78 years ago I was a random collection of chemicals spanning thousands of organisms

kingoomieiii: Not if you weren't a white man.

But then, this is the Weekly Standard.

Double or triple negative is hurting my brain. But I assume you are saying blacks/women/gays and such had vastly less rights and much more social stigma. I'm always amazed how people seem to think the good old days of segregation and primitive technology was somehow awesome. I prefer not dying of influenza, even as a white guy.

Barakku:

Double or triple negative is hurting my brain. But I assume you are saying blacks/women/gays and such had vastly less rights and much more social stigma. I'm always amazed how people seem to think the good old days of segregation and primitive technology was somehow awesome. I prefer not dying of influenza, even as a white guy.

Dunno about influenza, or all that blacks/women/gays rights crap, but a lot of cool stuff has been invented in the last 78 years.

I'd say.. yes. Things are better. Re-election is warranted.

My bowels don't work like they used to and I smell kind of funky, but my lawn is immaculate, so I got that going for me.

brb, getting polio

To quote Billy Joel "The good old days weren't always good"

Bingo. AUTOMATED PHONE SURVEY. Who still have land lines?

yogaFLAME: brb, getting polio

I lol'd.

Not sure about then, but about four decades ago when minimum wage was $1.60 an hour, I could buy 6.4 gallons of gas for every hour I worked. Help wanted signs were everywhere. Part time jobs were plentiful.

Now? That 6.4 gallons of gas means that minimum wage would have to be $16.60 an hour to have kept even, the factories are mostly gone, the part time jobs pay about $8.00 an hour, if you can find them. And Joe Biden says if the (D)'s lose "We're going to play hell..."

FDR derangement syndrome strikes again. At least I'm not in a hooverville. But why don't you ask someone who was alive then, contards?

Yes

flannelled fool: Not sure about then, but about four decades ago when minimum wage was $1.60 an hour, I could buy 6.4 gallons of gas for every hour I worked. Help wanted signs were everywhere. Part time jobs were plentiful.

Now? That 6.4 gallons of gas means that minimum wage would have to be $16.60 an hour to have kept even

Want to know the silly thing? There are people who predict economic doom about minimum wage increases, despite, based on the information you provided, you'd have to more than double the current minimum wage to get the same purchasing power that people had 40 years ago while at the same relative income level.

Why Yes, yes I am. In 1932 my Grandfather was an impoverished-but-at-least-employed young man living in the badlands of Oklahoma who had to hunt squirrels and rabbits to feed his family. And yet he felt himself to be much more fortunate than his extended family of mountaineer subsistence farmers living back in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee.

/yeah, go ahead, call them hillbillies and Okies
//God bless FDR for the TVA and so much more

I don't follow your logic. Are you saying the Republicans are jumping at the chance to raise the mean working wage of the average, simple, blue collar working class bootstrappy American?

No, but if we drilled our own oil, conserved the hell out of what we've got, we'd move our energy costs more in line with what I experienced as a kid. Then the minimum wage(MW) worker would actually get more for that same dollar.

Of course, that would mean a boom in the drilling industry, thousands of jobs would be created, and a few tarballs might roll up on deserted beaches. So forget it...during this administration.

It's kinda funny, when the (R)'s are in office, the (D)'s scream about the MW. Now that they've got the House, Senate, and WH?

* crickets *

Ya know, whether you lean left demo or right repub, this guy has been in there too long. There is no way in hell he's in touch with his constituants. Time to go man, it's time to go.

flannelled fool: Not sure about then, but about four decades ago when minimum wage was $1.60 an hour, I could buy 6.4 gallons of gas for every hour I worked. Help wanted signs were everywhere. Part time jobs were plentiful.

Now? That 6.4 gallons of gas means that minimum wage would have to be $16.60 an hour to have kept even, the factories are mostly gone, the part time jobs pay about $8.00 an hour, if you can find them. And Joe Biden says if the (D)'s lose "We're going to play hell..."

yeah gas was cheaper back in the day because there is a shiat load more demand/not much more refining. factories have moved to where labor is cheaper. what's the point of biatching and moaning? there is literally nothing that can be done, unless your willing to buy american goods that cost a shiatload more than foreign ones (but then your standard of living goes down).

relcec: flannelled fool: Not sure about then, but about four decades ago when minimum wage was $1.60 an hour, I could buy 6.4 gallons of gas for every hour I worked. Help wanted signs were everywhere. Part time jobs were plentiful.

Now? That 6.4 gallons of gas means that minimum wage would have to be $16.60 an hour to have kept even, the factories are mostly gone, the part time jobs pay about $8.00 an hour, if you can find them. And Joe Biden says if the (D)'s lose "We're going to play hell..."

yeah gas was cheaper back in the day because there is a shiat load more demand/not much more refining. factories have moved to where labor is cheaper. what's the point of biatching and moaning? there is literally nothing that can be done, unless your willing to buy american goods that cost a shiatload more than foreign ones (but then your standard of living goes down).

Yeah, because competition for labor drives wages down? No, outsourcing drives wages down. ~big eye roll~

Bigdogdaddy: relcec: flannelled fool: Not sure about then, but about four decades ago when minimum wage was $1.60 an hour, I could buy 6.4 gallons of gas for every hour I worked. Help wanted signs were everywhere. Part time jobs were plentiful.

Now? That 6.4 gallons of gas means that minimum wage would have to be $16.60 an hour to have kept even, the factories are mostly gone, the part time jobs pay about $8.00 an hour, if you can find them. And Joe Biden says if the (D)'s lose "We're going to play hell..."

yeah gas was cheaper back in the day because there is a shiat load more demand/not much more refining. factories have moved to where labor is cheaper. what's the point of biatching and moaning? there is literally nothing that can be done, unless your willing to buy american goods that cost a shiatload more than foreign ones (but then your standard of living goes down).

Yeah, because competition for labor drives wages down? No, outsourcing drives wages down. ~big eye roll~

what do you think your saying?

Bigdogdaddy: Ya know, whether you lean left demo or right repub, this guy has been in there too long. There is no way in hell he's in touch with his constituants. Time to go man, it's time to go.



Yep.

GTFO

A random phone survey of 300 people is without a doubt in my mind an accurate depiction of a populace as a whole.
Most people I know in my age group don't have landlines, and screen their calls.

SuburbanCowboy: A random phone survey of 300 people is without a doubt in my mind an accurate depiction of a populace as a whole.
Most people I know in my age group don't have landlines, and screen their calls.

most people in your age group don't vote and don't have much money.

I was in high school in the 1970s. It was a rough time in the country. Lots of economic uncertainty. Violence and drugs in high schools. Trouble in the middle east. A shortage of fuel for cars and homes. Key food items like coffee, sugar, and red meat became really, really expensive.

One night, I was watching the news with my dad, a man who had raised kids in the '40s and '50s, and who was now raising a second batch through the '60s and '70s. There was a story about a few high schools that were adding metal detectors, a new thing for schools back then. I turned to my dad and asked, "So was it harder to raise the older kids through those times, or is it harder to raise us through these time." I was pretty sure I knew the answer. I was wrong.

My dad said, "Back then. I never have to worry about you or your sister getting Polio and spending the rest of your lives in an iron lung." Suddenly, the news seemed less scary.

I miss my dad.

flannelled fool: I don't follow your logic. Are you saying the Republicans are jumping at the chance to raise the mean working wage of the average, simple, blue collar working class bootstrappy American?

No, but if we drilled our own oil, conserved the hell out of what we've got, we'd move our energy costs more in line with what I experienced as a kid. Then the minimum wage(MW) worker would actually get more for that same dollar.

Of course, that would mean a boom in the drilling industry, thousands of jobs would be created, and a few tarballs might roll up on deserted beaches. So forget it...during this administration.

It's kinda funny, when the (R)'s are in office, the (D)'s scream about the MW. Now that they've got the House, Senate, and WH?

* crickets *

Ah, the good old days, when goils was goils and men was men.

flannelled fool: I don't follow your logic. Are you saying the Republicans are jumping at the chance to raise the mean working wage of the average, simple, blue collar working class bootstrappy American?

No, but if we drilled our own oil, conserved the hell out of what we've got, we'd move our energy costs more in line with what I experienced as a kid. Then the minimum wage(MW) worker would actually get more for that same dollar.

Of course, that would mean a boom in the drilling industry, thousands of jobs would be created, and a few tarballs might roll up on deserted beaches. So forget it...during this administration.

It's kinda funny, when the (R)'s are in office, the (D)'s scream about the MW. Now that they've got the House, Senate, and WH?

* crickets *

You hear those crickets because they already raised the minimum wage. Granted, it should probably be raised again. But the issue isn't as pressing as it was in 2006.

My dad was born in 1932. He was a breech birth and my grandmother had him on the kitchen table because they could not afford to pay a hospital bill. My grandparents were Russian immigrants. Grandma was a seamstress in the garment district, Grandpa worked in demolition. My mother was born in 1933 in a hospital on Welfare Island (now Roosevelt Island) and was expected to die shortly after birth due to the poor nutrition my grandmother received during her pregnancy. While recovering from giving birth, the nurses in the hospital enlisted my grandmother to breastfeed other babies born there since many of the mothers died during/after childbirth or were so malnourished that they could not produce milk. My grandparents ate dog food often during the depression since it was the only "meat" they could afford. I also had an aunt that died in childhood thanks to Scarlett Fever brought home on books that her siblings found in the trash.
I'd say I am a lot better off than my family was back then, and do not wish to repeat that horrific era (which seems to be the goal of the neocons).

/cool story, yada yada

How soon we forget

Phil Herup: Bigdogdaddy: Ya know, whether you lean left demo or right repub, this guy has been in there too long. There is no way in hell he's in touch with his constituants. Time to go man, it's time to go.



Yep.

GTFO

Wow, we agree on something...although maybe for different reasons. I HATE political dynasties more than anything else.

The Grapes of Wrath and The Trail of Tears describe my ancestors' lives and I heard their stories many times growing up. My financial struggles to finance Botox, dermabrasions, louboutins, pale in comparison.

Well...I'm having a lot more sex than I was then, so I'd say I'm doing alright.

78 years ago my biological grandparents were ages 2, 3, just born, and not yet born. Now 3 of those four are dead.

katrina_666: My dad was born in 1932. He was a breech birth and my grandmother had him on the kitchen table because they could not afford to pay a hospital bill. My grandparents were Russian immigrants. Grandma was a seamstress in the garment district, Grandpa worked in demolition. My mother was born in 1933 in a hospital on Welfare Island (now Roosevelt Island) and was expected to die shortly after birth due to the poor nutrition my grandmother received during her pregnancy. While recovering from giving birth, the nurses in the hospital enlisted my grandmother to breastfeed other babies born there since many of the mothers died during/after childbirth or were so malnourished that they could not produce milk. My grandparents ate dog food often during the depression since it was the only "meat" they could afford. I also had an aunt that died in childhood thanks to Scarlett Fever brought home on books that her siblings found in the trash.
I'd say I am a lot better off than my family was back then, and do not wish to repeat that horrific era (which seems to be the goal of the neocons).

/cool story, yada yada

But in 1932 you had so much more FREEDOM!! That was before the DemocRat-Stalinist Party took over and destroyed FREEDOM. The country was much better off then, with all that FREEDOM.

Let's see here, 78 years ago would be 1932. In 1932, my mother's parents were teenagers and didn't even know each other yet, my father's parents were in grammar school and didn't know each other yet, my parents weren't even figments of their respective parents' imaginations and I wasn't even close to being thought of being born.

So yeah, I'd say I'm a hell of a lot better off now than I was in 1932. For starters, we aren't in a Depression and there's no fear anyone in my family is going to die of polio. Add in TV, microwave ovens and available birth control for women....things are pretty damn awesome nowadays!

katrina_666: I'd say I am a lot better off than my family was back then, and do not wish to repeat that horrific era (which seems to be the goal of the neocons).



Come on those social policies must be good, because they spawned this guy. I mean he is quite likely the richest human being ever to walk the planet, so that means capitalism was working great! Plus tophats!!

Gee, how about "Are you better off now than 12 years ago"?
Seems like the more obvious question to ask.

Well, realistically speaking, in 1932, my mother's parents were still in college. My dad's parents were immigrants in a coal town in Pennsylvania, and my dad's father was developing the black-lung disease that would eventually kill him. Neither of my parents were even close to being born yet, nevermind me.

In a more abstract sense, tho, I never had to worry about all the fun diseases my grandparents had to nurse my parents through (certainly my dad, who grew up less than wealthy); I'm sitting here at a computer in a much nicer house than either of my parents ever had; and all my nephews and niece won't be dying of black-lung or polio; so I guess things are better now.

78 years ago my mother lost a dime (so the story goes). Her father chastised her, telling her she'd just lost a bushel of oats.

Oats were 10 cents a bushel in 1932.

Are low prices a good thing or a bad thing?

aearra: Bingo. AUTOMATED PHONE SURVEY. Who still have land lines?

The ones without throbbing head tumors. They're easy to spot.

78 years ago? That reminds me of a story.

78 years ago I took the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe so I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. Give me five bees for a quarter you'd say. Now where were we, oh ya. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because if the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.

Speaking of coins, I have a box of mint-condition 1918 liberty-head silver dollars. You see, back in those days, rich men would ride around in Zeppelins, dropping coins on people, and one day I seen J.D. Rockefeller flying by. So I run of the house with a big washtub and... hey! Where are you going? Anyway, about my washtub. I'd just used it that morning to wash my turkey, which in those days was known as a walking-bird. We'd always have walking-bird on Thanksgiving, with all the trimmings: cranberries, injun eyes, yams stuffed with gunpowder. Then we'd all watch football, which in those days was called baseball...

Eh, why didn't you get something useful, like storm windows, or a nice pipe organ? I'm thirsty! Ew, what smells like mustard? There sure are a lot of ugly people in your neighborhood. Ooh, look at that one. Ow, my glaucoma just got worse. The president is a Democrat! Hello? I can't unbuckle my seat belt. Hello? There are too many leaves in your walkway...