1,125 Current World Billionaires. Little Wonder I’m Still Broke
Posted: Thursday, March 06, 2008
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
I just found that Warren Buffett, Omaha, Nebraska Philanthropist has just been named the wealthiest man on earth by Forbes, with 62 billion dollars. He is the head honcho of the Berkshire Hathaway holding company and has an annual salary of $100,000 (can you imagine that?). Buffett still lives in the home he bought in 1958 for $31,500. He and Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu, have squeezed Bill Gates back into third position. That only leaves 1,122 billionaires under Gates. How degrading.
If you think things haven't changed much, think again. Now I am about to give you some ancient facts. I was born in 1930 during the depth of the worst depression America has ever had. Banks were closed. Currency was killed, many committed suicide. People worked for "Script", a handwritten piece of paper showing you could get $0.50 worth of groceries with it at a local grocery store. There was no money. Understand, I was newborn so it didn't bother me much at first.
My first memories, are just that, memories. I have no materials to back up some of the information I'm about to give but only pass it on for whatever it is worth. People who owned property, i.e. farm land, wood lands, etc. were fortunate because they were able to rent out their land for shares of the crops and as soon as a little money was circulating, they could rent things out for cash, or even sell some property for cash, and so on.
I do not know the mechanics used by the newly elected Franklin D. Roosevelt to get the country started crawling out of that predicament, but he started two massive undertakings to put people to work. He started the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and together they put millions to work. Pay was very small but at least it was something. You may read the details of those two work relief programs from Wikipedia.
I want to contrast some things then, with things now. I have no records or verification of this but at one point around 1940, I recall hearing that there were three millionaires in the state of Alabamaand that was unimaginable. Now, millionaires are looked upon as middle class, just about. But Let's look at some unbelievable prices that existed during the bottom of the depression.
My oldest brother who was 13 when I was born, was an avid small game hunter and he gave me this information. At the time I was born, he could buy a box (50 rounds) of .22 caliber short rifle cartridges for $0.15 or two for one quarter dollar. I believe him because in my teen years I could still buy them for $0.29 per box of 50. His problem was coming up with a quarter.
I recall a landowner in our community who owned several hundred acres of pine forests. He put up a small sawmill and hired two men to help operate it. One was his brother-in-law. He paid the men $0.25 per day for their labor. He owned an old pickup truck and on each Saturday, he made the 8 mile trip into the small town for groceries and supplies. His brother-in-law paid him $0.50 to ride to town and back for his groceries! That left him with $0.75 to spend for groceries!
All full size candy bars were a nickel. All soft drinks were a nickel You could buy a fairly sizable Baby Ruth or Butterfinger candy bar for one cent. Five for a nickel. I was already married when Coca Colas and other soft drinks moved up to a dime each. A first class letter's stamp was 3 cents until after I was grown, a postcard was one centcard included. Gasoline was under 20 cents per gallon. A stalk of bananas $1.00. A pair of Sears, Roebuck overalls, under $1.00. With these prices, one would think you could live well. But think about it. Even when wages were up to $1.00 per day, and a pair of overalls cost a day's pay?
My thoughts wandered into these things, just from fantasizing over a billion dollars. 1,125 people with 1 to 62 billions of dollars! I know what, let's blame Dubya. He's been blamed with everything else.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Joel, You will continue to be broke if these folks continue to get the tax breaks that they currently receive. Be well.Thanks for reading and commenting.
You know Joel, my father and mother were married in 1930. They had bologna sandwiches and a pint of blueberries in their motel room on their honeymoon. My father always manage to find work in those days, because he would do work nobody else would do. "good article"Hi David, thanks for the comment. Yes, people didn't make a big splash when they married back then. Nadine and I were married in 1955, honeymooned at home. We had rented a house and furnished it before we were married. We married at the home of a preacher and I paid him $5.00 which I had borrowed from Nadine. I had spent out in getting our utilities turned on and such like. But we were just as married as those who put ten thousand into a wedding. And it's lasted 52+ years. I never did pay Nadine back though.
Great article, Joel. I recall when my father took me to town one Saturday a month and bought me a Coke for a nickel. What a treat. I loved the fizz and the taste. I ususally made one bottle last twenty minutes. Now kids toss down several each day without even thinking about it. Best, Marty RicKardHi Marty, yes things are definitely different now. I was about 9 or 10 years old before I drank a cola flavored drink. I had had several fruit flavored carbonated drinks, but I remember that one, a Pepsi, it like to have blown my head off! Kids now are introduced to them while drinking from a nippled bottle. There was a Double Cola, came in a big bottle and it also came in flavors called Double Line--grape, orange, etc. Things like that were a treat. We used to save our chewing gum for another round the next day. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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