BACK FENCE ECONOMICS
Copyright 2008 - Bill Venrick, THE WORDWRIGHT.

Alright already! We have heard from the high level economists, and both parties, or so it seems and they have given their opinions and cast dispersion and blame on the folks across the aisles (from whichever side these "well dressed representatives of the nation" holler from) and naturally the various wise guys from the assorted media; so I thought "Why not say something myself?" (My good friend, Bob Tinsky, recently shared his thoughts comparing governmental antics with Laurel & Hardy as you may recall(*).

I know some from the ages of 55ish get a little tired of it but I just cannot think there are enough comments made from the citizens who were born in or lived through the Great Depression. My wife and I wrote a book highlighting a small orphanage in Fairfield County, which operated for nearly 100 years, taking care of children who had been victims of societal malfunctions. Early on into our project it became obvious that the reason any children's home concept, even if you go back to the indentured servant days, existed was simply because some people don't know what they don't know. Of course when the indentured servant concept came to view (at least in our country) was when towns had developed and children came along to families with economic problems just keeping their heads above the water while trying to stand on their tip toes. Some folks obviously had trouble understanding "how kids came along" and once they did it became a choice of whether you became celibate or found another way to pay for all this family that, somehow, made their presence known.

Then, of course, during those days when indentured servants were in vogue, folks just didn't live all that long and some of those children were left for relatives, neighbors and ultimately the courts to care for. My wife's descendants had their own sad story to tell when both the parents died within a matter of months and "all of a sudden" there were six kids whose lot was to raise themselves, but it was a help that Grandma & Grandpa were in the near neighborhood. Without going into a lot of details, that brood did a pretty fine job of raising themselves but that is another story. But back to the Great Depression days.

I was born in 1932, which appears to be the wearing off times of that depression but the ripples of those slim days was still a bad taste in the mouths of most and "things" were still not easy to get unless you were fortunate enough to have money. My father told the story many times about a house on the SW corner of East Wheeling and Livingston Streets that he couldn't buy because he didn't have the 10% required for a down payment. The house was selling for $1,200. (Yes, twelve hundred dollars.) Back in those days banks were not in every neighborhood shopping center. In fact, you walked to the tune of the drummer boy (the banks) if you wanted to do any business with them. They were not open all that long during the day - just customarily 9:00 til 5:00, and they closed Thursday afternoon, and Saturday they closed at noon. It was pretty much, if you had money in the bank or a good credit rating you could get whatever money you needed to buy a house. Also, back in those days, our city was made of 80% property owners and the rest of the folks rented. We had schools where teachers were routinely career people. with the small exception of some teachers who should never had been given the job to begin with but most teachers were the kind who were very concerned about teaching their pupils "reading, writing and 'rithmatic" and throwing in enough geography and history to know where all these people came from and how they all got here in the United States. But I digress.

Plain and simple, you bought what you could afford and if you couldn't get a loan, you kept on renting. Since my Dad could not come up with $120 dollars (one-hundred and twenty dollars) he simply did not qualify for a loan from the bank. There were other ways to get money though, small amounts that is. If you needed a new refrigerator or furniture, the store would "carry you" and let you pay for it with monthly payments and charge a small interest. If you were still wanting more, there were always those City Loans who loaned money at a much higher interest rate but if you couldn't meet their payments they had ways of getting their money back by turning you over to a collection agency and you might even have your wages garnisheed and then your employer would be legally empowered to deduct a certain amount of your pay until your debt was paid. People moved pretty often in those days. When I graduated from high school I had lived in twelve (yes, 12) different places but fortunately stayed within two school districts in all that time. One summer we even moved over to Wheeling Island (in the middle of the Ohio River between West Virginia and Ohio) when my Dad wanted to express his patriotism by quitting his job at the glass factory and went to work in a "defense plant" (making pom pom guns for the Navy)--sometime during WW 2.

People had it rough but for the most part, to be blunt, people either had it or didn't have it. Those who didn't have it, were not babied or coddled like people are today and there was no such thing as NO MONEY DOWN loans. That almost qualifies for an oxymoron--how could you get money (a loan) if you didn't have any collateral? It just wasn't done!!

And that is just about all I wanted to say - our country has gotten itself into one big mess, probably the nearest to the Great Depression that I have ever experienced but our great leaders (of this nation) do not seem to want to admit how bad off we are but when you see interest on Certificates of Deposit go from 12% to 2%, the dumbest guy in the class can tell you "somethings wrong!" Oh, there is money being printed and there is some around but have you noticed how much it looks like Play Money - why, any real printer would never print such currency--the type chosen doesn't even match. There might be a larger figure (or numeral) in one corner that is an entirely different style of type - no professional printer would have dared made that choice. For years we have used the motto "In God We Trust" (on our currency) but our country has gotten so casual (and bending to "new concepts") the motto has become so small (of course it had to be small on coins) that now the new dollar coin has it obscured so that it had to be put on the edge of the coin. Try to read that without a jeweler's magnifying glass!

Folks, I think it is about time we get used to the idea of maturing into people who are capable of being satisfied with what they have. The asinine motto of one rent-to-own company, whose motto is: "Because we all should have nice stuff." Oh??? The key words are "we all"; we all may want better stuff - whether or not people can afford it is another matter.

When we get back to buying or living within our means - that's for everybody: homes, schools, towns, factories, stores, the country, then we will see some semblance of normalcy - not before. I cannot resist saying that somewhere along the way, whether it was entirely the Union's fault is an argument for sure, but when the employee started telling the company how to plan their pay scales, and provide financial benefit packages (ad nauseam) for every worker, this was the beginning of the new way of doing business. Back in the post depression days when my Dad's union fought for a pay raise, it might have resulted in "mere cents on the hour" and if there had been a strike (to boot), whatever pittance they gained was already lost after their first new contract took affect. Another axiom, "The only thing we learn from history is we don't learn anything from history." That in itself is not too encouraging though, is it?

Competition has always been "good for business", but when that competition is on the other side of the globe and wage earners there are making a fraction of what Americans demand, could it be we have gone amok with our high standards of living? Drive down the streets of any town and look at the older homes - typically you will see many more smaller homes than big homes; you can be sure that those homes probably produced the same size families, maybe even larger, than those who are trying to buy the multi-level near-mansions. One great difference though, those home owners probably had their "smaller homes" paid for in 25 years or less and one wonders if the big home mortgages of today's market will ever get paid off. #####

THE WORDWRIGHT

* TINSKY essay "Another Nice Mess" check in the archives)