A Requiem for Old School

The End of An Age!

Before There Was

Old School

There Was "Old School"

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And somewhere in-between there is My Old School!

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Having been born in the late 1950's I grew up in a time of true change. Over the course of my life I've seen the first space shot, the first man on the moon, the first cell and sat phones. the first I phones, the first color TV's, the first computers, the advent of the internet, wireless technology, and electric cars, to name a few. If you were born in the 50's you were also born in the midst of a cultural revolution, saw Martin Luther King Jr, John F Kennedy, and Robert F Kennedy assassinated, and lived through five recessions.  In fact you more than likely spent at least 1/3 of your life in difficult economic times.

There were no government bail outs, no safety nets for large or small businesses, no extended unemployment benefits, no nuttin, and the sun came up every morning, life went on, and we made it through for the most part none the worse for wear.

In fact, when you think about it. It was a good way to grow up because growing up in those days grew character. You learned to make due with less to keep a roof over your head and food in your belly.

Not may people had big homes, a TV in every room, more than one phone in the house or more than two cars. But what most people back in the day was net worth!

You see, unlike today, aside from big ticket items like your home and perhaps your car, people actually owned their possessions. We were the greatest creditor nation in the world.

Today people actually own nothing:

*Total mortgage debt rose to $9.4-trillion *Total auto debt in Q2 of 2019 is 1.3-trllion, a jump of $59-billion from the same time in 2018.

*Student Loan Debt continues to escalate, growing to a record $1.48-trillion in Q2 of 2019, up $73-billion from the same juncture in 2018.

*Credit Card loans crossed the $1 trillion mark, reaching $1.08-trillion in Q3 of 2019. Credit-card debt, considered revolving debt because it’s meant to be paid off each month, is only 26.2% of the total debt (after accounting for 38% of the total debt in 2008).

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So today ya got the bling. ya got the million dollar house, ya got your $119k Tesla Model S Performance, 4 cars for the test of the family, TV's and computers in every room, and EVERYONE has an Smart Phone.  And why not?   I mean you earned it and have the right to do with it as you will.  And there is nothing wrong with any of that IF you really own the stuff.

In Progress