents did - the Great Depression and then WWII.

 

[Amish Heart]

Our first home was 12 and a half FHA in 1983. It had just been 15%, caught it on a dip.
Aptos, California

 

[Tirediron]

We had our own mini depression in Alberta at about the same time, Trudeau SR brought out the national energy policy, and effectively doubled our fuel prices and crashed the oil patch and a lot of businesses. I graduated highschool in 1980 , I had a scribbler full of names and numbers of businesses that had said to call them when I finished school Farm/Ranch kids were in high demand. After about 2 pages I got tired of "this number is no longer in service. and had to actually look for work. times were lean.

 

[Bacpacker]

I lived thru Jimmy Carter and the aftermath, which lasted most of Reagan’s first term.
Interest rates for car loans were 18%, credit cards were in the low twenties, I bought my first house in 1980, mortgage interest was 14%.
Gasoline was hard to get for a while too.

But no, none of us have lived through what my parents did - the Great Depression and then WWII.

That was gonna be my post. I graduated high school during Carters time in office. Decent Jobs were near impossible to find. Buying a house really wasn't an option. It was hard enough getting a used car to get back and forth to work in.
Still no where near what the 1930's held for my grand parents

 

[Amish Heart]

My grandparents, too, but they lived down the road from where we live now. They didn't go hungry, so there was that.

 

[Pearl]

I lived through the '70's crap! I never knew how bad it was because my parents were GREAT!! I was a little kid, I never knew how poor we were!! I wish ALL children could have parents like mine!;

 

[LadyLocust]

Me not as an adult, but when my g-mother was young, she would wait until the pigeons hatched then climb the rafters in the barn and tie the chicks legs together so when they were big enough to fly, they wouldn't be able to. She would then ring their necks and have something to eat. She also remembered her older brother taking all the utensils out of the drawer looking for crumbs in the bottom.

I lived thru Jimmy Carter and the aftermath, which lasted most of Reagan’s first term.
Interest rates for car loans were 18%, credit cards were in the low twenties, I bought my first house in 1980, mortgage interest was 14%.
Gasoline was hard to get for a while too.

But no, none of us have lived through what my parents did - the Great Depression and then WWII.

I worked at a bank in the early 90's and remember folks coming in to refinance their mortgage from 14%+ down to 11% (ish). CD rates were 12%+ and a passbook savings paid 5%. Wish I'd locked in a 30 CD back then.

 

[Pearl]

Me not as an adult, but when my g-mother was young, she would wait until the pigeons hatched then climb the rafters in the barn and tie the chicks legs together so when they were big enough to fly, they wouldn't be able to. She would then ring their necks and have something to eat. She also remembered her older brother taking all the utensils out of the drawer looking for crumbs in the bottom.

I worked at a bank in the early 90's and remember folks coming in to refinance their mortgage from 14%+ down to 11% (ish). CD rates were 12%+ and a passbook savings paid 5%. Wish I'd locked in a 30 CD back then.

DANG BILL CLINTON!!

 

[INresponse]

I lived through the '70's crap! I never knew how bad it was because my parents were GREAT!! I was a little kid, I never knew how poor we were!! I wish ALL children could have parents like mine!;

I think the reason my family wasn't so bad off (we weren't rich by no means) was that my parents had paid the house off in the 60's. They bought it in '53 and I can't remember if it was a 15 or 20 year note, if I had to guess I would say 15 years, but I remember my dad telling the story that he was paying more in interest than the balance of the loan so when he got his vacation check he paid off the mortgage. That was before I was born so early to mid 60's the house was paid for.
In about 79 to about 81 dad was laid off most the time and they were pinching pennies, but now I suspect they had some money in the bank but living through the depression and WW2 they new better than to spend it.

 

[randyt]

The Obama years. Worked seven days a week and still couldn't pay the bills.

My grandfather on the other hand never heard of the great depression. I asked him about it and he never heard of it. He was an adult during that time.

A account on hardship read a book called Alex Stewart. A Portrait of a Pioneer. He grew up in appalachia.
He talks of his childhood, late 1800s early 1900s.
He talks about one room cabins, no furniture, most people had no shoes, wore rags wrapped around there feet. Kids went naked most of the time. No outhouses, they went out side wherever. The family slept in a pile of straw in the cabin. Few had a firearm.
He mentions his grandma Stewart not having any tinware, all wooden or gourds.

I think we had a good run, created the middle class. Looks like th we human race is heading back to "normal"

 

[kenv1950]

Yes , in 1985 ....... DIVORCED

 

[Alaskajohn]

My parents lived through the American depression, but living in Appalachia was perhaps more impactful. Not much change in that area of the country pre or post depression as it was same old same old. Frugalness, resourcefulness and determined perseverance defined how they lived there lives even after they left Appalachia. Hopefully some of that is part of my DNA.

 

[Tootsie]

The Obama years. Worked seven days a week and still couldn't pay the bills.

My grandfather on the other hand never heard of the great depression. I asked him about it and he never heard of it. He was an adult during that time.

A account on hardship read a book called Alex Stewart. A Portrait of a Pioneer. He grew up in appalachia.
He talks of his childhood, late 1800s early 1900s.
He talks about one room cabins, no furniture, most people had no shoes, wore rags wrapped around there feet. Kids went naked most of the time. No outhouses, they went out side wherever. The family slept in a pile of straw in the cabin. Few had a firearm.
He mentions his grandma Stewart not having any tinware, all wooden or gourds.

I think we had a good run, created the middle class. Looks like th we human race is heading back to "normal"

Alex Stewart was a mixed kind of book for me. Yes, there were interesting points, but I felt that he was quite an exaggerator. What ever question was asked of him, he was the first/best/smartest man alive. When it’s a bit hard to swallow again and again, it loses credibility in my book.

 

[randyt]

Alex Stewart was a mixed kind of book for me. Yes, there were interesting points, but I felt that he was quite an exaggerator. What ever question was asked of him, he was the first/best/smartest man alive. When it’s a bit hard to swallow again and again, it loses credibility in my book.

I wondered about that as well. The author created the Museum of Appalachia. I have been there. really awesome. One thing I noticed was when John Irwin Rice asked Alex to re create something, he did it. Also he is featured in foxfire number 3. Some of the things he talks about are also talked about in Kepharts book Our Southern Highlanders. I have to wonder as well though