Modern Technology and times

[greenpondmike]

I like things and gadgets. Back in the past I had manmade toys, but I also had pets, crickets ganddaddy longlegs and grasshoppers to play with along with incandescent flashlights. My first car was a 1974 nova that I traded my honda xr80 for. I had bb/pellet guns, and had my dad's .22 rifle, 20 and 12 gauge shotguns to hunt with along with his rod and reel (zebco 33) to fish with.
I actually enjoyed life better back then and life was simpler and I had more freedoms. Life was really good back then although I had no computer or smart phone. If I had any troubles I had to deal with them and just push through it. There were more places to hunt back then and hunting and fishing licenses were cheap and TCI hunting permits were free.
If anyone wore a mask people would think you were going to rob them. Life was more natural and I wasn't as dependant on things as I am now. I did watch a lot of tv in the winter months, but there were only four channels and they all quit broadcasting by 11:00pm. If the lights went off- no problem. We had a coal/wood heater that would keep us warm. Vehicles were easy to work on and if you needed to go buy something the choice was easier because there wasn't a bunch of companies making the same product. Things were quality made and generic stuff didn't seem to come out until I was in my late teens. Walmart stayed in Arkansas until I was in my late teens also and when it came it was only a department store (no superstore) like k-mart, grants, montgomery ward or zayre's.
Mr. Turkey turkey ham (the very best turkey ham EVER) came and went and earlier on so did fizzies. Better music and musicians were more creative. Hardly any cussing on the radio and tv. Love American style and laugh in were probably the nastiest shows on tv.
Guns were NOT frowned upon and I could go to the strip pit and target practice or even do it in my own yard with neighbors close (not subdivision close) on either side of me- no one bothered me or called the cops. I could drink out of a cold, clear running creek and be refreshed and rejuvenated or I could drink out of a small, red running stream that had iron water in it- not as cold, but it hit the spot if you were desperately thirsty. None of that ol nasty tasting city water- we had a well. No landline and no microwave, but we got by and I looked forward to getting out of bed in the afternoons (if school was out). Bad folk weren't as bad, but the real bad ones were few- that was when parents disciplined their children regular and were taught respect. What were video games? The korner store got some in when I was in my mid teens and in my late teens my best friend's girlfriend got an atorie home system. I had to listen to her brag on how good my friend was at playing it, but he was there often and had a lot of practice. I did get close to his high score though even though I hardly played it as much, but I was determined to beat or match his high score so she would shut up. Really, the only thing I got addicted to was nicotine. Most other things I could take or leave.
Y'all remember that good sliced cheese at winn dixie? It came in several different flavors and they even had a smoked flavor one. Clothes were cheap and a pair or blue jeans would last over 10+years. K-mart had their "texas steer" boots that were quality made and cheap. Later on though their quality went downhill and they then disappeared. Motor oil was cheap and actually protected your old engines and no ethanol. A whopper was a whopper and food and things were made with pride. Postol workers didn't go postol and there was less worry and stress. There was less people getting cancer and dieing from it and people eyes lasted longer if they watched tv only once in a while. I was less bored even though I had less stuff and it was more fun to want something than to actually have it- that also works with food and women also lol. Music was music and didn't sound like a loaded diesel taking off and country music was more than just talking about getting a beer- it actually had some wisdom and family values to it. Cb radio was in its prime and talk was cleaner and because folks used the cb code it was more family friendly. Husbands didn't want their wives to become defiled by hearing cussing (cause they knew their wives would use it back on them lol)- now many females could make a salor blush. Back then a man was a man and a woman was a woman and there were less perverts and child molesters.
I think that media in general might be causing the degeration of many people- especially since it is so readily available and only a smart phone away. The fruit of this is instant gratification and no patience ("we want it now"). A lust for food and things and even people that created this sex trafficking problem that is way worse than you think. If I let my hair grow out for 2 years like I did 2015-2017 I better watch out also.

I blame greed, ready media and computers for the changing times. Go through the alphabet and assign each letter with a "6", doubling, and tripling, etc- a=6, b=12, c=18, etc. Do this all the way to " z". Spell computer and give each letter his assigned number and add them and then you will get 666. Maybe even though it adds up to that it is a bunch of bull, but maybe not. They are now talking about self driving cars. I don't want to depend on some man made, fallible computer to drive me anywhere. I'd rather depend on my own mind to drive a car. These new battery only vehicles are going to have a lot of computer stuff in them and I don't think they are any more durable than their mechanical counterparts- remember the newest boeing airlines with the faulty computer programing? I believe you are asking for trouble when you completely remove the mechanical element from any type of machine and causing it to need less and less human intervention and control. I also like analog better than digital and as far as I'm concerned they can throw that metric system in a lake because I like the old conventional system better. Am I just a lone nut case or does anyone else feel the same way?

 

[greenpondmike]

Also (I forgot) the middle class (the backbone of the country OMHO) had a lot of personal owned businesses and mom and pop stores. Higher minimum wages, higher taxes and walmart killed a lot of that- remember Alan Jackson's song "the little man? Big corporations ate/bought out smaller corporations and businesses and consolodated them. Please don't be fooled, the economy can't servive with only the rich and poor. If they really did raise minimum wages up to $15 an hour, what do you think it is going to do? Sure it would benefit me, but it would also probably (I hope not) kill off the rest of the privately owned businesses and the government mandates over this corona stuff has /is already weakening them.
The middle class are important to our country. They are a filter between the filthy rich and the poor. We need the middle class, our economy needs them and their businesses. The "little man" is really the big man in this country.

 

[jtr1962]

I honestly think you're looking at this through the rose-colored glasses of your youth. You don't mention when you were born, but if I had to guess I would say the late 1940s through the mid 1950s. Why? It seems a lot of that generation idealizes the world that existed post-WWII when the US had a huge advantage before Europe and Japan rebuilt. Anyway, I was born in 1962, and frankly if I'm supposed to remember my "coming of age" years (probably the 1970s/early 1980s) fondly, honestly I don't. The 70s were a lousy, depressing decade full of collective can't-do malaise. The 80s was mostly spent trying to build back from the neglect of the 1970s. I didn't even watch much TV then because with only a few channels and mostly stupid sitcoms I didn't find much of it enjoyable. In fact, the entertainment options were quite limited, and so was the technology. Think about what you can do now. You can communicate with people all over the world, you can learn about any subject without going to a library and being limited to whatever books they have, you can watch videos of people's experiences, get help with problems, etc. The machine I'm typing this on has the power a supercomputer did in the 1980s. Really, it's limitless. Of course, with all this came some negatives, but isn't it that way with any new technology?

The biggest problem I see with today's society is that many types of technological goods become obsolete before they wear out. A smart phone could probably last 25 years but people want to replace it with newer ones with more features every year or two. Cars actually last a lot longer than they used to, despite your complaints about having lots of computers in them. You know why computers and sensors replaced a lot of the mechanical stuff? Because it reached the point where it's more reliable. Sure, this means you often can't fix problems yourself, but they happen far less often. Electrics with fewer mechanical parts to break down will last even longer, perhaps even 40 or 50 years.

I have to disagree vehemently about your desire not to have a computer drive you. We used to have elevator operators. Then they were replaced by automation which did the job far better than any human could. Humans are ill-suited to repetitive tasks like driving which might have very occasional moments when you need to do everything perfect to avoid disaster. A machine has no such problem. Indeed, most of those occasional moments are caused by the human error of other drivers. 40,000+ deaths and a few million injuries annually just in the US tells me the sooner we perfect automated driving the better. This is a horrible price to pay. The vast majority of people lack the coordination, spatial ability, intelligence, proper attitude, or training to drive safely. I'll be one happy person the day human driving is banned, other than on closed circuit tracks. In fact, one day your children or grandchildren might look at you with a puzzled expression asking if there really was a time when we let people drive.

The middle class will survive. Remember the wealthy needs somebody to design and make the things they like to buy. The poor, uneducated classes can't do that. Besides, I feel technology is equalizing things so the wealthy no longer have the advantage they once did. Now everyone has access to information only the wealthy used to. Being able to communicate in real time with others also means it's a lot harder for the wealthy to exert top-down control.

You're missing what humans do best, which is to be creative. Technology is freeing us from the drudge work of keeping the world functioning. That lets us pursue things we enjoy instead. I look forward to the day robots do all the basic functions of society so humans don't have to.

 

[jtr1962]

Also (I forgot) the middle class (the backbone of the country OMHO) had a lot of personal owned businesses and mom and pop stores. Higher minimum wages, higher taxes and walmart killed a lot of that- remember Alan Jackson's song "the little man? Big corporations ate/bought out smaller corporations and businesses and consolodated them.

Wanted to address this one separately. What killed a lot of businesses, and not just mom and pop stores, is globalism. You're competing with people who are happy to work for far less than you are. There are really no good answer to it, either, other than to hope these other countries reach the same level of wages as we have sooner rather than later. That's the only thing which might work, but then again automation is also eliminating jobs. There are answers to that problem, but that's getting too far into politics to discuss here.

As for taxes, things have traditionally gone better for the middle class when the wealthy paid more taxes, rather than less. Why? The money went into infrastructure, education, health care, all things which made the workers more productive, increasing national wealth. Even the rich know this but I have my theory on why they want lower taxes on themselves. Taxing the rich less increases wealth disparity, with those in the top few percent having most of the wealth. However, policies which taxed the wealthy more, with the money put into things like infrastructure, education, and so forth, would grow the economy by more than enough to offset the higher tax rates. In other words, with higher taxes the rich would become richer than they would with lower taxes because the economy would grow by more than enough to offset paying a higher percentage of income in taxes. So why don't the rich support this? Because these same policies would also mean the lower and middle classes become a lot more wealthy. Those on top would still have much of the wealth, but those on the bottom would have a lot more than now. Or put in layman's terms, the rich would rather have a larger slice of a much smaller pie than a smaller slice of a larger pie, even if the smaller slice was bigger in absolute terms. Why? Because it's not wealth, but wealth disparity, which gives them power. Think about it. Suppose you have one very wealthy person and 10,000 poor people. That wealthy person will enjoy much more power than if there were other wealthy people, a lot of middle class people, and much fewer poor people. So for all their hollow talk about the reason for lower taxes on the rich being more money in their pockets, it's really power they want more. And that power has helped decimate the middle class.

 

[Katherine Alicia]

it`s quite funny really, because Homer said something very similar this about 700 B.C.
I guess some things never change

 

[greenpondmike]

I enjoy being able to do stuff myself and although I don't mind a machine helping me a little, I don't want it to do everything. Man is fallible I admit, but what man makes is even more fallible. I don't ever want a computer to think for me. I am 55 years old and was born in late 1965. I really liked the late 60s and all the 70s and even the 80s. The 90s weren't too bad and life was even good up to late 2006-although it wasn't the 70s. In 1977 I was put into a foster home with an old lady that abused me, but it still didn't overall cast a cloud on the 70s or my attitude. I wasn't quite the same person when I came home in 79 as I was before I was taken away- I was into woodworking and drawing before that and a lot happier, but I was still alright when I got out as far as feeling good. As far as my charactor was concerned I was a piece of crap thug throughout most of my early to mid teens. Circumstances changed me throughout my late teens on into my early 20s. There was some bad pot going around at the time that was laced with something else and it got me and two of my friends. All 3 of us got an anxiety disorder and two of us developed panic attacks. I was one of them that got the panic attacks. It mellowed me and caused me to seek God who is the one that put into me any goodness I have now. That began in 1983 and I have no issues now, but don't expect me to drink a pot of strong coffee without bouncing off the walls lol. What I am saying in a very long way is "what rose colored glasses"?- maybe turd colored. Before the foster home I was fussed at and cussed out more than a few times by my dad who also could be real nice. He had issues though from all those knives in his back almost a decade before- no fun being backstabbed and by soo many people. It made him a sometimes monster. Like I said turd colored maybe. It just took a lot back then to overall to get me down and the good times were better than the bad.
As far as bad sit coms- I agree, but hee haw was always good and I liked that one called police squad. All the good ones before cbs's rural purge were gone. Andy Griffith, the beverly hillbillies, petticoat junction, green acres and mayberry rfd were gone along with hee haw, but nbc picked them up and ran with them, but I had to go through the summer without hee haw- poor me lol. I needed to be outside playing anyway. I'm still holding back on the past though.
Changing the subject though, I'm more talking about the independent middle class business owners/employers. I've worked for several businesses that were owned and ran by such people. Sure in a since there will still be some middle class workers out there that will survive for a while. The ones I know the husband and wife both work- sometimes more than one job, sometimes more than that (to keep their middle class status) and the daycare and later on the schools raises their kids and has more influence over the kids than their parents do. Yep, kill yourself working and lose control of your kids. In the end those people are fortunate if they can even enjoy their retirement and if their kids even love them after all the neglect that were done with honest good intentions of attaining the elusive American dream for them and their families.

 

[greenpondmike]

Maybe I'm dumb, but if some folks are willing to work for less that would help the small independent businesses.
As far as the rich are concerned, they didn't get that way by being dumb. They know how to get around stuff. Just pass those taxes onto the consumer- us. Also they can leave the country again and operate in china with that almost free slave labor and and avoid a lot of taxes and I'm quite sure tarriffs will soon be removed. I don't believe all the rich are bad, but there are some rich folks that control things and they don't have to answer to anyone. I'm NOT talking about politicians here, I'm talking about the "elite". If the regular rich say oh no you don't and their companies go to china, who is going to take up the slack? The middle class and the small independent businesses. If you overtax the common rich folks and their companies they will run. Better some tax than no tax- PLUS, with more companies here, that means more jobs and more PEOPLE paying taxes. I don't understand how Mr. Tony can even stay in business with mag instruments being located in the republic of cali.

Katherine, I don't understand what you wrote. Remember, I'm a blonde.

 

[jtr1962]

You know what killed mom&pop businesses more than anything? Greedy landlords, not higher pay for workers. There are businesses in NYC which are, or rather were before the pandemic, full of customers, and yet they were on the way out. Nothing wrong with their business model. Problem is all the profits went to the landlord. Now you have lots of ground floor retail empty. I just wonder if the landlords will accept lower rent, or keep it empty hoping they'll find someone able to pay their asking price. In fact, the single biggest reason for the decline of the middle class is out of control real estate prices. People spend an ever increasing amount of their money just for the roof over their heads. Forget about saving and leaving something to their children so they have a head start. Back when my parents married in 1961, their first apartment was about $40 a month, less than $400 in today's money. Now an average apartment in the outer boroughs in NYC goes for at least $2,000 a month, often a lot more. Single family homes are ridiculous as well, which is why the only people who buy them rent them out. Next door has about 6 college kids living on the top two floors, and about 6 Chinese delivery workers in the basement. These homes can no longer serve their primary function as single family homes because few families can afford them. Given the cost of living, especially in large cities, are you really surprised about the push for higher minimum wages? A higher minimum wage isn't necessarily worse for a business, either. For starters, it helps attract a higher quality worker, giving the employer more choice. If you hire better workers, you might find 5 can do the same amount of work as 8 or 10 cheaper workers.

As for technology, the trick is to control it, not let it control you. I use my computer when I went, but don't feel the need to be online 15 hours a day. I don't even own a cell phone. I don't like to be interrupted when I go out. As for doing things myself, I love creative hobbies, but I'd be happy if a robot cleaned the house, took care of my mother, cooked meals, basically did all the daily drudge work. I don't get anything except tired and bored doing those things.

Sorry to hear about your childhood. Mine wasn't much better. I grew up in a housing project. My parents argued all the time. My hobbies and play were my only escapes. As for TV, my tastes leaned towards sci-fi, and back then there wasn't much. Star Trek, Lost In Space, Battlestar Galactica, plus a few others. Not like now where cable has all kinds of great shows.

Anyway, probably better to embrace change since there's not much you can do about it. My mother's father loved new technology. It's a pity he died in 1978. Had he still been around now, he would have loved everything that's been invented, and would have been 120 this summer. He's the one who told me the so-called good old days weren't. He never longed for the past. Back when he was young, the streets were covered with horse manure, and if you made to 50 you were considered old.

 

[Katherine Alicia]

my tastes leaned towards sci-fi... Battlestar Galactica

You Sir, have impeccable taste! :twothumbs

 

[jtr1962]

You Sir, have impeccable taste! :twothumbs

Thanks!

 

[Poppy]

I loved Star Trek!
Kirk was always flying on the seat of his pants, running into one problem after another, and I was able to put myself in his shoes, and sometimes... just sometimes, figure out a solution to the problem. When he came up with a solution (or actually Spock did) like throw waste radiation out into space to locate the cloaked ship, I could say to myself... "Darn, I should have thought of that!"

In the "Next generation" they had a Galaxy Class ship that would take multiple hits, before Picard would say... "OK... fire on them, take out their weapons system" Or when they are confronted with a new unknown, Geordi would say... "Captain, the last time we were in space dock, a new super duper nebulizer was installed, we could use that!"

Although I watched "Battlestar Galactica" regularly, I never liked it. Lorne Greene was at the helm, as a seasoned old General. He led a rag-tag fleet in a continual retreat from the Cylons. Always afraid of being seen, and always running away. Yeah, not fun!

 

[greenpondmike]

I agree there are a lot of renters that think their properties are made of gold. They would ask it though if people wouldn't give it. New york city is a bad place to live anyways and I bet it is dreadful cold right now. I hear there is also a lot of violence in the streets. Good folk there need to move south and get away from there if they can. A trailer in a southern trailer park is better than nyc, if they miss the city they can always visit- I'm quite sure nyc is better in the summertime. I know of a nice little house in a good neighborhood of s-town that I think someone can rent cheap. Only catch is it has a haint in it. One bedroom is especially effected. How do I know this? A friend of mine rented it for a while. She just used "that" bedroom as the toy room. There is an indent in the back yard and one time one of Woodstock's finest was dating my friend's aunt that was also staying there. They were on the back deck above the basement (probably kissing) and this spirit came out of the indent and walked into the basement. It scared that cop so bad that he quit seeing her and not long afterwards quit his job. He was a good cop, but that rattled his chain reeeal good. I had no issues there myself, but I never spent the night there. Almost caught me a five pound opossum there though, but he got away. The house seems in good shape, but has been abandoned for years.
Katherine I guess I have bad taste because I never could get into those sy-fi shows. The two I mentioned were just sitcoms, but I also liked the dukes of hazzard (learned how to drive from that show) the incredible hulk, starter and clutch, rockford files and the Sunday night mystery movies featuring McCloud, McMillian and wife and Columbo. "Moving on" was good and now that I'm older I can appreciate Barney Miller. Almost forgot about the partridge family, mod squad, the Flip Wilson show, laugh in, and the Ray Stevens show. There were a lot of good movies also. One of the was Steven King's first movie (I think) called duel. I also liked Sandford and son- I liked it when he would insult Ester.

 

[Katherine Alicia]

Katherine I guess I have bad taste because I never could get into those sy-fi shows.

That`s a bit non sequitur, the 2 aren`t mutually exclusive

 

[greenpondmike]

That`s a bit non sequitur, the 2 aren`t mutually exclusive

Hey, my friend Katherine- sorry, that one also went over my head, but I think you meant that it doesn't necessarily mean that I have bad taste if I didn't like sy-fi, but if I did like sy-fi I would have good taste.

 

[Katherine Alicia]

it`s basically a false dichotomy, a bit like saying that because I like Cheeseburgers and think they are good, I must therefore think that all other foods are bad, or I may say to you "Thanks this coffee`s really good", does it follow that all the others you made were bad?

 

[greenpondmike]

Oh, ok.

 

[bykfixer]

I like the technology that suits me. A microwave is handy, but the charcoal grill is too. Growing up in the place I grew up with parents I had made a huge difference in my perspective. Yet I have seen American society as a whole tend to become less and less fun to be around. My family all drifted apart in the 90's and 00's but it's ok. We live and let live.

Too many factors to go into in a post or two, and most would be my opinion anyway. But I definitely prefer Kirk over Picard even though Picard could beat Spock at chess. To me Battle Star Galactica was like watching grass grow, but my twin still watches it to this day and has a battle star ship as his smart watch face. Me? I don't want a smart watch but I do like the kinetic watch where shaking your wrist charges it. Now part of the no smart watch is from being bombarded with emails from the company, the client and the boss everyday. I use a smartphone to check the weather radar, which has come in handy more than I can remember in road construction.

My wife prefers a new technology life style where I'm ok with old tech. Yet we both cross back and forth as our tastes suit us. I grew up and still live in a place where you could yell "hey" and hear it echo 5 times back when but now you yell "hey" across the yard when the wind is out of the interstate direction and the person 20 feet away didn't hear you. I moved around some and at times lived in places you could walk around naked and not be noticed or at times in places where your new leather jacket was the talk of the town for days it was so backward in time. I moved back home to find I liked it somewhere in the middle.

Do I like the direction things are moving? No and yes. No because it's freaking February 2021 instead of March 2004 and it seemed like that was 8 days ago. But yes the modernization certainly has its perks. If not for thyroid pills I'd have probably had a stroke by now where my mom had to drink a radioactive cocktail to destroy hers back when Jimmy Carter was president. A battery operated saws-all and leaf blower are pretty cool too. And I can get 3000 songs onto a chip the size of my thumbnail. People act as if social media and cable tv are required these days, yet they are not. I haven't watched network tv in decades or am a tweeter/intagriper yet I know more details about the goings on in society than most people I know. It's out there if you just turn away from the conventional and just listen.

Sure I miss the innocence of my youth. Yet one day in my 30's I decided to quit acting like the grown up society says I have to be, revert back to when I knew what I believed was real and that was that. When society says I have to do this or that I weigh the options. Is it better to do this or that or is it just another act of following some rule that does me no good? It makes sense to wear that bright yellow plastic bag at my work. Yet my hard hat has vents where company issued plastic helmets do not. So I bought my own helmet. Society dictates things I think are dumb too. I don't need 5000 friends on fakebook telling me what to think or these days what to hate on. Twelve is plenty. I joined that to keep with with my kids lives, who nowadays aren't even fakebook members anymore. Yet my twelve friends all enjoy our little time on fakebook discussing things we enjoy.

Apparently there was a football game recently that had everybody talking about the next day. I don't even know what Lady Gaga looks like. She could be next to me in a store and I wouldn't know it. So when everybody is talking about Lady Gaga said "x" I think "who cares? It didn't affect me none. When the pandemic closed local gyms I never noticed. My workout with a vacuum cleaner, scrubbing the bath tub, cutting my lawn with a push mower and rearranging the furniture kept me in shape. Why get on an excersize bike to nowhere when the real thing puts a breeze across your face or the sunshine on your shoulders? My young coworker was freaking out "I can't do my cardio"…… I said "you live on the 3rd floor of your apartment building. Fill up two containers with water and take the steps up and down a few laps"....he actually replied "why?" lol.

What it all comes down to is perspective. We only get one shot at this life. In my view we should enjoy it while we can. Because like mist on a chilly morning it's gone before you know it.

 

[lightfooted]

Mike, I think you're delusional and possibly have memory issues. I'm only a few years younger than you and never have I thought that clothes were cheaper back in my youth...in fact they were more expensive. I don't recall ever being able to buy a pair of jeans for less than $30, especially a pair of Levi's. This back in the day when filling up the tank of your car would usually cost less than $15. A pair of shoes would start at $35 and only go up. A pair of shoes that, if I was lucky, would last until the end of the school year. I usually wasn't. Nowadays you can get shoes that will last about as long for a third or less the cost. I actually own a few pairs of shoes now that have lasted more than ten years, but I wear them way less than my others. I have some clothes that are as old, shirts(sweaters) and pants both. I intend to give much of them away at some point soon.

Honestly though, I don't really want clothes and shoes that last for 20 or 30 years...it's not just about style but also about comfort and usefulness. Since we're all mostly typing out nice long paragraphs...I guess I can too. Back in the early days of history before the industrial revolution, a nice suit or dress would easily cost more than a year's wages for the average peasant worker. An extravagant one would likely cost a life-time's wages for anyone other than the lord or lady of the land. This is why for the most part they only had a single outfit for fancy occasions. With the revolution the cost of clothing came down so much that the average worker could afford to buy more than one outfit and even own several to use for different occasions including work.

I don't need things to outlast me to find them useful. I don't abuse my things just to see if they can survive it.

As for technology, well I just don't see things the same way. I think you would be surprised how much technology is in things, even much older things that you may not be thinking of. Even my 1978 Datsun 280Z had a computer, a very basic computer sure but it controlled the pulse timing of the fuel injectors as well as the ignition spark. Without it, it could not run.

I loved watching Star Trek every evening just before dinner. Then watching Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers and Knight Rider or The A-Team and Airwolf. Also enjoyed Remington Steele. There are shows that I would consider as good, not just in comparison to my younger self, but actually well written shows that I enjoy today thanks to technology. The Mandolorian would top the list just because it is the tv series that I had wished had been made from Star Wars back in those days.

 

[jtr1962]

I agree there are a lot of renters that think their properties are made of gold. They would ask it though if people wouldn't give it.

They get it because large corporations like to have a presence in NYC for prestige reasons, even if their branches here lose money on account of the rents. Look around any street in Manhattan, and the non-empty storefronts are banks, restaurant chains, overpriced boutiques, etc. However, with austerity becoming a thing even for large corporations the days of the landlords charging what the market will bear may be coming to an end. I can eventually see these empty storefronts becoming something along the lines of an indoor open-air market, where average people rent a small portion of the space on a daily or weekly basis. That will give average people a shot again at having their own business.

New york city is a bad place to live anyways and I bet it is dreadful cold right now. I hear there is also a lot of violence in the streets. Good folk there need to move south and get away from there if they can. A trailer in a southern trailer park is better than nyc, if they miss the city they can always visit- I'm quite sure nyc is better in the summertime.

Well, I like cold and hate the heat. Summers here are horribly hot and humid. Besides, as a person who doesn't drive and doesn't own a car there are very few places in this country I could live. It's NYC, or one of the few other cities with subways which are pale imitations of NYC. Crime here hasn't been bad since the 1990s. Don't believe everything you hear on the news.

I'll have to disagree on the TV. Sure, there were some good shows in the 60s and 70s, but TV was mostly a wasteland. As a medium it didn't really start to come into its own until cable was common. And it probably took until the 2000s to fully reach its potential. Now there are plenty of shows and networks to cater to literally any taste. Technology years ago wouldn't have allowed for hundreds of channels.

 

[orbital]

+

The world needs more family owned hardware stores.