| lenona321@yahoo.com: Dec 16 02:56PM -0800 I saw Bill Flanagan on CBS Sunday Morning a while back and he had this to say about the pros and cons of baby boomers (you can read it or watch it - it's about 2:30 minutes long, and worthwhile): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-flanagan-on-the-ok-boomer-controversy/ Anyway, it reminded me of how the Greatest Generation (1900-1925) used to be picked on - and how one member responded in 1991. "Don't Blame the Elderly for the Failings of Society." (Not that I necessarily agree with everything it implies. Even though it supposedly is only about different generations and not liberals vs. conservatives.) http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-03-02/entertainment/9101190767_1_dear-ann-landers-senior-citizens-dear-ed Dear Ann Landers: Please print this letter to the editor. It appeared in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. In my opinion, it gets right to the point. I`ve never seen it expressed better. Thank you. Ed in Florida Dear Ed: I agree. That provocative letter deserves a larger audience, and I`m pleased to provide it. Here`s an edited version of ``Don`t Blame the Elderly for the Failings of Society``: We are probably the only members of society in the history of mankind for which the younger generation has so little respect and has demonstrated such a shameful lack of regard. Senior citizens are constantly being criticized, belittled and sniped at for every conceivable deficiency of the modern world, real and imaginary. Upon reflection, I would like to point out that it wasn`t the senior citizens who took the melody out of music, or the beauty out of art, or the pride out of appearance, or the romance out of love, the commitment out of marriage, the responsibility out of parenthood, togetherness out of family, learning out of education, loyalty out of Americanism, service out of patriotism, the hearth out of the home, civility out of behavior, refinement out of language, dedication out of employment, prudence out of spending or ambition out of achievement. And we certainly are not the ones who eliminated patience and tolerance from relationships. Jerome J. Goldstein, Boca Raton http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/mcra/315d.html (possibly the unedited version) One thing I'd definitely disagree with Goldstein on is " it wasn`t the senior citizens who took the...prudence out of spending." Author/historian David M. Tucker wrote the 1990 book "The Decline of Thrift in America." He said that up until the 20th century, when Henry Ford came along with his slogan "don't try to save money and be a miser," individual thrift was, in fact, pretty much the basis for the American economy and society. (Not to mention that, in other countries, it was the rule for everyone, except for kings and robber barons, for thousands of years.) Tucker wrote that a popular plot in Victorian novels was for a spendthrift housewife to see the error of her ways, and all would live happily ever after. And plenty of adults in WWI and the 1920s saw no reason to object to the new careless spending habits. Thrift only got revived because of the Depression and WWII - but clearly, by the 1950s, many (most?) adults in their 30s and 40s had lost any taste for thrift and started consuming like mad. Who wanted to be reminded of the last awful 20 years? From issue 53 of "The Tightwad Gazette" in Oct. 1994 - not sure if this is included in Amy Dacyczyn's book "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" or not: "Tucker has observed that trends in personal thrift and government thrift go hand in hand...and sure enough, a big 'problem' in the 1890s was thinking up ways to deal with the federal government's enormous surplus of money. (It was finally decided to buy 94 tons of silver from western mines each month for the period from 1890 to 1893.) "But holes began to appear in the thrift ethic during World War I. Tucker says the damage was done mostly by two forces that had been around in a primitive form for years, but that suddenly became sophisticated and widespread: advertising and credit." (The idea of thrift pretty much disappeared from American media and schools in the 1970s. D. said that T. said that one small ray of hope for the future lies in the Keynesian economists dying off.) Lenona. |
| ggggg9271@gmail.com: Dec 16 10:15AM -0800 On Saturday, August 6, 2005 at 7:04:27 PM UTC-7, pooky wrote: > the distribution)? > Any other advice would be appreciated. > Thank you. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/12/16/stock-market-protect-your-401-k-when-trump-tariffs-move-stocks/4411928002/ |
| ggggg9271@gmail.com: Dec 15 09:52PM -0800 > Many good points get raised - including ones you might not have thought of already. > https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/12/15/estate-planning-wrong-to-not-leave-children-inheritance/4385107002/ > Lenona. - Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy. Robert A. Heinlein |
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