The first president I remember is Jimmy Carter, and I barely remember him, at that. I graduated high school in 1990, so my most formative years were in the late 80's. I constantly hear about it being a decade of excess under Reagan, but I didn't really see that. In fact, as far as culture is concerned, the only thing that I really feel I took with me from the decade is the music.
Oh--and a love of the VH1 show "I Love the 80's."
I listen to some current music, but not really a whole lot. I would much rather be rocking down the highway to "Bang Your Head" by Quiet Riot than anything by Nickelback (although I do like their music). When I take the monkies anywhere in my truck we splurge and crank the music up pretty loud. The other day I was taking them around and we were listening to the "classic rock" station (yes, my teen music is now officially "classic"). I guess as far as taste in music goes, they take after their father.
Cowboy was bangin' away on the drums, while Princess picked her air guitar and began jammin' away. Within two verses she had the words to "I Can't Drive 55" down and was singing with her Daddy.
There's still nothing like the first riffs of "Bang Your Head." Cures any level of frustration.
That brings up some good memories, though I was more a child of the 90s (I was 7 in 1990). I do still remember stuff from the 80s with fondness...
ReplyDelete:o)
You can sit by me, Lucky. I graduated in '89. :)
ReplyDeletei love me some air guitar. :)
ReplyDeleteI graduated in '84, you youngsters. (sigh)
BUT...I was in college during hair bands, before the govt. really cracked down on pot, and before AIDS. So neener.
You know, something I was thinking about...I worked for HUD during college as an intern. Well, it started as a summer internship but I ended up working for them for two years, part-time, because I was a hard-worker and they liked me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, one of the things that was happening around the U.S. during that era that you probably don't remember was the after-effects of Jimmy Carter's administration.
Alot of people had HUD-insured adjustable rate mortgages back in those days. And during the days of Carter, interest rates SKYROCKETED.
I mean to 12-17%. And these families, many of whom were house poor in an economy where homes weren't sellable, had one minor catastrophe which then set into motion a vicious cycle which ultimately culminated in them losing their house. The debt was repaid by HUD, which then foreclosed on the house, auctioned it off (often to local investors for significantly below market value), and the people who snatched up those cheap HUD foreclosures made out like bandits.
Many are still big-time landlords.
Carter caused that. So people can say what they want about Reagan, but Reagan got us out of that hole, the high interest spiral that Carter's inaction landed us in.
yeah, there was an increase in the deficit under Reagan, but on the plus side, his tax cut policies dropped interest rates and defibrilated the dying economy.