Comments on: Was Life Better in the 1940s and 1950s? http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/ For People Pursuing Freedom Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:09:03 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: 27 year old living amoungst strangers. http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-5513 27 year old living amoungst strangers. Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:02:23 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-5513 My vehicle and $50 used stereo are my two most valuable possessions, in terms of monetary value (I am using my friends computer at the moment). I am amazed that people believe computers, televisions, cell phones and higher education are necessities. I think many of you should visit Haiti. My sister worked there prior to the earthquake. She told me stories of extremely poor families whom were happier than your average American. They aren't running themselves ragged to aquire a larger bank account and inanimate objects. Both of which will remain with the living after they crate you or dump your ashes into an urn. Thoreau was absolutely correct. "Simplify simplify". It is sad how obessed we are with what appears to be everything except actual necessities. My vehicle and $50 used stereo are my two most valuable possessions, in terms of monetary value (I am using my friends computer at the moment). I am amazed that people believe computers, televisions, cell phones and higher education are necessities. I think many of you should visit Haiti. My sister worked there prior to the earthquake. She told me stories of extremely poor families whom were happier than your average American. They aren’t running themselves ragged to aquire a larger bank account and inanimate objects. Both of which will remain with the living after they crate you or dump your ashes into an urn. Thoreau was absolutely correct. “Simplify simplify”. It is sad how obessed we are with what appears to be everything except actual necessities.

]]> By: Nick http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-5180 Nick Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:28:15 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-5180 No offense, but the assesment here is kind inaccurate. I mean I definitely agree with the idea here that we have a lot of modern convienences, and that our current situation in many ways isn't as bad as other hugely desperate times in the United states, and that we all need to look at the positive in life, but the initial statement here was regarding the 40's and 50's, but then you go into actually discussing the great depression periods of the 30's. The later 40's and 50's were far different than the 30's you were depicting here, and main fact is that in the 50's people all over the US, were able to buy homes, even with nice pieces of land, raise a family, and actually pay their home off and save a real retirement with one decent income, now that is almost impossible. Even people with lower end jobs, like a milk man in the 50's, could pay off a home, support his family, and save a real retirement. Now days, it takes two incomes just to make ends meet for a family, and forget really being able to buy a house with a nice chunk of land, pay it off, and have a real reitirement unless you make upper end, like atleast $150,000 a year type money. This is the biggest difference, and why the later 40's and 50's trully were a better time in the US. Also during this time, there was a good economical balance, and you didn't have to totally tailor your private life to you employers demands like you do now, a man could be a man, and if he got the job done well his credentials came second. Now you have to meat an overwhelming amout of nitpicking demands to get the better jobs, like personally prying health exams, blood tests, urine tests, and that fact that employers keep databases of every employer you worked for, giving workers no control of who they consider their refernces, unless you have upper class credntials. This unfortuneatl places employers as automatically in control of your future employment opportunities, regardless of if they treated you unjustly or unfairly. No offense, but the assesment here is kind inaccurate. I mean I definitely agree with the idea here that we have a lot of modern convienences, and that our current situation in many ways isn’t as bad as other hugely desperate times in the United states, and that we all need to look at the positive in life, but the initial statement here was regarding the 40′s and 50′s, but then you go into actually discussing the great depression periods of the 30′s. The later 40′s and 50′s were far different than the 30′s you were depicting here, and main fact is that in the 50′s people all over the US, were able to buy homes, even with nice pieces of land, raise a family, and actually pay their home off and save a real retirement with one decent income, now that is almost impossible. Even people with lower end jobs, like a milk man in the 50′s, could pay off a home, support his family, and save a real retirement. Now days, it takes two incomes just to make ends meet for a family, and forget really being able to buy a house with a nice chunk of land, pay it off, and have a real reitirement unless you make upper end, like atleast $150,000 a year type money. This is the biggest difference, and why the later 40′s and 50′s trully were a better time in the US. Also during this time, there was a good economical balance, and you didn’t have to totally tailor your private life to you employers demands like you do now, a man could be a man, and if he got the job done well his credentials came second. Now you have to meat an overwhelming amout of nitpicking demands to get the better jobs, like personally prying health exams, blood tests, urine tests, and that fact that employers keep databases of every employer you worked for, giving workers no control of who they consider their refernces, unless you have upper class credntials. This unfortuneatl places employers as automatically in control of your future employment opportunities, regardless of if they treated you unjustly or unfairly.

]]> By: Using a Mind Gem to Achieve Success in Life | mindsecretsexposed.com http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-3819 Using a Mind Gem to Achieve Success in Life | mindsecretsexposed.com Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:19:39 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-3819 [...] not go their way. Break out from it early! Stop what you have been doing for the past years of your life. Rather, use positive affirmations. For example, instead of saying “Why must this happen”, say [...] [...] not go their way. Break out from it early! Stop what you have been doing for the past years of your life. Rather, use positive affirmations. For example, instead of saying “Why must this happen”, say [...]

]]> By: SADRU JASANI http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-3818 SADRU JASANI Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:26:46 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-3818 YOU HAVE EDUCATED ME MORE IN ONE ARTICLE, THAN MY 35 YEARS IN THIS COUNTRY. THANKS A MILLION. I AM ABLE TO APPRECIATE LIFE MORE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE. THANKS FOR OPENING MY EYES. THANK GOD AND AMERICA FOR EVERYTHING! BEST REGARDS, SADRU. YOU HAVE EDUCATED ME MORE IN ONE ARTICLE, THAN MY 35 YEARS IN THIS COUNTRY. THANKS A MILLION. I AM ABLE TO APPRECIATE LIFE MORE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE. THANKS FOR OPENING MY EYES. THANK GOD AND AMERICA FOR EVERYTHING! BEST REGARDS, SADRU.

]]> By: shagaia http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-3817 shagaia Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:47:43 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-3817 As you are - so am I - grateful. As far as those old cars that you think no one would want, if you know where I can get one of'em - 55 Ford Thunderbird for example - at their original price let me know - I'd like to order two. GREAT post by the way. Peace, Shagaia As you are – so am I – grateful. As far as those old cars that you think no one would want, if you know where I can get one of’em – 55 Ford Thunderbird for example – at their original price let me know – I’d like to order two.

GREAT post by the way. Peace, Shagaia

]]> By: N'Awlins Kat http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-3816 N'Awlins Kat Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:15:05 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-3816 Steve, I so agree with what you've written! The "it was the best of times; it was the worst of times," I think can be applied to any age. I'm 42. Last year, I gave my dad a box of retro candies from the 50s for Christmas, and it sparked a wonderful day of reminiscing. He grew up fairly well off by 1940s-50s standards; my grandfather was an oil company chemist. But the 1950s were times of polio; one of my dad's friends spent a year in an iron lung. When summer thunderstorms or ice storms knocked out power, the machine had to be hand cranked to keep the kid breathing. My dad took over that job frequently once the guy came home from the hospital. The boy spent a year in a children's ward in Chicago; every weekend my dad, who was about 10 or 12 then, rode the train into the city with the kid's mom and dad, after spending all his allowance and money he'd earned on penny candies (like the ones I'd just given him), to share with the kids on the ward. He said a carton of 100 wax soda bottles made everyone light up, such a simple pleasure. (Me, I was struck by the idea of a young boy giving up virtually every Saturday for a year to go to a hospital miles from home, and spend most of his money on the kids there, most of them strangers--but Daddy didn't think that was particularly heroic). Personally, I'll take today's healthcare, warts and all. And I'd like to clone my dad. I spent years living without heat or a/c (in New Orleans--no insulation in the house, and it does get both bitter cold and broiling hot here), but even in the 1980s, it didn't seem like such a sacrifice to me while I was earning my degree. In retrospect, I had a $4,000 Macintosh computer in 1984 that I'd sunk every penny I had into, but no heat or a/c in my house, and my door on one place was held closed with a hasp and padlock. ??!! No car, either, and a lot of times, not much food. One winter, it was so cold in my house (I just wore a coat while I typed) that the Vietnamese refugees I was typing for and tutoring in English showed up with a gift of a space heater--I realized I'd hit a new low when the "boat people" who'd arrived a few years earlier felt sorry for ME! But things got better, and my education was worth it. Last year I got my gratitude reality check...by the truckload. Our house came through the hurricanes with only about $10,000 in damage and no flooding this time. We stored things from three other families in our garage, my husband worked from home for a year till his office was habitable, my daughter went to school half days so we could share our school with another Catholic school that had been destroyed. And our best friends (and their three home-schooled teenage boys) essentially moved in with us for 10 months. They didn't sleep here, but were here usually from 6:30 am to midnight. And I'm used to being alone all day. One particularly stressed out day, while talking to our priest, who's from Zanzibar, Tanzania, I told him I didn't know how much more of the "full house" thing I could stand. The (much) higher grocery, water and electric bills were killing me and the lack of personal space was driving me crazy, especially while dealing with contractors and insurance companies. And living in what looked (still looks in some places) like a bomb zone. Instead of the sympathy I expected, he told me I should get down on my knees and be grateful that we were all able to pool our resources to survive, and said wasn't it nice we had enough to share? He changed my attitude in a hurry! Now, even though my house still isn't done two years later, and some things are back just to the "new normal," I'm reminded of just how lucky we are that we live where and when we do. And I spend a lot less time watching the news--they haven't gotten the picture yet. Steve, I so agree with what you’ve written! The “it was the best of times; it was the worst of times,” I think can be applied to any age. I’m 42. Last year, I gave my dad a box of retro candies from the 50s for Christmas, and it sparked a wonderful day of reminiscing. He grew up fairly well off by 1940s-50s standards; my grandfather was an oil company chemist. But the 1950s were times of polio; one of my dad’s friends spent a year in an iron lung. When summer thunderstorms or ice storms knocked out power, the machine had to be hand cranked to keep the kid breathing. My dad took over that job frequently once the guy came home from the hospital. The boy spent a year in a children’s ward in Chicago; every weekend my dad, who was about 10 or 12 then, rode the train into the city with the kid’s mom and dad, after spending all his allowance and money he’d earned on penny candies (like the ones I’d just given him), to share with the kids on the ward. He said a carton of 100 wax soda bottles made everyone light up, such a simple pleasure. (Me, I was struck by the idea of a young boy giving up virtually every Saturday for a year to go to a hospital miles from home, and spend most of his money on the kids there, most of them strangers–but Daddy didn’t think that was particularly heroic). Personally, I’ll take today’s healthcare, warts and all. And I’d like to clone my dad.

I spent years living without heat or a/c (in New Orleans–no insulation in the house, and it does get both bitter cold and broiling hot here), but even in the 1980s, it didn’t seem like such a sacrifice to me while I was earning my degree. In retrospect, I had a $4,000 Macintosh computer in 1984 that I’d sunk every penny I had into, but no heat or a/c in my house, and my door on one place was held closed with a hasp and padlock. ??!! No car, either, and a lot of times, not much food. One winter, it was so cold in my house (I just wore a coat while I typed) that the Vietnamese refugees I was typing for and tutoring in English showed up with a gift of a space heater–I realized I’d hit a new low when the “boat people” who’d arrived a few years earlier felt sorry for ME! But things got better, and my education was worth it.

Last year I got my gratitude reality check…by the truckload. Our house came through the hurricanes with only about $10,000 in damage and no flooding this time. We stored things from three other families in our garage, my husband worked from home for a year till his office was habitable, my daughter went to school half days so we could share our school with another Catholic school that had been destroyed. And our best friends (and their three home-schooled teenage boys) essentially moved in with us for 10 months. They didn’t sleep here, but were here usually from 6:30 am to midnight. And I’m used to being alone all day. One particularly stressed out day, while talking to our priest, who’s from Zanzibar, Tanzania, I told him I didn’t know how much more of the “full house” thing I could stand. The (much) higher grocery, water and electric bills were killing me and the lack of personal space was driving me crazy, especially while dealing with contractors and insurance companies. And living in what looked (still looks in some places) like a bomb zone. Instead of the sympathy I expected, he told me I should get down on my knees and be grateful that we were all able to pool our resources to survive, and said wasn’t it nice we had enough to share? He changed my attitude in a hurry! Now, even though my house still isn’t done two years later, and some things are back just to the “new normal,” I’m reminded of just how lucky we are that we live where and when we do. And I spend a lot less time watching the news–they haven’t gotten the picture yet.

]]> By: Steve http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-3815 Steve Fri, 02 Nov 2007 02:38:39 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-3815 Chris, One more thing. Do you know how much attention a guy like Ron Paul, a guy that wants to gut the education system and legalize drugs, would have gotten in 1952, 1972, 1984, or 1992? Zero. He's raised over 7 million dollars in 2007 and is being ruthlessly attacked, not because he is nuts, but because his opponents are starting to believe he is a threat. They wouldn't waste their time or money if they didn't think he had a chance. Now, he might not win, but what is happening right now could not have happened at any other time. Chris,

One more thing. Do you know how much attention a guy like Ron Paul, a guy that wants to gut the education system and legalize drugs, would have gotten in 1952, 1972, 1984, or 1992?

Zero.

He’s raised over 7 million dollars in 2007 and is being ruthlessly attacked, not because he is nuts, but because his opponents are starting to believe he is a threat. They wouldn’t waste their time or money if they didn’t think he had a chance. Now, he might not win, but what is happening right now could not have happened at any other time.

]]> By: Steve http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-3814 Steve Fri, 02 Nov 2007 02:29:41 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-3814 Chris, I don't share you perspective of the present or the future, but I do understand why you have your perspective. I can't explain it right now, but believe me I've been there before and I get what you are saying. Your comment about Gatto made me think... I do admire Gatto. I don't agree with everything he says, but I do think his heart is in the right place. Yes young people do have less autonomy and local control than in the past, but you are going to fix it, because you know it too. You have technology no generation before had, and you are using it intelligently. We'll get there, have a little faith. Don't be a pessimist, it's a waste of energy. Time marches on. I don't think 1955 was better, but even if it was it doesn't matter, we are alive now. You are never going to be in any other time except, right now. Figure out what you wanna create, and godammit, create it! Don't be intimidated by the obstacles, don't dwell in the past, move forward. I'm saying this to you... Because I wish someone had said it to me. Chris,
I don’t share you perspective of the present or the future, but I do understand why you have your perspective. I can’t explain it right now, but believe me I’ve been there before and I get what you are saying.

Your comment about Gatto made me think…
I do admire Gatto. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I do think his heart is in the right place. Yes young people do have less autonomy and local control than in the past, but you are going to fix it, because you know it too. You have technology no generation before had, and you are using it intelligently. We’ll get there, have a little faith. Don’t be a pessimist, it’s a waste of energy. Time marches on.

I don’t think 1955 was better, but even if it was it doesn’t matter, we are alive now. You are never going to be in any other time except, right now.

Figure out what you wanna create, and godammit, create it! Don’t be intimidated by the obstacles, don’t dwell in the past, move forward.

I’m saying this to you…
Because I wish someone had said it to me.

]]> By: Chris http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-3790 Chris Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:03:17 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-3790 Michael Grenier is right. The prosperity you see all around you is built on sand. Not only could it all blow up in the next couple decades, it's almost certain to. The writing is on the wall if you've been paying attention. So why exactly should I feel grateful for a prosperity that isn't even real? I agree that TVs, VCRs, 2 to 3 cars, etc. are not "necessities" and it's ridiculous to feel you must have them. But you are missing the bigger picture. If people didn't feel these were necessities, to be blunt about it, the economies of all industrialized nations, and the U.S. in particular, would quickly collapse. Don't you see that if your blase attitude to these pseudo-essentials were to catch on like wildfire, the entire economy would fall apart? So that tells us something about the nature of our world. Our world is sick. Any economy that requires people to have childish dependencies on vast amounts of material things - to regard as essential things that aren't essential at all - is a sick economy. If what is now rather condescendingly referred to as the Third World were to "upgrade" to First World conspicuous consumption standards, it would be an environmental catastrophe for the planet! And yet, modern economies DO have to grow in just this fashion - so obviously the game is flawed, and we have to start playing a different game. Just exhorting people to be "more grateful" and "count your blessings" and "stop whining" doesn't cut it. Another thing: when you just point to all the toys and gadgets we have our grandparents didn't, so what? They also had genuine communities and a sense of control over their lives to a greater degree. Because they WERE more in control of their destinies. It's odd that an apparent admirer of John Taylor Gatto doesn't see this - doesn't see that the loss of personal autonomy and local control experienced by today's generations is real. Is being a wage slave cubicle worker, an office drone, really an improvement over being your own boss, as was the case when family farms were responsible for the food supply? Is being a Wal-Mart welcomer, a fast food jockey at McDonald's better than owning your own Mom-and-Pop store? How can you look on this as an advance? If anything, people console themselves with expensive toys and technology precisely because they don't have any job satisfaction. The world of today in many ways resembles Aldous Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD, hardly something to celebrate. Michael Grenier is right. The prosperity you see all around you is built on sand. Not only could it all blow up in the next couple decades, it’s almost certain to. The writing is on the wall if you’ve been paying attention. So why exactly should I feel grateful for a prosperity that isn’t even real?

I agree that TVs, VCRs, 2 to 3 cars, etc. are not “necessities” and it’s ridiculous to feel you must have them. But you are missing the bigger picture. If people didn’t feel these were necessities, to be blunt about it, the economies of all industrialized nations, and the U.S. in particular, would quickly collapse. Don’t you see that if your blase attitude to these pseudo-essentials were to catch on like wildfire, the entire economy would fall apart?

So that tells us something about the nature of our world. Our world is sick. Any economy that requires people to have childish dependencies on vast amounts of material things – to regard as essential things that aren’t essential at all – is a sick economy. If what is now rather condescendingly referred to as the Third World were to “upgrade” to First World conspicuous consumption standards, it would be an environmental catastrophe for the planet! And yet, modern economies DO have to grow in just this fashion – so obviously the game is flawed, and we have to start playing a different game. Just exhorting people to be “more grateful” and “count your blessings” and “stop whining” doesn’t cut it.

Another thing: when you just point to all the toys and gadgets we have our grandparents didn’t, so what? They also had genuine communities and a sense of control over their lives to a greater degree. Because they WERE more in control of their destinies. It’s odd that an apparent admirer of John Taylor Gatto doesn’t see this – doesn’t see that the loss of personal autonomy and local control experienced by today’s generations is real. Is being a wage slave cubicle worker, an office drone, really an improvement over being your own boss, as was the case when family farms were responsible for the food supply? Is being a Wal-Mart welcomer, a fast food jockey at McDonald’s better than owning your own Mom-and-Pop store? How can you look on this as an advance? If anything, people console themselves with expensive toys and technology precisely because they don’t have any job satisfaction. The world of today in many ways resembles Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD, hardly something to celebrate.

]]> By: Jalaj http://steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/comment-page-1/#comment-3813 Jalaj Thu, 01 Nov 2007 08:53:03 +0000 http://www.steve-olson.com/was-life-better-in-the-1940s-and-1950s/#comment-3813 <blockquote> “So you didn’t have electricity, running water, your parents rented out your bedroom to strangers just to make ends meet, you lived in a damp dark basement where the bugs ate holes in your clothes, and you didn’t consider that poverty?” </blockquote> Yes indeed life was better then... Having a TV/Scooter was a luxury in 70's and now Cable/Car a necessity. One family we knew when had a second child, said now they can't do without a four-wheeler, while I have seem a family of four on a bicycle.

“So you didn’t have electricity, running water, your parents rented out your bedroom to strangers just to make ends meet, you lived in a damp dark basement where the bugs ate holes in your clothes, and you didn’t consider that poverty?”

Yes indeed life was better then… Having a TV/Scooter was a luxury in 70′s and now Cable/Car a necessity. One family we knew when had a second child, said now they can’t do without a four-wheeler, while I have seem a family of four on a bicycle.

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