| | Michael:
Well, for me, the reason that memory is so vivid is, they were real people; there isn't a 'symbol' to be found in any of that.
I can see Howie's father and mother standing in their kitchen in that row home(we call them townhouses ever since the 70s)to this day, 50 years later. I remember what Howie's father was wearing -- a kind of dark green coveralls, matching pants and workshirt, his work uniform. His arm around her, her crying and laughing, and him holding the check in his fingertips out in front of both of them, just like it was a million dollars.
It was a take home check that exceeded $100/wk.
It left an impression with me, one I clearly never forgot. These were happy people. They were living in a clean neighborhood. They sent their kids to great public schools. And JFK was making speeches at Rice.
It might have been the very pinnacle of good times and optimism for America's middle class, and even folks like us, who were actually upper lower working class and most importantly of all, had absolutely no idea that we were, because American politics had not quite been so over-run with the incessant elitist politics of divide by class and conquer.
Succumbing to that nonsense has clearly not worked out well for those who fell for it.
The comparison to JFK's federal budget at $100B at the time(the peak of the Cold War, and over half -- nearly $55B-- of which was for defense) and today's over $3600B is direct and easily made. 50 years is a decent stand back against which to compare trends.
Are we on the right trajectory? Are we anywhere near close to it? Do we even have the sign right?
I didn't make up any part of this story. Not Howie, not his mother and father, not the check, not the laughing and crying, not the $100B JFK federal budget, not the factor of 7.5 CPI/inflation since then, not the barely x 2.0 growth in population.
BTW, an easy way to gauge official inflation is to track the cost of first class postage; it is officially, by law, limited to inflation, and has been for all of our lives.
Howie's family was paying 6c for 1st class postage back then.
It just went up to 45c. Sure enough, factor of 7.5.
regards,
Fred
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It's 1961. I'm 6 years old, and in the kitchen of my buddy, Howie. Howie has a brother, a stay at home mother who is active in the local PTA, and a father who graduated from HS and is a janitor at Beth Steel. Howie's father is standing in the kitchen with one arm around his wife, who is crying and laughing. They are staring at his first weekly take home check that cleared the miracle amount of $100. They live in a clean neighborhood on a tree lined street, they send their kids to a good local school. They think they have just won the lottery. The day this is happening, JFK's federal budget is $100B, over half of which is for defense at the peak of the cold war. JFK will soon give his speech at Rice, and America the nation, as well as American economies, are about to go on a tear. A nation of inspired youth is about to head off in a hundred million different quests to change the world. As well as the odd adventure in Vietnam. Flash ahead to 2012. The federal government spends over $3600B/yr of the nation's income, not $100B/yr. But where are the stories of joyous janitors and their happy wives crying with joy over bringing home a weekly check in which Dad the HS grad has cleared over $3600/wk?
