Past Recessions - what were your experiences?

Backbiter

I left school in 1979. Inflation went up to around 20% and unemployment rocketed to over 3million. I couldn't find even casual work and was on the dole for ages. It was very very grim.
The 90s recession was depressing due to the house price crash and high interest rates, and inevitable record repossessions, but we seemed to recover reasonably quickly..
This one does really scare me because of the global nature of it. I think retailing and manufacturing will be hit seriously hard - not to mention the financial sector - and I expect unemployment to soar. The measures the government has taken - cutting VAT, bailing out the banks and slashing interest rates - are necessary and, coupled with the big fall in petrol prices, people in work should have a fair bit of cash to spend, but I think the damage has been done over a long period. It'll help if the utility companies slash their prices, as winter fuel bills will be horrendous for everyone, eating up a lot of the benefits of the interest rate and petrol price cuts.
I genuinely fear this will be a lasting crisis, and the government's finances will be grim for a long time to come, whichever party is in charge after the next election. We'll all end up paying more taxes, so even if (hopefully when) we recover times will be tough for most people.

mizzbiz

sarkin wrote: »

I remember the job centre taking on more staff to cope with the extra workload

Ironic, isn't it

:rotfl:

Pobby

Ah but we can rest happy in the thought that Prince William/ Harry will be able to whisk their lady friends away to £1000 a night hotels. So if we all end up on the dole and having to hand back the keys we will have that loverly warm feeling that our younger and betters are having a nice time.

drbeat

Backbiter wrote: »

This one does really scare me because of the global nature of it.

Are recessions ever isolated? I thought the US was in recession at the end of the 80s early 90s?

geoffky

left shcool in 1980 out of 250 n our year when asked if who had a job to go to four of us put our hands up..i was very lucky but then i got made redundant three times in the 90s one and lost my house and partner and ended up owing 50k to the banks..but believe me this is going to be ten times worse than the last one..this one will make boys from the black stuff look like a comedy...anyone remember the documentary people of the tip about people living off the proceeds of a rubbish tip?

drbeat

geoffky wrote: »

boys from the black stuff

I remember that very well although I was too young to understand its meaning at the time! But I remember getting quite interested when the some of the Liverpool footie team appeared in it - I was a big fan of Sammy Lee!

[Deleted User]

we didn`t need media hype to make things feel bad in the 70s. power blackouts, food shortages, unemployment were real and affected all of us. The difference is that now we have the media hype first and likely to be followed by the rest plus the problems are worldwide now.

Let`s just say that I look after my husbands sipp and have sold all his equities today after buying back in, a couple of weeks ago. It looked as though ftse was going to rally for a while but it has fizzled out and the downward slope looks set to continue. Imo the stock market is an early-warning barometer. We aint seen nothing yet

PasturesNew

I've lived through quite a few, but never been aware of them too much. You see stuff around you, people not working, etc, but you have to remember that back in the past we didn't have the Internet and so there were no forums.

News was a couple of specific slots per evening, first you could miss as you were travelling home from work, next one was about 10pm so you might be out.

This time it's different because of the Internet and 24 hour news and 25/8 media reporting - and forums. Also, access to information, stats, links, information, comparisons, charts.... never had it before so you could pretty much shuffle through your life not really aware anything was amiss and just annoyed that there were shortages or power cuts or you couldn't get a job etc. It was all stuff that was just happening and you got on with it - nobody to discuss it with.

PasturesNew

Back in the early 80s, anybody remember the band UB40? UB40 was the dole form you filled in. The song was "1 in 10", words "I am a 1 in 10 ..." because 10% were unemployed.

http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=ub40+1+in+10&search_type=&aq=f

The band were all unemployed.

Lyrics

I am a one in ten
A number on a list
I am a one in ten
Even though I don`t exist
Nobody Knows me
Even though I`m always there
A statistic, a reminder
Of a world that doesn`t care
My arms enfold the dole queue
Malnutrition dulls my hair
My eyes are black and lifeless
With an underprivileged stare
I`m the beggar on the corner
Will no-one spare a dime?
I`m the child that never learns to read
Cause no-one spared the time
(Chorus)
I`m the murderer and the victim
The licence with the gun
I`m a sad and bruised old lady
In an ally in a slum
I`m a middle aged businessman
With chronic heart disease
I`m another teenaged suicide
In a street that has no trees
(Chorus)
I`m a starving third world mother
A refugee without a home
I`m a house wife hooked on Valium
I`m a Pensioner alone
I`m a cancer ridden spectre
Covering the earth
I`m another hungry baby

StevieJ

Backbiter wrote: »

I left school in 1979. Inflation went up to around 20% and unemployment rocketed to over 3million. I couldn't find even casual work and was on the dole for ages.

Oh yes, those were the days of the infamous Milk Snatcher :eek: