03-05-2022, 11:48 AM
Environmental concerns are getting a lot more lip service these days even though there hasn't been as much real action as there probably should be. And I can recall that this was all started during the tremendous turmoil of the late 1960s. It seems that Boomers in their youth cast the first stone towards deindustrialization with their penchant for challenging pollution and largely laid it at the feet of heavy industry. As we all know, it was about a decade later that the big labor unions became the fall guys and many industries first left the industrial North for the South where there was not a strong history of unionism. Later on they could do better by setting up their operations in third world countries.
Feelings of optimism and good will need to expand and bubble to the surface before significant change can happen not only with environmentalism but also with just about anything else.
Might you also being a big comeuppance among those who chose to overextend themselves, going back to when conspicuous consumption was in vogue? My generation was mostly warned by our elders, many of whom lived through the soul-searing experience of the Great Depression. We on the other hand tended to throw caution to the wind in this regard. A popular car bumper sticker of the day read: "He who has the most toys wins". I for one didn't accumulate very many so-called toys but did make up for it in other ways, such as taking some vacation trips. While at it might as well point out that in the book that this era may not contain a great depression but that a Great Devaluation would be a possibility. I have not really seen any indication of that yet and am wondering if any of you think this is still a possibility.
During the boom times of the Reagan era (even though we all know now that they were only boom times for the top 5 percent or so), we were told that the gift of this aspect is our ability to be open to all that life has to offer. An innuendo to live and spend as if there is no tomorrow. Financial risk taking was at its height at the time even though social risk taking nosedived following the advent of the AIDS scare. When Bill and Hillary Clinton ascended to the White House there was a story I read comparing the Boomers (they were the first WH Boomer couple) with their parents. It went something like this: The parents stayed married, Boomers got divorced. The parents managed a household on one paycheck; Boomers have difficulty doing so on two. The parents didn't expect all that much out of life; Boomers expect everything, and that's why so many are so damned depressed.
We are now once again being remind of the challenge to watch our spending. Seems that much of the economy is being propped up by consumer credit. All those extravagant purchases or indulgences may not look as wonderful once the bill comes due. Not only on an individual level but collectively as well. What might happened once the credit dries up could make even the Great Depression seem like a walk in the park.
Feelings of optimism and good will need to expand and bubble to the surface before significant change can happen not only with environmentalism but also with just about anything else.
Might you also being a big comeuppance among those who chose to overextend themselves, going back to when conspicuous consumption was in vogue? My generation was mostly warned by our elders, many of whom lived through the soul-searing experience of the Great Depression. We on the other hand tended to throw caution to the wind in this regard. A popular car bumper sticker of the day read: "He who has the most toys wins". I for one didn't accumulate very many so-called toys but did make up for it in other ways, such as taking some vacation trips. While at it might as well point out that in the book that this era may not contain a great depression but that a Great Devaluation would be a possibility. I have not really seen any indication of that yet and am wondering if any of you think this is still a possibility.
During the boom times of the Reagan era (even though we all know now that they were only boom times for the top 5 percent or so), we were told that the gift of this aspect is our ability to be open to all that life has to offer. An innuendo to live and spend as if there is no tomorrow. Financial risk taking was at its height at the time even though social risk taking nosedived following the advent of the AIDS scare. When Bill and Hillary Clinton ascended to the White House there was a story I read comparing the Boomers (they were the first WH Boomer couple) with their parents. It went something like this: The parents stayed married, Boomers got divorced. The parents managed a household on one paycheck; Boomers have difficulty doing so on two. The parents didn't expect all that much out of life; Boomers expect everything, and that's why so many are so damned depressed.
We are now once again being remind of the challenge to watch our spending. Seems that much of the economy is being propped up by consumer credit. All those extravagant purchases or indulgences may not look as wonderful once the bill comes due. Not only on an individual level but collectively as well. What might happened once the credit dries up could make even the Great Depression seem like a walk in the park.