Carol’s Neighborhood

1973 was "the last good year."

DoctorD
55 minutes ago
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2009-12-03-warren34

Throughout the post WWII period, an American working man could (on average) expect to get ahead financially as he aged and got more job experience, rose in seniority. However, those wage gains ended (according to the best statistics available) in 1973. After that, family incomes did continue to rise--but only because so many households had two wage-earners. Wives left the home for the office or factory. The graph on the left tells the story.

This description is one of the most important facts of modern times, but it doesn't address a different but not unrelated trend--that most of the income growth of the last couple decades has been concentrated among the wealthiest Americans, and not the average Joe's and Jane's. The American Dream (short of winning the lottery) is, for most, really dead. Even with two incomes.

If you want to see the article from which I clipped these graphs, see American Without a Middle Class, by Elizabeth Warren, who is the chair of the Congressional Panel that is trying to oversee the banking bailouts and a Professor of Law at Harvard. Her commentary is worth reading. Actually, it is worth sending to your friends. It might be worth memorizing.

"The rich get richer and the poor get poorer"--that's an old saying, but it wasn't especially applicable to the 1950s and 1960s, when not only was the American middle class advancing, but there also was a concerted effort to aid the most economically disadvantaged--especially the elderly, Appalachian whites, Deep Southern blacks, and inner city neighborhoods. That all changed following the election of Ronald Reagan in late 1980: the goal of public policy came to be helping the very richest become richer still, and to let the middle class get poorer.

Some people are critical of governmental efforts--actually, I am certainly critical of the 40+-year failure to eliminate billboards--but in this case the aim of public policy was in fact fully realized. And, most interestingly, the Republican elite was able to figure out ways to get those who were most economically injured by their policies to vote in support of them on election day. And that is true still. Nice trick!

Of what was it said that there is one "born every minute?" Oh, I remember: a sucker. That's right. A sucker. If you are working class, or lower or middle middle class, and you are voting Republican, and opposing health care reform, or going to the "tea parties" to disrupt democratic discourse; if you are getting your perspective on the world from Fox News--then you (sadly) are numbered among those very very numerous suckers. And, partly because of you, you aren't likely to see a "good year" again for a very long time.

Sorry to be so non-PC. Just telling it like it is. Was, and is.

Next time you walk by someone on the street who is really, really obscenely wall-off, be sure to ask him to thank you.

Just Not A Lot Happening

I noticed in my "neighborhood", there just doesn't seem to be a lot going on. (smile) I know that that is how it is here. My house is getting very close to being finished with the "total make over"....doesn't even look the same. I
am hoping it will be done in time to maybe put up a tree at least. May not have any furniture, but we can have a tree! LOL!!! Going to borrow my son's 91/2 ft one since our living room ceilings are so tall. He isn't going to be using it, he said. And, did say he would help put it up as it was very heavy and takes two or more to put up. Now, I'm wondering if I will have enough to "dress" one that huge....I gave a lot away a couple of years back, so don't know. Might have to purchase some more.

It is currently raining a very "cold" rain. Am hoping the snow that was in the forecast goes south like it showed last night on the map......I'm praying. My niece who lives down further south of us posted that it was snowing there two hours ago. So, we shall see.

Guess I better go so I can go take a shower and get myself ready for church....we are practicing a Christmas Puppet show for the Christmas Program. So much going on during December....Wow. Time to slow down and take a deep breath.

Christmas Season Ponderings

Cat
Yesterday
3 comments

As I sit here with my coffee, I'm thinking ahead to the upcoming Christmas season. It brings about a certain feeling of both frustration and makes me feel just a little bit crazy. It seems that for the past several years I've struggled a lot with finding my Christmas Spirit.

I remember clearly last year when we finally arrived home Christmas evening after all of the family gatherings and gift exchanging thinking..."Wow it's finally over." Then I was suddenly filled with a slight feeling of joy inside that I had come through yet another Christmas alive. I actually joked with Bart all Christmas Season last year that all I wanted for Christmas was January 1st. For that year to just be over, fast forward through the holidays straight to the new year.

I wonder when it happened....

I wonder when I stopped getting excited about Christmas and instead started feeling a sense of dread and drudgery about the whole season.

Don't get me wrong, I love the whole food aspect of the holiday season,(Just take one look at my ass and you can TELL that.), but what I despise is the whole sense of consumerism in it. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, whatever you call it....people trampling each other for cheap plastic crap from china...I just don't get it!

You know when I do my Chritsmas Shopping? Generally between December 18th and Christmas Day. Payday is the 1st and the 20th for me so that's when I have money.

I always tell myself every year, "I'm going to get it all done before Thanksgiving.." and it never happens that way..EVER.

I don't use credit cards, I hate them, I think they are evil and get you into trouble. We're pretty much a cash only family, if you can't pay cash for it then you don't need it. The exception to the rule on this is cars and really big items like our house.

I know some people who spend literally THOUSANDS of dollars on Christmas on credit cards, and struggle all year to pay it back. Sorry but that kind of takes all the joy out of it. We buy what we can afford to buy and move on. It's Christmas, it's not worth going into debt or going hungry for.

I love giving gifts, but hate feeling like I didn't spend quite enough on people, and maybe they didn't like what I got them. It's almost as if some people feel like the dollar amount you spent is equal to how much you care about them.

I generally make up HUGE batches of homemade fudge and other treats and package them up for gift giving. I'll give those to friends and family either alone as a gift or with something else as an add-on gift.

Getting gifts is great, but still makes me feel a little uncomfortable, especially if what I get from someone obviously cost more than what I spent on them. It's a vicious cycle.

A couple of years ago I said to hell with it all and just started buying Master Card Gift Cards from my bank for all of the people on my list 12 and over. It took a lot of stress out of my holiday shopping and I felt it was a great gift because then the recipient could go and pick out whatever they needed or wanted. (Our local bank offers Master Card Gift Cards with no hidden fees and no expiration dates. They make great gifts and you get them directly from the teller and they take the money directly out of your bank account when you purchase them. I think they make GREAT gifts, and it's a really great service.)

If you needed a tank of gas, or a haircut, or a lunch out, or a new sweater you could make the choice yourself what to spend the money on. I personally LOVE gift cards for anything.

As a matter of fact I have let it be known to all that might be shopping for me this year that I want gift cards for Lowes for Christmas. Why? Because for the past year I have been without a working dishwasher, and it would thrill my heart to no end to be able to put all of my Christmas Gift Cards together and purchase one.

Hand washing dishes for 5 people has become a nightmare chore for me, and my hands, and my nails. I can't even imagine how joyful it would be to be able to just load all the dirty dishes into a machine and close the door and walk away. I think it would be downright heavenly.

Of course if I don't wind up getting a dishwasher for Christmas it won't be the end of the world. We'll just save our pennies and other change for awhile and get one ourselves.

And on that note I'm going to hit publish on this post and go and try to find something productive to do....there's plenty of dishes in the sink that need washin'!

Computers for Christmas

DoctorD
Yesterday
1 comment

I've ended up buying two 13" MacBook Pro's, one first for my wife, and then one for my son.

But none for me! What is wrong with this picture?

Macbook Pro 13"

They are great computers, though. Top drawer. Both recipients are thrilled. (You can see I sometimes distribute presents early).

Two of my wife's children have 15" versions of the same basic computer. Larger screens are helpful for video work.

Sobering is the word. Also careful but determined.

DoctorD
Yesterday
2 comments

Here is the video and text of the President's address tonight. It is such a change to have a president speak who tries to lay out facts, to tell the truth, to assess risks and costs. To have a President who is capable of being an adult.

Exactly why did we attack Iraq anyhow? When that wasn't where our enemies were? I am trying to remember. I don't think there ever was a very good explanation offered.

One thing that struck me is how young the West Point cadets appear:

West Point cadets listening to Obama

(The photo is from USA Today, which I really have come to consider quite a good newspaper. We read it when we travel. Often it is distributed free at motels).

Pink Glove dance

DoctorD
2 days ago
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The daughter of a friend had some involvement in this effort!

Subaru playing in the snow

DoctorD
2 days ago
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This is an ad that has been running on tv lately. I am very interested in seeing how accurate, how representative, it is. We can get pretty significant snow around here, and our street is completely open to the winds from the west.

Also, I got the impression at the dealer that Subaru is a relatively small auto company, and doesn't advertise much. But it seems to me I have seen quite a few television ads lately. Or am I just noticing them more?

Is winter here?

DoctorD
3 days ago
2 comments

We had ice on the little pond behind our house this morning. For the second time this year. Guess it got pretty cold overnight.

Wonder if the iPod in my car could freeze up? (It is a "classic," with a hard drive. I also have a Touch, but it is kept indoors).

They put tall little flags into the ground at many key points, to try to keep the snowplows from crossing lawns and knocking over mailboxes.

End of November, start of December--it does seem like about the time for a first snow. We will see.

Summing up 2009 for me

DoctorD
4 days ago
13 comments

We have started working on our annual "Christmas letter," which is a way to keep in touch with, and keep informed, friends and relatives that we are not in communication with very often. And it also is a kind of "diary entry," as I have kept the letters from past years, so together they offer a chronological summary of our lives.

Quite a bit of the letter has been drafted now; perhaps I will post the final version here on Vox later. But, at the moment, what I am most aware of is how boring and unsatisfactory the year 2009, in sum total, has seemed, from my personal perspective.

Mostly we haven't had enough "adventures." I had especially hoped we might be able to return to the red rock country of the southwest for an after-Labor-Day trip--we were out that way last year, but saw only a few of the major sights. Normally we are on the road at that time for year for about three weeks, and I wanted to go back. Actually, at the very start of the year, I had hoped that we might be able to be home for three or four months, and then travel for a month, alternately. (That doesn't really seem unreasonable, when you realize that many who live "up north" here go to Florida for nearly half a year).

But, for one reason and other, it didn't work out. We did have three trips in 2009, but they were shorter, less ambitious, less fun. We do expect to return to Florida in January 2010, too, but that is partly for a cruise (my first) and I find that I am less excited about that than I would be for a longer trip out west.

Anyhow, on reflection, I really missed it--the more extensive travel. Before I retired, I was very involved when working in government, I enjoyed that greatly (and had few opportunities for vacations). Since then I have greatly enjoyed our longer driving trips, seeing the countryside, seeing the country, how people live, the varied sorts of places that they live, learning a little history, now that my "serious" work has ceased.

What to do now, in this segment of life? Some retirees play golf: I think that is a common passion. I have one friend who carves wooden ducks. Different strokes for different folks!

What I like myself, and what I think I have always liked, ever since I was a child, is the exploratory travel. Finding one's way down the road, down the track, down the river, along the path, or (as I did when I was a teenager) through the sky. I have always liked those things; missed the opportunities throughout most of my working life, and this past year I greatly missed it that we didn't have the chance to do more.

Given my generally poor health, I am not counting on having very many more chances, really, either. Bad ticker.

Politically, economically, financially, 2009 has been disappointing, too. I am not disappointed in Obama, who I think is the best president we could possibly hope for. But I am disappointed in how he has been received by Democrats and Republicans in Congress, neither of whom seem seriously interested in addressing the nation's ills. (Yes, there are a few exceptions).

But that is of course a whole 'nuther issue--although an important one from an historical perspective, and really a much more important one than my own small personal troubles and complaints. Still, as 2009 comes to a close, I find that I feel frustrated, bored, disappointed: sorry not to have seen more new things, and not to have been to more new places.

How has 2009 been for you? For me, right now at least, it feels kind of sad. But--I do have a new car, a good road car, and am hoping very much for chances to use it! That is my hope for 2010.

My Favorite...........................................................

Sheila
6 days ago
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Be still, and know that I [am] God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Ps. 46:10

This is my favorite verse of Scripture. I think it is because it reminds me to get alone and be quiet at times so that I can hear the "still small voice of God". Right now....this verse is speaking to me because my head is spinning in thoughts. Found out that my Uncle passed away this morning. That makes the last elder member of my Dad's side of the family. They are all gone now; my grandparents, my dad, his sister, & now her husband. That leaves us grand-children to carry own. My Granddad was a Baptist preacher for as long as I can remember. He & my grandmother practically raised me and my two brothers because my parents both worked. We lived next door with a pasture between us that we had a path worn down between houses. My Auntie and Uncle lived close to "town" while we lived out in the country. During the summertime, their four children would come out and stay with our grandparents for a week or two. We had so many good times together. And, there weren't all the toys & electronic games and stuff of today. We had mostly "home-made toys" or we used our "imagination", something kids of today have no idea how to do. I don't think any of us ever used this phrase that I can remember, "I'm bored"!!! There was too much to do. (smile)

Well, here is to my Uncle Harley.........thanks for being such a wonderful patient & loving man. I know these past years have not been kind to you......go now & rest in the arms of your heavenly Father. Thank you, Lord, for blessing my life with this man & his family. I have such great memories. Thank you for that,too. In Jesus' name, AMEN