Consumerism--then and now

Government statistics drive me crazy. USDA and Federal Reserve (yes, I know the Fed isn't government) don't always line up. The information I look for is sometimes percent, sometimes rate of increase, or numbers, or Hispanics are whites in one table, but not in another, or it's divided by age group, etc. But as near as I can figure, the year my father entered the Marines in 1943, 41.2% of the family budget was for food. (It was 35.4% in 1939, which was still the Depression.) Imagine--and everyone who could had "victory gardens," sugar and coffee were rationed (we had little coupon books for each family member), every scrap of fat was saved, and no one was eating in restaurants. "Eating out" in my family was visiting grandma, or walking to Zickuhr's for a 5 cent ice cream cone. But in 2016 only 12.9% of a household budget for children and parents was for food, only slightly more of that was at home, than eating out. And I've seen figures much lower than that--can't find it now. USDA publishes food plans that run from Thrifty to Liberal. When I used to track costs (haven't for years) the Bruce Household was always below Thrifty, and eating out was going to Friendly's for breakfast on Sunday, $5.00 for the whole family.

2017 food plans, https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/CostofFoodFeb2017.pdf

Between our sermons on affluenza at church and the myths, fairy tales and wishful thinking about federal taxes, I've been pondering the 1970s. I called us upper middle class because we had way too much "stuff" when others didn't have enough. One income, one SAHM, 2 small children; 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath home, slab on grade; 2 TVs one 1960 and one 1967; 1 phone attached to wall with a 50 ft cord so I could keep an eye on Phil; 1 1968 car bought used; no AC, no microwave, no computer, no VHS player (yes, some of our wealthy friends had those); no savings, no retirement, 1 week vacation, cash for doctors, and too much month left at the end of the money. Our gross income in 1972 was $17,211, well above the average of $11,419. I didn't work, but 37% of American women did. I'm not complaining by any means; we lived in a beautiful neighborhood and had great friends through our church and community activities. But our lifestyle in 1972 is considered poverty today. 

1972-73 Bureau of Labor statistics. https://www.bls.gov/opub/uscs/1972-73.pdf

I told my husband this when he came down for breakfast, and he listened quietly as his eyes become glassy, and then said what he always does, "I'm sure glad I married you instead of that other woman." That's sort of a standing joke when he gets a boatload of statistics with breakfast. But it's better than the Madalyn Murray O'Hare gruesome story he got on Saturday.

Monday Memories--into the 19th century railroad history

Today I'm calling to reserve a place for Bob's birthday party--The Depot, the best kept secret in Upper Arlington, Old Henderson Rd. next to the tracks. We attended a birthday party there for Lynn and Rob (their 135th, her 60th and his 75th)  It has a rebuilt 19th century train depot from Brice, Ohio, furnished either with Ohio Amish made furniture or Ohio antiques, an 1886 Ringling Brother's Executive car, a 1909 Caboose, a 1926 locomotive, and 1951 Great Northern Ranch Dining Car with all the authentic décor and memorabilia. The manager gave us a very entertaining tour which included a lot of history. Sometime this month it has a special Christmas party with all the decorations up, and there's a miniature train you can ride. There's another facility in East Columbus called the Golf Depot. the-depot.org. None of us who live in the area who were at the party were aware of this event center. If you were ever at the old Suburban News building (I was years ago when Phil had a paper route), that's the spot.

I had food in my mouth, and it was difficult to smile

5:30 a.m. tail lights

I glanced out the window this morning and saw a car moving slowly through the condo.  A mom on newspaper duty. Just like I did, just like my mom did.

Actually, unless we had 4 feet of snow, my mom just gave us a warm breakfast, bundled us up, wrapped scarves around our faces, shoved on our leather and fleece snow boots, helped load the heavy Sunday Rockford Morning Star into our bags, and opened the door. But for three us, she had quite a work out before she could sit down with a cup of coffee and toast. My route was about 12 papers scattered at the SW of town with some farms--I was maybe 8 or 9. My sisters had the long routes with houses closer together.

My niece remembers that Mom told her she considered it good physical therapy for Carol after her bout with polio in 1949--riding her bike and walking with the bags of newspaper.  Also playing the saxophone for breath control and building up her lungs.

Almost 5,000 miles

My goal, in 2015, was to get to Indianapolis (figuring mileage on my exercycle) to see my sister-in-law, Jeanne, but I went right on to my other sister-in-law, Debbie, in California, and now I've returned to Columbus (in theory). There are 1,973.65 miles from Columbus to Los Angeles in southwest direction and 2,238 miles (3,601.71 kilometers) following the I-40 route. I did I-40. Now I've turned around and am on my way to see my siblings in northern Illinois, 455 miles. Almost there.

 Stan and Norma

Jeanne and brother Bob with Diva

Debbie, Norma and Bob

Friday Family Photo--Christmas songs

My great niece Catie who lives in Florida asked on Facebook what was our favorite Christmas song.  I mentioned "I'll be home for Christmas" as a secular choice, and "Mary did you know" for religious, but then later I added this memory about White Christmas.  It got so long, I decided to add it here along with a photo.

"White Christmas" is a favorite song, too. When your Grandma Yoder and I were little kids we lived in California, and that's the first time I heard that song--Christmas 1944. It had come out in 1942, so if I'd heard it before I was too little to remember. We went to a community center for a Christmas party (I don't think we had a church), and a group of teen boys sang it. Just about everyone in our community (Alameda, CA) was from somewhere else--and it was damp and foggy as usual in the Bay Area--so the song had a lot of impact. By Christmas 1945 we were back in Mt. Morris, the war was over, dad and his brothers, brothers-in-law, and cousins were home (about 500 men just from our rural area were in the military), the country had recovered from the Depression, and I still remember the gifts. In 1944 I'd gotten a small glass cat figurine, but by 1945 we had "real" presents--like a sled! One was the doll house that we 3 sisters were to share, and you and your mom as children played with it later in the basement of my parents' home on Lincoln St. My mom's camera was broken when I was little, so I have no photos of those Christmases, but I do have one of your Grammy Yoder in the snow in front of our house at 203 E. Hitt St. Probably winter 1940. She's the little one--she was very tiny for her age.

Why did Trump call Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas?

In addition to drawing attention to Elizabeth Warren's cultural appropriation, President Trump calling her Pocahontas on Monday points to the CFPB Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is really a laundry operation for Democrat favorite projects like abortion and climate change. (staff is 523 Democrat, one Republican)  It was a 2-fer. She's fake; it's fake. If she's defending her honor, she's not busy defending the phony CFPB, her brainchild. While the morally self-righteous media got to cry "racism," they missed the point. The CFPB (formerly run by Warren), not run with tax money, was a way to get hush money from "guilty" businesses--mostly banks which she hates, which would rather pay than go to court, and then instead of it going back to consumers who may or may not have been cheated, it gets redirected to a Planned Parenthood type group, or any left wing group that then funnels the donation back to the party. It's an old trick by Democrats; Jesse Jackson used it long ago against companies that weren't diverse enough for his rainbow coalition, and the LGBTQ mafia have also used it to whip companies in line with their agenda.

I don't know if you had a chance to watch Mulvaney eviscerate the press, but it's like trying to listen to that guy who does the super fast voice over commercials.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/28/judge-rules-mulvaney-can-run-consumer-protection-bureau/

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/11/28/what-trump-knows-about-pocahontas-and-cfpb.html

  

http://fortune.com/2017/11/27/consumer-financial-protection-bureau/

One tax proposal is not popular with college students

One guy in the Washington Post reported the tax plan could cost him $11,000! Well, how big was his subsidy that it was so high he'd pay that much? I had two graduate assistantships back in the 60s, and I don't recall the tax plan. But if I got the assistantship, someone else didn't, and may have taken a job as a student janitor, or meal server, and had to pay full taxes on that. (There weren't many fast food places then.)  Both my jobs were really cushy--one (translating medical newspapers) I could do at home and not use a baby sitter. The other was in library science and wasn't difficult at all. The student who pushed a broom or washed windows or waited tables didn't have that luxury. The student who went to a college instead of a university didn''t get those jobs, and tech school students didn't get them. I think that still applies today. There's a lot of politics and influence in who gets these subsidies, and to give some students a free ride from the federal government while the university continues to raise the costs on everyone else, is pretty fishy.

https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/

Early morning gratitude

Gratitude. Thank you, Lord--turned on the beautiful Christmas lights. Thank you, Lord--first cup of coffee with a little dark chocolate in it. Thank you, Lord--walking with no pain. Thank you, Lord--first Christmas card--from long time friends. Thank you, Lord--long chat with my brother and he sounds great.  And so much, sometimes I forget. . .

Looking back on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge

The Annenberg Foundation funds one of the popular liberal Fact Checkers. But back in the mid-19 90s, it funded a huge program to improve the Chicago Public Schools. "The funding, which had also been provided to cities such as New York and San Francisco, was part of a large-scale local school reform philosophy that intended to improve student achievement and other social and psychological outcomes. In Chicago, the Annenberg Challenge reflected a democratic localism that placed great faith in the ability of local schools, in partnership with parents and their communities, to develop their own strategies to achieve professional development and instructional goals." I was a liberal in the 90s, and if I'd known about it then, I would have been supportive. . . especially the part about "local," and "partnerships."

It was an impressive amount with lofty goals for 200+ elementary schools (Annenberg gave half a billion to be matched by others to 3 city school systems). Barack Obama, a rising young, handsome star on the Chicago public scene, and Bill Ayers, the 1970s terrorist, and meddler in education through the University of Illinois, worked together in the Annenberg Challenge (Ayers wrote the original grant), as it was called. By 2001 a research arm of the University of Chicago did a thorough evaluation at all levels, and pretty much found no improvement in academic scores (compared to those schools which received no funding). It's the same discouraging results that came from Head Start after a 50 year evaluation.

So maybe Obama thought it wasn't enough money and went for higher stakes? And Bill Ayers hasn't changed much either.

https://consortium.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/p62.pdf

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-run-foundation-gave-millions-liberal-groups-including-one-run-bill-ayers

Caloric labeling, does it help obesity?

One of the advantages of all my education is that I know "Death by Chocolate" has more calories than a dish of carrots. I don't know if the labeling requirements under Obamacare ever went into law, but. . .

"the impact of such labeling requirements on BMI, obesity, and other health-related outcomes is trivial, and, to the extent it exists, it fades out rapidly. For example, menu mandates would reduce the weight of a 5’10” male adult from 190 pounds to 189.5 pounds."

I do go online and read the menus before I go to a new restaurant. Many of them label the calories and carbs and fat. And before I go to a holiday lunch or party, I do a two meal fast, which medically is very good for you. 

https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/menu-mandates-obesity-futile-effort

http://dailyburn.com/life/health/nutritionist-guide-intermittent-fasting/

Exercise and IER/fasting exert complex integrated adaptive responses in the brain and peripheral tissues involved in energy metabolism. As described in the text, both exercise and IER enhance neuroplasticity and resistance of the brain to injury and disease. Some of the effects of exercise and IER on peripheral organs are mediated by the brain, including increased parasympathetic regulation of heart rate and increased insulin sensitivity of liver and muscle cells. In turn, peripheral tissues may respond to exercise and IER by producing factors that bolster neuronal bioenergetics and brain function. Examples include the following: mobilization of fatty acids in adipose cells and production of ketone bodies in the liver; production of muscle-derived neuroactive factors, such as irisin; and production of as yet unidentified neuroprotective “preconditioning factors” (Dezfulian et al., 2013). Suppression of local inflammation in tissues throughout the body and the nervous system likely contributes to prevention and reversal of many different chronic disease processes.http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/46/15139

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/46/15139

The most valuable companies over 100 years

Amazing. 100 years ago the largest, most valuable companies actually had products!. The only one I can see that made it through is Standard Oil/Exxon. By 2017 the top five are all tech--Alphabet is Google.

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/most-valuable-companies-100-years/?

And Wal-Mart.  What change since 1950. When we were in Arkansas we visited the original Walton store, a 1950 Ben Franklin Five and Dime like the one in my home town of Mt. Morris many years ago, but Sam was ambitious and expanded. He didn't like the franchise's rules so started his own chain. It wasn't a Wal-Mart that killed my home town small businesses, it was a strike by a union at the printing plant, then changing technology, then moves to the south by the companies where everyone worked.

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/walmart-nation-mapping-largest-employers-u-s/?

Something to try for the holidays

Broccoli Salad
4 cups broccoli florets cut small
1 cup green grapes cut in half
1 cup purple grapes cut in half
1 bunch green onions chopped.
8 strips bacon fried and crumbled
1 small package slivered almonds
1 cup celery
Dressing:
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
Mix until smooth and consistency of salad dressing. Add to salad when ready to eat

Thanks, I needed that

From Christopher Buckley: Since we've already entered the Bermuda Triangle of the holidays, (Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year's Eve) instead of being unhappy this year, how about working to unburden yourself from all your terrible past decisions? You can't change them now. (You know that, right?!)

Did you demonstrably learn from your mistakes? Good for you! Now you are wise. Be grateful and joyous, for 'tis the season! Have you not yet made your peace? Well, then, don't be bummed you haven't yet done the work... (You do have to, you know...) Just understand that right now, today, the past is as dead as disco and you should try something new. (Hopefully with adult supervision... because that tattoo on your ass was a mistake.) 

So just stop beating yourself up about your life choices, they are yesterday's news and dwelling on them will only make you and the rest of us all miserable... Let go. And, if you really are just a miserable SOB and want penance, I suggest you work hard to make someone else happy this time of year if you can't do it for yourself. (That should at least in part do it for you this season...)

"A lot of people are unhappy because they keep hoping for a better past." – Randy Spencer

The international slave trade

I'm not going to share the awful photos going around the internet of the slave trade in Libya or the riots in Paris demanding that someone DO something about slavery after the CNN report. Modern day slavery is bigger than the 18th c. trans-Atlantic slave trade--about 21 million people; where was the outrage when it has been reported for years? In the U.S. we'd rather focus on microaggressions and reparations for events of 3 centuries ago.

The U.S. has a Trafficking in Persons law begun under President Clinton in 2000 and it is continually reauthorized. The 2001 TIP report names Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, and other countries as transit and destination areas for trafficked East European women. Also NGOs and Christian organizations have been battling both the sex slavery and labor slavery for years. Even the much maligned Glenn Beck has done extensive stories on this scourge. In 2000 when I wrote my retirement plan, I noted the international slave trade.

Unfortunately, if you look through the TIP 18 annual reports, you see it is a "monitoring" country by country report on what each are doing. No teeth. Like the bank robbery commercial. Or the Congressional "ethics" committee. Europe has its own "monitoring" organization with annual reports for modern slavery, called GRETA.

[2001] "The United Kingdom (UK) is a destination country for trafficked men, women, and girls. A Government-sponsored report estimates that up to 1,500 women and girls are trafficked into the UK annually for purposes of sexual exploitation from Eastern Europe and the Balkans, South America, Nigeria, Thailand, and Vietnam. Although there are no reliable data as to the numbers of victims, men, women, and children from the Indian sub-continent, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, China, Congo, Angola, Colombia, and Ecuador also are trafficked to the UK; labor exploitation occurs primarily in agriculture, sweatshops, and industry." (2001 TIP report, State Dept)

[2009] Libya: "Both migrants and trafficking victims are routinely smuggled through Libya to Europe, especially to or through Italy and Malta, en route to various locations on the continent. Libya’s migrant population of 1.5 to 2 million represents about one-third of its overall population. Although precise figures are unavailable, foreign observers estimate that one-half to one percent of foreigners (i.e., up to 20,000 people) may be victims of trafficking. In some cases, smuggling debts and illegal status leave migrants vulnerable to coercion, resulting in cases of forced prostitution and forced labor;" (2009 TIP report, State Dept)

[2016] "The purpose of this Report is to enlighten, energize, and empower." (John Kerry, 2016 TIP report, State Dept)

So it seems it does take a war to end slavery, even one fought with impure motives and by people unclear about what they were doing, not just monitoring and annual task force reports.

https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/

Falls and the elderly

I've been nagging my husband about ladders.  I think we've got help at the lake house, but there's still the pesky storage for Christmas décor that is stored in the garage attic using precarious stairs that need to be pulled down. I followed my own advice, and decided to help him drag out the x-mas decorations from the attic by standing beside the ladder and making sure nothing stupid happened. One very large box fell and broke the lid. And while I was trying to grab it as it fell, I pulled my back a little.  But he's fine.

I think it's about time to go to the little tiny tree that sits on a table.

Thank you, Harry Reid

"As of November 3rd, 13 Trump nominees to the courts have been confirmed this year. The big name is Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, but we also have eight new federal appeals court judges, and four new U.S. district court judges. President Trump has now already surpassed the last four presidents' records for first-year judifical confirmations. And he's even tied President Ronald Reagan number of appeals court confirmations in year one."

Harry Reid killed the filibuster so Obama could railroad his appointees through without Republican objection. Recently Democrats have been trying to use the blue slip tradition to replace it, but Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA) has stopped that.  So the nation has been fixated on "inappropriate' behavior, Trump has been scoring major victories that will last far past his time in office.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/24/trumps-biggest-win-yet-comes-thanks-to-congress-commentary.html

Friday family photo--Thanksgiving past

1971 birthdays/Thanksgiving

1996

2009

2015

2017

Thankful the president isn't Clinton

The Democrats will continue to drag us kicking and screaming into some wasteland of Marxist gulag, but I think it has been slowed down just a bit. And maybe that little girl who survives the abortion mill will someday be president of the United States. Hollywood and academe still have conservatives locked out, and they are huge forces in the culture.

Washington Post throws a bone occasionally on the Opinion Page (8 out of 9 news articles are anti-Trump--it's owned by Jeff Bezos). This article brings out the big benefits, like the courts, that we have with President Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-thanksgiving-im-grateful-hillary-clinton-is-not-president/2017/11/22/68bafc9a-cee7-11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html?

"While the Supreme Court only hears about 80 cases a year, the federal appeals courts get final say on about 60,000 — and because Democrats ended the filibuster, they can’t stop Trump from filling those courts with conservative legal rock stars. The Senate has already confirmed eight of Trump’s nine appellate nominees — the most this early in a presidency since Richard Nixon – and Trump will appoint plenty more before his first term expires."

Also, Paris Climate agreement, freeing Americans in foreign prisons, putting some teeth into that red line Obama drew, EPA walk backs, removing shackles from the military, standing up to North Korea, and improvement over the softy and mushy Obama approach to foreign religions.

Build a salad

Although I'm not employed, I do volunteer. Here's how to take a salad to work. Put the dressing on the bottom of a plastic bowl that has a tight lid (some people use glass jars). Then add the heaviest, least absorbent vegetables, washed and sliced so you don't have to wrestle with it in view of everyone. Put chopped lettuce on that, then either the meat/fish, nuts or cheese. Seal and keep upright if possible. Shake briefly before opening. Today I used a vegetable salad mix with beets, carrots and kale. So I zapped that a few minutes in the microwave to make it more manageable--also makes the nutrients more available. Now I'm hungry.

Critical theory

Let's not be naïve about the Black Lives Matter movement, the Snowflakes seeking safe places so they don't have to hear conservative ideas, the Occupiers of a few years ago, and the anthem protests by millionaires. This is not about ignorance, they don't need to be educated.  It's a form of mind control called "critical theory," and that's just dressing up the so-called educated for a party, Marxism. It's effective in societies that don't have a poor working class to riot like the late 1890s or early 20th century.

Your children's teachers were educated in the 80s or 90s when critical theory was usually just literature and history being "deconstructed," and those people had as their faculty a few years before, the radicals of the 1960s and 1970s who enjoyed the sexual revolution, awakening feminism along with the Viet Nam War protests.

Explaining that slavery existed since the dawn of time, or that free American blacks owned slaves, or that the founding fathers developed a truly revolutionary society unknown to the world controlled by church, kings and dictators, or that one can't change his biological sex, or that capitalism has set millions free from thousands of years of poverty, or that climate has been changing for millions of years is not going to work. (Although I will continue to blog about it.) Not even going to "work" after they leave campus is going to work, because their CEOs and managers have absorbed the same distorted view of history, literature, politics and biology.

The purpose of critical theory (aka Marxism) is to rip apart the fabric of our society--beginning with the family, moving on up through business and employment, and to the government at all levels--your school board, city council, state legislature, the House, Senate, Executive and Judiciary, and yes, the military. And once the movement has stripped everyone under 50 of all their values, beliefs, faith and honor, they stand naked before the firing squad.