re: #256 Targetpractice

Living in Hampton Roads, it’s never failed to amuse me over the years hearing people dependent upon federal dollars to keep the economy running bitching about “big government.” The only thing funnier was the serious suggestions back in the 00s that VA Beach could survive on tourist dollars if the Navy ended up closing NAS Oceana and moving the jets elsewhere.

Virginia Beach was making that claim in the Eighties when I was stationed there and Republican Myra Obendorf was mayor (she also made the claim).

All the banks in Tidewater (except federal credit unions) all got together and decided to impose a $2 charge on cashing government cheques to grift from military personnel and retirees (a violation of federal law). While the military was busy going after the banks, (they were eventually fined by the government), Virginia Beach Navy Federal Credit Union (now part of Navy Federal Credit Union) cashed cheques with a wad of $2 bills in addition to larger bills.

Hampton Roads was flooded with $2 bills. Merchants and banks hated it. It also showed how dependent the economy was on NAS Oceana. (Had all the bases done that, the towns would have been buried in $2s.)