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The Reckoning, David Halberstam, 1986, Ch. 38 "Hard Times Come Home," page 607:

" . . . When just before Thanksgiving [1978], he was told that he was laid off, the twelfth in his department to go, he was delighted. He had carefully planned a six-week vacation in Florida, where his wife's parents lived. His children would miss about a week of school, but that was all right; this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Soon it would be over and he would be back at work—in about six weeks to two months, he figured. Three and a half years later, in March of 1982, he was called back to work. He returned a different man.

"Thus began the real education of Joel Goddard, . . . "
Kind of makes you want to keep reading, doesn't it? Yes, David Halberstam can be a pretty damn good writer.

What if Joel had come to symbolize the plight of himself and fellow workers, how far could the majority of American voters have gone in embracing somewhat radical approaches to job creation?
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