Hey Mom, I'm famous!

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Never to be repeated bargain prices?

Almost 80 years on and history, as it has a habit of doing, repeats itself.

To quote David Letterman, " It's the 79th anniversary of the stockmarket crash and to commemorate that event, stocks are now selling at 1929 prices.'

It's amazing how quickly we forget the lessons of the past.
At the end of the day there's no such thing as a quick buck, just an advance that must ultimately be repaid,

. . . . all too often by someone else.

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Going out with a BOOM!

They came thundering out of the 50's & 60's like an out of control tidal wave.

A post war baby boom so large that it would fracture every social infrastructure it came in contact with for the next 60 years.

In the 50's it swamped pediatric services, burst out of undersized classrooms, created the worlds first teenage generation and fired the protest movement of the 60's. It took control of industry and politics in the 80's and, because of its shear size, now threatens to collapse retirement funds, superannuation schemes and health care services as these Boomers, as they became known, enter retirement years.

This week the New Zealand press association release details of a financial package designed to put more money into palliative care and hospice services. I also notice that my local funeral home has just spent mega thousands enlarging it's chapel and expanding (four fold) its adjoining processing and storage (mortuary) facility.

These are sure signs they, and the health care service providers, expect more business in the days ahead and that the BOOMERS next big social impact will be on an increasing level of departures from planet earth. Going out with a boom?

The wave that began in the late 40's has now crashed onto the beach. Its frothy brown foam has settled on the sand any the roar of the sea dragging its remaining waters back across the stones can be clearly heard.

A sobering sound for people of my generation.

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Building on Sand

It started years ago.

Like a distant rumor, or the first signs of a leak in the dam. There was no doubt that it would ultimately result in the total collapse of the entire dam with all of the devastation that would cause. But that was something we couldn't even contemplate. It was too unimaginable, so we worked away to patch up the leak and encourage each other with positive statements about the situation. There was too much at stake.

But eventually the unthinkable happened, Wall Street collapsed under its own weight. And still we tried to talk it all back together again.

Two thousand years ago a Jewish Rabbi told a story about the folly of trying to build a house on the sand. Perhaps the sand of the 'live now pay later' credit society has finally been washed away leaving us the opportunity to rebuild - this time on the rock of reality.

Save now, buy later.

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