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| Guy de Maupassant |
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Commentary: 'Selling Millennials Their Purpose, Agency, and Reason in Life' by Aaron Clarey
Baby boomers want their social security.
Gen X'ers wanted nuclear families.
And Millennials want a purpose and reason to live in life.
But no matter how much we want something in life, that does not guarantee we'll get it.
For example the Boomers were lucky that the US is the world's reserve currency and in so being we can afford to print off more money without any major consequences to bail us out of our incredibly stupid economic decisions. The boomers also have the fortune of lucky timing in that the US economy will not likely collapse before most of them are dead and therefore have collected on decades of social security.
Another - but counter example - Gen X and stable, nuclear families. Some got them. Most did not, and unlike social security, there's no way to go back in time to have a dad, have Thanksgiving dinner, and live under one roof. Most will remember living under multiple homes, with multiple parents and what I like to call "the hand off" where you were "handed off" from one parent to another in a parking lot, a mall, or a Wal-Mart. The dice were not lucky for Gen X in this regard and they consequently will NOT be getting what they wanted.
Gen X'ers wanted nuclear families.
And Millennials want a purpose and reason to live in life.
But no matter how much we want something in life, that does not guarantee we'll get it.
For example the Boomers were lucky that the US is the world's reserve currency and in so being we can afford to print off more money without any major consequences to bail us out of our incredibly stupid economic decisions. The boomers also have the fortune of lucky timing in that the US economy will not likely collapse before most of them are dead and therefore have collected on decades of social security.
Another - but counter example - Gen X and stable, nuclear families. Some got them. Most did not, and unlike social security, there's no way to go back in time to have a dad, have Thanksgiving dinner, and live under one roof. Most will remember living under multiple homes, with multiple parents and what I like to call "the hand off" where you were "handed off" from one parent to another in a parking lot, a mall, or a Wal-Mart. The dice were not lucky for Gen X in this regard and they consequently will NOT be getting what they wanted.
Interview: Richard Ebeling says America needs "a monetary regime free from the hand of government"
Editor's note: This interview was originally published in March 2017.
This is the fifth of seven articles spanning my discussion with Dr. Richard Ebeling. The first, second, third, and fourth pieces are available.
This is the fifth of seven articles spanning my discussion with Dr. Richard Ebeling. The first, second, third, and fourth pieces are available.
Story by Joseph Ford Cotto
"Soon after taking the oath of office, President Donald J. Trump signed a series of Presidential Memoranda to fulfill his promise to make America Great Again on trade and other issues," the White House's public relations arm declared shortly after Trump assumed office.
It continued: "The first executive action the President took was to permanently withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade agreement that is not in the best interest of American workers.
"This action ushers in a new era of U.S. trade policy in which the Trump Administration will pursue bilateral free trade opportunities with allies around the world, wherever possible, to promote American industry, protect American workers, and raise American wages. It is the policy of the Trump Administration to represent the American people and their financial well-being in all negotiations, particularly the American worker, and to create fair and economically beneficial trade deals that serve their interests."
Painting of the Day: 'Praxilla' by John William Godward
Praxilla by John William Godward, 1922
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Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Interview: Alexander Sanger explains how his grandmother, Margaret, "challenged existing male power structures and institutions"
Editor's note: This interview was originally published in March 2017.
This is the third of four articles spanning my discussion with Alexander Sanger. The first and second pieces are available on-line.
This is the third of four articles spanning my discussion with Alexander Sanger. The first and second pieces are available on-line.
Story by Joseph Ford Cotto
Who was Margaret Sanger?
"Margaret Sanger devoted her life to legalizing birth control and making it universally available for women," PBS said of her in its American Experience series. "Born in 1879, Sanger came of age during the heyday of the Comstock Act, a federal statute that criminalized contraceptives. Margaret Sanger believed that the only way to change the law was to break it.
"Starting in the 1910s, Sanger actively challenged federal and state Comstock laws to bring birth control information and contraceptive devices to women. Her fervent ambition was to find the perfect contraceptive to relieve women from the horrible strain of repeated, unwanted pregnancies."
This is merely the tip of the iceberg, though. Sanger's activism was borne from observation, which led her to believe that the larger a family is, the less resources its members will generally enjoy. By promoting population stability, she reasoned, the world would be made a better place.
Painting of the Day: 'Preparing for the Bath' by John William Godward
Preparing for the Bath by John William Godward, 1900
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Monday, May 20, 2019
Commentary: 'Raising White Babies in Retirement' by Graham H. Seibert
As I survey my longtime acquaintances, fellow members of the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers, I am disheartened. Few of them had more than two children – many had none. An inordinate number have children who are gay or plan not to marry. They may strongly oppose having children.
Even among those children who marry and have children, the majority have been conditioned to be committed liberals, embarrassed by the politics of us their parents and resolute in not wanting to pass on traditional American values to their children. Though we are at the age at which the third and even fourth generation should be part of our lives, they aren't. Almost nobody I know has the four natural grandchildren necessary to continue their bloodline. Harvard sociologist Carle Zimmerman noted this phenomenon as early as the 1930s. If my mother's parents, are to have great great-grandchildren, they will be through my baby children. Three of their four children, three of their four grandchildren, and the oldest three of their five great grandchildren had no natural children. My father's side of the family is only slightly more fertile, all without benefit of marriage.
Similar sad facts will be true of many of you who read this. Are you willing to accept society's verdict that you are evolutionarily irrelevant? That the world has no need for your progeny? That you should while away the remaining three or four decades of your life meaninglessly, with indifferent children who will not give you grandchildren, at least not at all like you, and perhaps a wife who doesn't care about not having grandchildren, maybe not too much about you, or is already gone?
If you are not content with this fate , read on. You can do something.
Interview: Richard Ebeling says "the trade deficit, in itself, does not matter"
Editor's note: This interview was originally published in March 2017.
This is the fourth of seven articles spanning my discussion with Dr. Richard Ebeling. The first, second, and third pieces are available.
This is the fourth of seven articles spanning my discussion with Dr. Richard Ebeling. The first, second, and third pieces are available.
Story by Joseph Ford Cotto
"Soon after taking the oath of office, President Donald J. Trump signed a series of Presidential Memoranda to fulfill his promise to make America Great Again on trade and other issues," the White House's public relations arm declared shortly after Trump assumed office.
It continued: "The first executive action the President took was to permanently withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade agreement that is not in the best interest of American workers.
"This action ushers in a new era of U.S. trade policy in which the Trump Administration will pursue bilateral free trade opportunities with allies around the world, wherever possible, to promote American industry, protect American workers, and raise American wages. It is the policy of the Trump Administration to represent the American people and their financial well-being in all negotiations, particularly the American worker, and to create fair and economically beneficial trade deals that serve their interests."
Painting of the Day: 'Three Peaches on a Brown Table' by John William Godward
Three Peaches on a Brown Table by John William Godward, 1913
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