But let’s
face it – everyone seems to have read the millions of words written about Covid
so far and have formed their own loudly communicated opinions. I know few people
these days who don’t think they are smart and right about all this.
I am not
going to jump on that pile. I was talking to a dear friend the other night from
a distance of six feet and we got into a conversation about how people our age –
say in the 70s – are having their lives wrecked by Covid.
Here we are. The conversation reviewed our lives. We worked hard. We raised kids. We gave to our communities. We saved money. We are retired and were living the good life on our giant nest eggs and wham this thing come out of left field and smacked us in the back of the head. Ouch.
Here we are. The conversation reviewed our lives. We worked hard. We raised kids. We gave to our communities. We saved money. We are retired and were living the good life on our giant nest eggs and wham this thing come out of left field and smacked us in the back of the head. Ouch.
All those dreams of cruises, drinking JD out of
half gallon jugs, getting VD in Orlando -- all trashed in a mere moment. Now
we can’t even go to Motel Six and we are down to drinking Heaven Hill. So sad
for us boomers.
Whah whah
whah.
And then we
started wondering about other people before us who turned 70.
What about
people who turned 70 in 1929?
What about
people who hit 70 in 1939?
What about 1959?
What about 1964?
What about
1973?
What did the
old folks face in 1979?
The point of
this short piece today is to bring out audience participation.
I won’t make
light of the fact that Boomers today have very big challenges. What if you had
hoped interest rates would be 7% per year. Or what if we had planned on the stock
market rising another 20% ? What if we had some houses we hoped to sell at
great prices? What if we had planned to work part-time jobs at restaurants and bars?
Somebody pulled the rug out from beneath us for sure!. But are we really so special?
The above list , however, included some interesting years. What was it like for a 70-year old in those
years and immediately thereafter?
Did I miss
some other years that were even worse for the newly retired?
This
discussion won’t take away your hurting today. But maybe it might make you
realize that you are not alone. The elderly have gone through difficulties
before. Maybe we are not so special.
For you
younger people – I am not trying to diminish your problems. Your cohorts may be
suffering much more than boomers today. But since I just turned 74 in
March, it seemed appropriate to focus on the complainers in my group. You are
invited to participate in this exercise if you wish no matter what your age.
Stay well. I hope to see you on the other side. :-)
Stay well. I hope to see you on the other side. :-)
My Grandfather owned an Electrical Contracting company that started right after WWI. He was hit hard in 1929 but there are always homes to wire for electricity in those days.....fewer. He lived above his brother in-law who had the local grocery store....so they had food and no rent. the 30's were lean times in Florida and my mother was sent to FSU to get an accounting degree in 1939 and returned back home in 1941 where she had learned enough to take care of the books. Her bother joined the Army Air Force in 1941 after a stint at Georgia Tech, He became a navigator for a bomber in Europe. His brother got a football scholarship to Tech in 1946 and became a Commander of the USS Forestall. In all of the recessions that you listed, the family built up 5 different businesses and shrunk and expanded. We all were taught to survive and position ourselves in future
ReplyDeletebusiness opportunities that were more or less resilient. This particular recession is or will be different because the service industry grew more in proportion than manufacturing. Now people have to choose between what they need until jobs and or salaries become available....which puts in the hands of the government.
People say that this one will be different from all the past ones. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years. Will we go back to old habits or will the world be permanently changed?
DeleteDear LSD. I don’t see how yer dreamz of acquiring VD in Orlando are trashed. It seemz plauzible you could somehow git to Mouseville and find an accommodation in one of Tom Bodett’s No-Tell Motel 6s ‘cauze the “light’s alwayz on.”
ReplyDeleteThanks Tuna. I knew I could count on your for good advice.
DeleteI’m not quite in my 70s but am Medicare eligible and will begin presenting my card at the end of next month when I go off the corporate insurance dole.
ReplyDeleteFinancial downturns have two practical dimensions, width and depth. I remember my parents’ anxiety during the major market decline in 1987. Black Tuesday or something like that. Big drops don’t get scary names anymore. It was deep but did not last very long. 2007-2009 remains the biggest financial collapse in my memory, both for its breadth of effect on the economy, the long period of time it took to recover and number of enduring regulations and reorganizations that occurred in its aftermath. The major indices have actually held up remarkably well during this current crisis, with the exception of my Vail Resorts stock and a few notable sectors that depend on human congestion for profit.
Beyond the purely financial disasters, there have a been a few disorienting events that seemed to freeze our society in place. Memorable to me were:
• 9/11
• The burning oil wells in Kuwait and Desert Storm
• The rise and insidious expansion of ISIS and the publicly circulated beheading of the journalist. This was an international cancer with no immediate antidote.
These were threats beyond Social Security solvency and 401k largesse as they risked disruption to our most basic forms of governance and civility. Failing to legislate sensible federal budgets and allowing our Treasury to default on payments, even momentarily, are another source of justified paranoia. For those of us raised in the shadow of the “The full faith and credit...”, all I can say is “ridiculous”.
Against your prejudices, being reduced to Heaven Hill is actually serendipity. Heaven Hill produces and bottles Old Fitzgerald, at $19 a fifth, and is truly one of America’s grand bourbons. When JD, Hudson and King’s County become exorbitant, it’s assuring to know that quality is still within reach.
I am reminded of an old "Wizard of Id" cartoon where the knight looks down at a wooly caterpillar and says 'the caterpillar has a heavy coat, that means it will be a hard winter' to which the king replies 'Don't be silly caterpillars always have a hard winter'.
ReplyDeleteEven before anyone ever saw the words corona virus there seemed to be homeless beggars at every busy intersection and endless stories about how recent college grads would never have a job that paid enough to cover their student loan debt. Plenty of talking heads were warning that the economy was built on a house of cards and we could not continue printing money to pay for things we could not afford.
I have a good friend stuck in Paris who just noted on facebook that on the upside for the first time in his memory the water had gotten so clear that for the first time in his memory you could see the bottom of the Seine River. Plenty of stories about how images from space show a dramatic decrease in air pollution world wide.
Bottom line is life goes on and I doubt this virus will have much of a lasting imprint on history. Already the number of folks getting/dying from it are much lower than the models predicted. The stock market seems to be making a come back. As long as you are not a caterpillar things will be fine.
Nice piece Rage. I am not a caterpillar so I am hoping for the best.
Delete