1950's Ameeerica ... why so appealing?

[midlife]

Oh my...let's not forget Mr. Bean and the Black Adder!

 

[tpj71mach]

On the otherhand, British TV was very good over the years: Waiting for God, Chef, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, and of course, Dr. Who.

I still love watching Monty Pythons! I have passed that on to all four of my sons, We would all watch the shows and the movies and laugh our asses off. My wife would just shake her head and not understand why. Funny story, once she was asking about one of my car projects and how much it was going to be to restore and I said that I was not expecting the Spanish inquisition. She replied "no one expects the Spanish inquisition" which proves she was listening when we watched the Python movies and actually liked them more than she admitted, LOL.

 

[detritusmaximus]

My wife just got us tickets to see John Cleese in November!

 

[basstrix]

Most of us seem to have a lot in common. I grew up in 70's-80's and as times change, I'm more and more grateful for the life I had, back then. The last few years have given me a sense of hopelessness for society. The country seems to be in the tight grip of a political movement that I'm misaligned with. Racial tensions are worse than ever and unduly so. Accusations that are blatantly false have become accepted and the norm. The division seems irreparable. Perhaps these things have always existed and I'm just no longer ignorant to them? Or maybe I have a grossly exaggerated view of what's happening today?

All I know is that working on and driving around in my 72 mustang allows for some escape to a time I enjoyed and cherish.

 

[detritusmaximus]

On the otherhand, British TV was very good over the years: Waiting for God, Chef, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, and of course, Dr. Who.

Something that impressed me when watching Doctor Who back in the 80s...forgiving it for being a low budget children's show, it still had better writing and ideas than prime time shows directed at adults over here.

And then there is....'Bottom', Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmundson. The Halloween episode is manic, but great.

 

[donkost]

Not all was great back then. Long Distance calls were expensive. Civil rights for non-whites were very bad (think Jim Crow). Anyone who was gay had to stay in the closet. In some states, one could not have an inter-racial marriage. No birth control pills. Polio was rampant, at least for part of the decade. McCarthy hearings on supposed communists; Hollywood blacklisting.

Great job remembering long distance calls! I recall how special it was to be told you have a long distance call, and you had to practically run across the room and dive for the phone. heh I was born in '63, almost 60 now. So I had many of the experiences described here. Out on the bike all day in summer for various adventures (no helmet, no one wore them), home for dinner. Really no way to reach your parents or vice versa, unless you were inside at a friend's house. Played guitar since '76, still do, and I remember when you could walk down the street or the hallway in school and stumble across enough musicians to form a band. I have been in IT for 37 years so I see the effects of the tech explosion. One on hand computers and the smartphone have really given us incredible capabilities. Like meeting other like-minded individuals on a forum such as this one. On the other hand life was much simpler and dare I say better without them. Saw many concerts in the late 70's / early 80's, and we weren't able to watch multiple nights of the show on youtube beforehand, and heck we didn't even know the set-list.

 

[mrgmhale]

Probably the biggest factor in why the 50s were so 'great' is the post war boom.
As C9 says, we had it good while everyone else was in ruins. The biggest reason is WW2. Without it, or something like it, we would have still been muddling along into the 21st century.
One, we were not devastated by war. Two, we built a manufacturing juggernaut during the war that when it ended left a massive surplus of tools, equipment, facilities, materials and labor ready and waiting. All of the servicemen, more often than not were trained in technical and support roles and all those that were undaunted by the challenges and risks of civilian life after a lifetime in foxholes.
And half a world to supply and rebuild.
All of that and The Marshall Plan.
That confluence of circumstances is unlikely to happen again anywhere for a century or two.
It's almost impossible to believe the Boom wouldn't have happened.

We were also a creditor nation in the 50s, and even the earlier part of the 60s. Within another generation that would change and we went from being the world's greatest creditor nation to becoming the largest debtor nation. It is as though our politicians went on a drunken binge that pushed money into military, industrial, and financial organizations while the taxpaying public was being ever more heavily burdened. A lot of the adverse impact of being so deeply in debt internationally is masked by the fact that the US Dollar continues to be thee dominant reserve currency for most international financial transactions. If/When that changes significantly we will be in a world of hurt. The only "good news" along that sobering view is that if our nation falls into serious, in-your-face financial distress the rest of the world will be sucked under with us. Not even our most ardent foe wants that to happen as it will affect them also, badly.

In short, I have come to view a person's wealth in terms of the relative position of an individual in comparison to a nation of individuals who are largely heavily indebted by their own nation beyond their ability to ever pay off their personal debts, much less their proportionate amount of national debt. To simplify thing I will often take a step back, and tell folks a person who is out of debt and able to fund his/her own retirement without Social Security, is at the least "rich." But, the person who has no need to consider whether he.she is "rich," because they have so much net worth that money considerations are a distant thought, would be truly wealthy. I have only met a handful of folks who are truly wealthy, where no matter how bad a financial calamity may occur they will never really feel it, or even be aware of it other than from new outlets. But, I have met and know quite a few "rich" folks, who are able to say they are debt free, and able to cover their proportionate amount of per capita national debt, from cash and investments - assuming the cash currency and investments do not lose value in the event of a market crash. I know a lot more folks who look like they are either rich or wealthy, but are actually in debt, personally, up to their eyeballs - and the downward, adverse move in the economy would put them in danger of some serious disruption. The latter group are often thought to be rich or wealthy because of their obvious consumption that puts forth a facade covering a rickety situation. For us, we chose long ago to not involve ourselves in obvious consumption, as it is better to be stable as opposed to financial edge at all times. Despite how stable we feel we are, I am always on the lookout for any impending disruptions (war in Ukraine, conflict with China over Taiwan, ever increasing overrunning of our borders by illegal immigrants, stability of Social Security. I figure if we can continue having a comfortable retirement, and avoid any significant downturns, we will have done well. That said, with each passing year I am ever more surprised at the resiliency of our nation. This whole covid matter was very telling. Thankfully we no longer have rental properties, otherwise we would have been badly burned. I am surprised we have not had a huge wave of bankruptcies in the wake of the apparent passing of covid )where covid become a passing event is more of a political view than a realistic view).

Anyway, my two cents. FWIW

 

[detritusmaximus]

I have conte

We were also a creditor nation in the 50s, and even the earlier part of the 60s. Within another generation that would change and we went from being the world's greatest creditor nation to becoming the largest debtor nation. It is as though our politicians went on a drunken binge that pushed money into military, industrial, and financial organizations while the taxpaying public was being ever more heavily burdened. A lot of the adverse impact of being so deeply in debt internationally is masked by the fact that the US Dollar continues to be thee dominant reserve currency for most international financial transactions. If/When that changes significantly we will be in a world of hurt. The only "good news" along that sobering view is that if our nation falls into serious, in-your-face financial distress the rest of the world will be sucked under with us. Not even our most ardent foe wants that to happen as it will affect them also, badly.

In short, I have come to view a person's wealth in terms of the relative position of an individual in comparison to a nation of individuals who are largely heavily indebted by their own nation beyond their ability to ever pay off their personal debts, much less their proportionate amount of national debt. To simplify thing I will often take a step back, and tell folks a person who is out of debt and able to fund his/her own retirement without Social Security, is at the least "rich." But, the person who has no need to consider whether he.she is "rich," because they have so much net worth that money considerations are a distant thought, would be truly wealthy. I have only met a handful of folks who are truly wealthy, where no matter how bad a financial calamity may occur they will never really feel it, or even be aware of it other than from new outlets. But, I have met and know quite a few "rich" folks, who are able to say they are debt free, and able to cover their proportionate amount of per capita national debt, from cash and investments - assuming the cash currency and investments do not lose value in the event of a market crash. I know a lot more folks who look like they are either rich or wealthy, but are actually in debt, personally, up to their eyeballs - and the downward, adverse move in the economy would put them in danger of some serious disruption. The latter group are often thought to be rich or wealthy because of their obvious consumption that puts forth a facade covering a rickety situation. For us, we chose long ago to not involve ourselves in obvious consumption, as it is better to be stable as opposed to financial edge at all times. Despite how stable we feel we are, I am always on the lookout for any impending disruptions (war in Ukraine, conflict with China over Taiwan, ever increasing overrunning of our borders by illegal immigrants, stability of Social Security. I figure if we can continue having a comfortable retirement, and avoid any significant downturns, we will have done well. That said, with each passing year I am ever more surprised at the resiliency of our nation. This whole covid matter was very telling. Thankfully we no longer have rental properties, otherwise we would have been badly burned. I am surprised we have not had a huge wave of bankruptcies in the wake of the apparent passing of covid )where covid become a passing event is more of a political view than a realistic view).

Anyway, my two cents. FWIW

I have contemplated several 'collapse' scenarios over the years. I think a point of consideration in what you've said is the 'tipping point'. Having a good financial position in regards to an economic upset is very smart planning and usually requires a person to forego much of the window dressing of affluence. A lot of that window dressing is really just pointless consumption.
It may make someone a little less uncomfortable during troubled times. But, and this is my opinion, if an event happens that is truly bad, a lot of that wealth will either evaporate (insane inflation, bank collapse) or a digital disaster where you might have that wealth but no way to access it. If it's bad enough, the wealth becomes useless and the wealthy are reduced to the same level as the homeless. Dollars just become paper and gold becomes useless as there is no immediate practical use for it.

 

[mrgmhale]

I have conte

I have contemplated several 'collapse' scenarios over the years. I think a point of consideration in what you've said is the 'tipping point'. Having a good financial position in regards to an economic upset is very smart planning and usually requires a person to forego much of the window dressing of affluence. A lot of that window dressing is really just pointless consumption.
It may make someone a little less uncomfortable during troubled times. But, and this is my opinion, if an event happens that is truly bad, a lot of that wealth will either evaporate (insane inflation, bank collapse) or a digital disaster where you might have that wealth but no way to access it. If it's bad enough, the wealth becomes useless and the wealthy are reduced to the same level as the homeless. Dollars just become paper and gold becomes useless as there is no immediate practical use for it.

Real life. At some point there won’t be enough chairs for everyone and folks are going to get hurt pretty badly. And you can’t eat gold. I feel the currency if bad times that makes the lot sense is ammunition. It would be valuable enough to make a person think twice before firing a bullet because they will be so hard to replace one spent. But it will be the best way to hunt for food and to keep predators and mooted at bay. Load up, folks. It will be better to be well armed and have a lot of ammo as compared to having lots of gold with little intrinsic value.

 

[detritusmaximus]

Real life. At some point there won’t be enough chairs for everyone and folks are going to get hurt pretty badly. And you can’t eat gold. I feel the currency if bad times that makes the lot sense is ammunition. It would be valuable enough to make a person think twice before firing a bullet because they will be so hard to replace one spent. But it will be the best way to hunt for food and to keep predators and mooted at bay. Load up, folks. It will be better to be well armed and have a lot of ammo as compared to having lots of gold with little intrinsic value.

Booze is the best currency in that scenario.
I could go on endlessly on this subject...but it would derail this topic and since this is a certain English residents thread. While we could fantasize about a return to a version of the wild west in the event of a societal collapse, 1sostatic would be faced with a return to medieval sefdom!...

"Ooh, look, he must a king!"
"What makes you think he's a king?!"
"..'cause he hasn't got s**t all over him!"