Ahhh the 80's.
I grew up in the rust belt in the 80's. My Dad lost his job as Production Manager of the world's largest heat treating company when they shut the doors.
Unemployment in the area I lived in broke 18%. Many large manufacturing and heavy industry companies disappeared. Home values plummeted and foreclosures were rampant, sorta like the times we live in now, but at the time it was fortunately limited to the rust belt area. Very intense era, watched my parents file for bankruptcy and lose their life savings and our family home, foreclosure, etc. Dad got a job managing a small foundry and bought another house, but they closed up a year later and we were out on the street again. I started working full time nights at a restaurant when I was 15, and going to high school during the day, giving everything except gas money to my parents. I somehow managed to graduate a year early but could not afford to take the time off for commencement lest I lose my job, so I got my diploma in the mail. I did the best I could to help out my parents until I turned 20 in 1985, and by then I couldn't take it anymore and had to live my own life so I moved to Arizona. I went 8 weeks before I could find any work. I lived in a house with smashed out windows and no hot water with a bunch of guys I didn't know. I slept in a sleeping bag, on an old mattress I found in the back alley that I dragged into "my" room. I had my wallet stolen, in it my last $42.00 and my ID. I finally found a job five miles away and walked back and forth to work until I saved up enough to buy a car at auction. I had sold my car in Milwaukee before I moved, to buy a one way plane ticket to Phoenix. I somehow managed to get an apartment and make some headway in life and got married in 1986. We fought almost daily for about two years. My wife was a cop. I got pistol whipped a few times, seriously. Didn't think we would make it but last May we celebrated our 25th Anniversary. Things got better in 1988 when my son was born and we managed to buy a house, but in early '89 because of the owner's shenanigans, my company got raided by the Feds and shut down. While unemployed, I got mixed up in a high speed chase ending in a shooting... too long to tell the details here, but I was in serious trouble for a few months until I was cleared, really just in the wrong place at the wrong time!
SO anyways, the 80's weren't all parties and good times for everyone. They kinda sucked for me and I'm glad they're gone forever.