The Good Old Days

I don't know how old your father or you are, but those good old days weren't really so long ago.
When I was younger I hitched hiked across the country,and I never felt unsafe. I would also pick up hitch hikers back then,and again, never feel unsafe.
Nowadays I would do neither.

If we rented a home back when I was younger it was more like this:
"How much?
"when can we move in?"
"Thank you".

Now your life is ruled by an artificial device known as a credit report and a credit score.

Buying my first home? I needed $1000 cash and a trip to our local bank.
My mother was a well respected real estate agent in the area,and she took me in and introduced me to the bank president. I walked out with a financed home.

As far as banking goes, when I was a kid I remember very well going to the bank with my deposit book and what little cash I had and putting it in my account.
The bankds didn't have every teller behind bulletproof glass back then,it was a row of open space on a counter. The teller would take my money and then stamp my account book.
Today if you make a mistake in balancing your account they try milk you for every cent the law allows. Three cent addition mistake can cost you $40-$50 in fees or better yet, what they call "overdraft protection".


Funny you posted this today because for some reason because earlier today I had been trying to figure out how we had ended up going so wrong.

yea...
maybe because there is more need for money..
crisis also can be a cause..
but the first reason must come from people attitude...

Kids have it easy today...Back when I was a kid I had to walk BOTH WAYS across the living room to change the channel on the TV. And then there were only 4 channels when I got there, one of which was PBS and two required me to be a contortionist acting as a set of "human rabbit ears" trying to get decent reception.

And I couldn't play baseball with just a little plastic gadget and a TV. I actually had to go outside and use real balls, bats and gloves and play with other kids. OH THE HUMANITY!

Don't mean to brag, but it's really amazing I was able to over-come such hardship.

So now you know my parents had secret motives when they taught me to question every move made by corporations and Gov. Simple wasn't it?

actually there are a lot of ways our society has been indoctrinated into our current inhuman thought patterns. Corporate law is the worst of them. We used to have Lawyers - now we have Attorneys. We used to have basic laws, now we have policies. Remember how everyone thought drug testing for jobs was such a good thing? It was a first really overt action allowing corporations to over-ride constitutional rights. Once implemented, we lost a whole string of rights. I quit working for a company that brought in a policy that we either filled out forms about our health history and gave it to a third party company or we had to pay a share on our health policies. I walked. Everyone else just stupidly complied. Now companies are doing background checks which sometimes include those records when making hiring decisions.

We are convinced that smoking is bad so laws against smoking were all honky-dorey. Now we are having other policies made in our behalf. Now instead of watching out for ourselves we have a babysitter.

People are denied work now for financial reasons -- credit not good enough for the company you want to work for? And of course if you rent or buy a home your insurance company now will try to dictate what kind of dog you are allowed to own.

Population? Back in the good old days there were literally less than half the population. People knew the other people on their streets and in their town. Now instead of visiting neighbors or gathering to partake of outdoor activities people sit stupidly in front of televisions, have corporate versions of news fed to them, and watch other people on the tube having a life. When did life become a spectator sport or virtual tour through?

If you read some books (some which are now banned because we are no longer really allowed or able to have our own ideas) you will see the people in the Orwellian societies acting just as our population does now. There is no normal human interactions. Words are hate crimes? We are forced to accept those we don't want to? While bigotry is not a pleasant or particularly intelligent ideology, forcing people to not be able to say what they think doesn't change their minds -- it only makes them afraid to converse with people openly about what is in their minds. We can't talk to the average Joe on the street about anything really important, because that joe might just turn around and sue us because he is just offended as hell by our ideas (step back into corporate law).

The real irony of the situation is that we can fix it all and bring it all back -- but you won't find people in the mass willing to do so. They are always afraid of something that will get in their way. If their security is threatened in any way by an action the good in the long run doesn't even enter their heads. It's all, "right now".

When was the last time you took the time to go meet a new neighbor or had a picnic with some neighbors in a park? Does your TV run even when you have guests in? Remember when that TV went off as soon as people walked into the house - if it was on in the first place? Remember when helping the neighbor in trouble was more important than that new little bauble you wanted to buy to show off? Now it's "get what they deserve".

We've lost our empathy - it's been exchanged for "they are lazy, they got what they deserved". Anyone see what's happened there? Really? Someone gets tased for something almost negligent and "they got what they deserved" instead of "hey - when did it become okay to torture people with electricity for any small breech of the law?" It's okay because you have become afraid of people? Well, that's how society breaks down. If you actually KNEW other people again, you wouldn't be so inclined to be afraid of all of em and you wouldn't be inclined to think that it was okay for them to be tased half to death for saying something to a cop he didn't like.

This country has only changed because we did.

I flashback to around 15 years ago when I lived in a small town in the CO mountains.
We had about 250 people there and EVERYONE knew every person in that town. The town drunk, average working joe, and the town mayor would sit in the bar together and talk over a drink. Nobody worried about what the other person owned, how much money they made. There was mutual respect and even a bit of care for each other. Some were very vocal about groups they didn't like and not one person ever threatened to sue them for saying so. Some would not like the person and stay away from them, but nobody tried to dictate what that person was allowed to say or feel. Most places you go now, the poor people sit together and the rich don't go near. It's their fault they aren't rich and they aren't good enough. If someone dares say something that might be offensive they end up with lawsuits. Why? Because people think that they are right and have a right to control what everyone else on the planet thinks, says, and does.
I remember when Barb got sick and was at risk of losing the home her parents had built - and everyone in town donated 5 or 10 bucks to save that house -- Now? The going sentiment is: "F*** her. She's lazy and is getting what she deserves".
When the neighbors were sick, others would take them food so they could rest and get back to health.
In the winter the guy with the plow would plow the neighbors driveways, too - so nobody would miss work.

People became materialistic and plastic is more important than learning how to manage their money because if they can't show enough material possession they are looked down upon "Serves them right the lazy *******s".

The country has changed -- because we've changed. Our value system is completely wealth based. Our codes of law have become those that want a law just need to be loud enough, rights aren't involved or even a consideration. So what the dude down the street smokes and eats transfats - whose business is that if he's no longer a minor?

We've become just as bad as the corporations and gov about making people fill certain requirements before they can be considered worthy of our attention and given respect to do as they want as long as they are not causing us any grief over it. Ohhh - but they MIGHT do something violent if we don't dictate every move they make. Yeah. Live with it when you can't do what you want because some indoctrinated freakazoid is scared of you or decides that for some reason they know more about what is good for you than you do......whether they have ever spoken to you or not.

The bottom line is -- if the old days were so free and good -- we have the power to make these days the same. So why don't we?

Kay.
A lot of your post was correct,but this part was not:
"Credit was rarely used and credit cards (when they began) were only available to those who met certain standards..."

While credit was used mainly for large purchases that were considered necessities, One of the problems with credit cards was that shortly after they came out they realized that they made the companies boatloads of money, so they started sending them to everyone on college campuses,and if the student used them, which the majority did, they were hooked and in debt .
That situation created some of the first credit reform laws.

Oh come on Sarge, I'll take being tased over being burned at the stake any day!