Me Generation is pretty damn apropo. "Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times." - G. Michael Hopf
For the first time, i've read every comment below before commenting on your early comment. I'm not sure, but i'm guessing many of us are no one percent, perhaps in net worth. Bill and company are probably in the top one tenth of one percent, which is really good. My brother and I went to another city for a christmas event hosted by my oldest sister. We drove by the house where we were up. The old families were nearby our house which had been vacant for years. We hung out by the fireplace eighteen or twenty of my old friends. My young adult sons were freaked out. They were not raised with a silver spoon. Absolutely not! They were afraid! It was written all over their faces. These are the people I grow up with. My brother later said it's the best education they've ever had! They're older, sister said "that's a lesson for you guys. "Eleven people grew up there." Fortunately they're all good and successful mostly because of their mother. Still kind of a amount to my point... I have businesses and I had a great opportunit's time to be fall awhat kind of quickly. And unbelievably I was happy. I was happy because I didn't want to dig out the cash to cover it. Because I'm so uncertain, and I'm a little older. A week or so ago, BPR Post a picture of uncle sam on a worn out horse. He was dejected, looked like about to fall off. ... Never in my life have I been dejected or afraid of injecting capital. It really sucks but I think that's where we're at.
Always remember... if you work hard either way you win!
Great story and thanks for sharing! I totally agree with your quote about hard work. I've always loved being around hard working, passionate, family oriented folks. Not all of them got rich, but their positive energy was/is unbelievably infectious and motivating for me :-) Those were my heros and the type of person I wanted to emulate. I'm hopeful we can have the same impact on the younger generation.
When I was in my early twenties and leased a piece of property where I ran a business, the old man that owned the lot once told me, "The harder I work, the luckier I get." He had a tool and die making business himself and lived overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Pacific Palisades, California. I figured, "that seems simple enough, what am I going to do with my time otherwise anyway?" It turned out to be one of the most sage quips I ever heard.
“I somehow resent the statement that our generation has given nothing, coming from a Billionaire.
Some of us grew up dirt poor. Did careers in the military (Giving 20 of the best years of of our life “defending” an ideal that perished, for a relative pittance of pay), did another career of field service all over the world, giving up much of “normal life” to keep industries going. And saving and investing my way to “high net worth”.
Giving back through church activities and charitable giving.
Raised 3 children, one of whom I just buried.
Currently raising a grandchild as “ward”, because nobody else could.
And I’m being lumped in as part of a generation that has “Given Nothing. Nothing!”
Nice attempt at shaming via collectivist dialogue, but go pack sand.”
I don't think Druckenmiller was talking about you and others like you
He was talking to his billionaire buddies, none of whom (to my knowledge) wore the uniform unlike you, me (Air Force) and Bill Bonner (Navy)
Better if he would talk to our elected officials. It's these guys who are over-spending and who have pushed a gargantuan tax burden onto generations of unborn citizens
I get your point. I’m sure you’re right. But words actually convey meaning. And to lump every single individual in a generation under one banner is unfair at best, ignorant at worst. And I will NOT be “shamed” by the likes of Mr. Druckenmiller. The more appropriate question is ( as Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford answered in libraries, colleges, and the like) “What have YOU done with your exorbitant wealth”?
When I was 12, my mother told me there was a man coming who might take our car and she wanted me to promise I wouldn't fight him or shoot him (my dad, after 3 wars), was a recently retired Air Force NCO who had suffered several heart attacks, and was fighting for his VA disability rating). I went on to serve 8 years in the Air Force and and raised two daughters who did not spend one day in public schools--both are now graduates of UC Davis. Yes, our parents were part of an amazing generation and we have given far less. But given nothing?
It’s somewhat the “fault” of the Baby Boomers I suppose. But blaming an entire generation falls into the trap that Gen X and Millennials love to set. And I think you have fallen. The difference between those born in 1946 and those born in 1965 is massive. In just about every measurable way. And you are ‘covering’ for those born in the 40s who are not Boomers. People like Pelosi, Schummer, Feinstein, Soros, Warren Buffet and a plethora of others. In my view, the creak chaos has been caused by those born at the tail end of the Silent Generation and the first 1/2 of the Baby Boomers. That is where you will find most of your culprits, the vast majority who should have been sent out to pasture a decade or two ago.
Bill, I so look forward to your daily issuances (or from your cohorts). I was born in 1944 and have worked all over the world - and enjoyed it (I may have been blinded by the joy of what I was involved in constructing - like a light rail system in New Jersey, or the tanker piers in Alaska for the Trans Alaska pipeline, or offshore platforms built in England for installation in Mexico and numerous hospitals in California and one in South Korea). I am deeply concerned for my grandchildren and their future as the incompetents in DC (getting richer by the day) continue to run this country down the drain at the expense of the TRUE hard- working middle class American CITIZENS suffering due to the Politicos failures. Keep up the great work.
Happy ending dear Dorothy? I know we don't see eye to eye on too many subjects, but pleae read "Mao's America" and then follow the trail of denial it sets you apon.
You may find the "facts" and the truth, but I'm sorry, it's probably too late...
Steve, she is impossible. I sent her to sub stack, zero hedge, Lou, Rockwell, etc. websites will you get the truth. She prefers CNN. Do not engage her. It is senseless.
SL: I don't think it's always too late. I'm really an optimistic person. I still have hope that you and some of your friends will find out the real truth about the Republican's fall from grace. I know, 1-6 was just a walk in the park and Donald has Never cheated on his taxes. What a guy! I will checkout Mao's America.
It is not to lament, but to give thanks for what we have today. Tomorrow comes with its own problems. Tomorrow's generation can best work through tomorrow's problems.
Rather than a Happy Thanksgiving, let ours be a "Thankful Thanksgiving." Leonard Hartman
This is why they were not the greatest generation. As a generation, they were not all that great.
However, there were great among them, and you just mentioned a few.
And every generation has a few great people. Mostly not, though. And fewer and fewer with every passing generation.
We are now completely governed by the weak and the corrupt. We collectively elected them. Well, the system is rigged to vote for corrupt “A” or corrupt “B”.
However, history has a way of correcting these inadequacies…
Yes, Bill. Ad nauseum. We already know all of this. You've written it many times in your haphazard way. And I've gotten more rational analysis from elsewhere. But I get it - it's difficult to come up with something new every day as you write your daily column. So, don't write a daily column. We certainly will survive without it.
P.S. It is totally wrong to blame a generation. It's not a generation that is to blame, it's particular individuals. There are always dissenting voices within a generation. Who was it, Brokaw, that wrote the Greatest Generation - the generation that gave us FDR for 3-1/2 terms?
I spend a great amount of time lobbying Congress and going door to door in an attempt to reform our immigration system (stop illegal immigration, deport illegals and greatly reduce legal immigration) to no avail.
I did not find the younger generation supporting these positions in the least.
The older generation? They gave us the Immigration Reform Act of 1965 that set us on this course. That bill was not passed or signed into law by Boomers.
Damn straight, and it was either Teddy Kennedy, of the famed Kennedy ilk, (or maybe LBJ) that proclaimed, "This bill we sign today is not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not restructure the shape of our daily lives" when they passed the "Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965".
It's too bad neither one of those idiots is still around today to see what they foisted upon us as a nation.
Mr. Bonner, and the rest of you, are wrong as to the cause of the decline of the USA. The real reason the US is declining is the unbelief of the 7th church. Jesus description of it in Revelation 3:14-21 is perfectly accurate. This church was supposed to preach the good news to a dying world, and usher in Christ's second coming. Instead, the 7th church rejected the righteousness of Christ in 1888, and, not content to wander in the desert for 40 years, went even further to Egypt, joining the other partially fallen Christian churches. Isaiah 4:1. Thus, the 7th church is responsible for all the wickedness in the 20th century; the wars, starvation, the perfection of godlessness, the millions murdered, the hopelessness, and, of particular interest to BPR subscribers - the debasement of money. As the acorn to the oak. There is no 8th church. Thus, the only one who can remedy this is God Himself. When the cup of the 7th church is full, He will separate the wheat from the chaff. The details are in Ezekiel 9, and the reasons this event will come about are in the previous chapters. Hardly any of you know what I'm talking about, but the wise among you will understand. Stay tuned, all will be made clearer.
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.
-Henry David Thoreau
Christ will strike at the root, or, rather, He will prune the dead branches, so the tree can flourish.
“People are neither always good, nor always bad… but always subject to influence.”
The Baby Boomer generation was the first to live in an economy without a gold backed currency… only possible because of the ‘goodwill’ earned by previous generations and ‘globalisation’ which traded cheap labour for our technology and paper.
But… “what do we do when it becomes impossible to keep living in the style to which we’ve become accustomed? Do we own up … and straighten up?
Or print more money? If only? All we can do is print more inflation… after which we will be forced to straighten up!
How many very wealthy, such as Mr. Druckenmiller, so convincing on what WE should do, are convinced enough themselves to do it first, just to see if WE will follow.
The reason that America was able to enjoy great prosperity and become the preeminent power in the world was because of WW2. If we hadn’t thoroughly destroyed the Axis powers, then we would not have had the dollar become the reserve currency for the world, have fully developed our industrial might, or have been able to enjoy Pax Americana. War brought peace for a little while. Now, a lot of bad decisions have been made that have wasted much of that advantage and undoubtedly more stupid and venal decisions will be made, but the answer isn’t to dwell in demoralization. It’s to carry on. Try and do better. Denial of reality and institutional idiocy has a finite lifespan. And we’re nearing the inflection point. Yes everything is cyclical, that’s the way it is in life. So take care of yourself and those you love and stay optimistic and constructive in the face of all the craziness, because it will pass eventually. The world is reverting to its usual state and pretending that we are immune or above all that isn’t going to do us any good. Good and evil are real and we are in a battle. Unicorns and leprechauns are fun, but the world has other ideas at the moment and you can’t avoid the problems because they are everywhere.
When my grandson was in third grade, 2016, he was studying Sitting Bull. I had just bought a Casita. For some reason Sitting Bull resonated with me. I decided to go on a quest to his grave.
I had been a ski bum, in Colorado, in 1966, did Kerouac all over the Western United States.
God! I loved this country!
In 2016, I was the crying Indian in the old commercial.
Sitting Bull and I were brothers, born into one wonderful environment only to see it destroyed in a lifetime.
Me Generation is pretty damn apropo. "Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times." - G. Michael Hopf
For the first time, i've read every comment below before commenting on your early comment. I'm not sure, but i'm guessing many of us are no one percent, perhaps in net worth. Bill and company are probably in the top one tenth of one percent, which is really good. My brother and I went to another city for a christmas event hosted by my oldest sister. We drove by the house where we were up. The old families were nearby our house which had been vacant for years. We hung out by the fireplace eighteen or twenty of my old friends. My young adult sons were freaked out. They were not raised with a silver spoon. Absolutely not! They were afraid! It was written all over their faces. These are the people I grow up with. My brother later said it's the best education they've ever had! They're older, sister said "that's a lesson for you guys. "Eleven people grew up there." Fortunately they're all good and successful mostly because of their mother. Still kind of a amount to my point... I have businesses and I had a great opportunit's time to be fall awhat kind of quickly. And unbelievably I was happy. I was happy because I didn't want to dig out the cash to cover it. Because I'm so uncertain, and I'm a little older. A week or so ago, BPR Post a picture of uncle sam on a worn out horse. He was dejected, looked like about to fall off. ... Never in my life have I been dejected or afraid of injecting capital. It really sucks but I think that's where we're at.
Always remember... if you work hard either way you win!
Great story and thanks for sharing! I totally agree with your quote about hard work. I've always loved being around hard working, passionate, family oriented folks. Not all of them got rich, but their positive energy was/is unbelievably infectious and motivating for me :-) Those were my heros and the type of person I wanted to emulate. I'm hopeful we can have the same impact on the younger generation.
When I was in my early twenties and leased a piece of property where I ran a business, the old man that owned the lot once told me, "The harder I work, the luckier I get." He had a tool and die making business himself and lived overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Pacific Palisades, California. I figured, "that seems simple enough, what am I going to do with my time otherwise anyway?" It turned out to be one of the most sage quips I ever heard.
Good stuff! I never tire of those stories.
Bill,
If you could relay to Mr. Druckenmiller:
“I somehow resent the statement that our generation has given nothing, coming from a Billionaire.
Some of us grew up dirt poor. Did careers in the military (Giving 20 of the best years of of our life “defending” an ideal that perished, for a relative pittance of pay), did another career of field service all over the world, giving up much of “normal life” to keep industries going. And saving and investing my way to “high net worth”.
Giving back through church activities and charitable giving.
Raised 3 children, one of whom I just buried.
Currently raising a grandchild as “ward”, because nobody else could.
And I’m being lumped in as part of a generation that has “Given Nothing. Nothing!”
Nice attempt at shaming via collectivist dialogue, but go pack sand.”
Thanks.
Jim
I don't think Druckenmiller was talking about you and others like you
He was talking to his billionaire buddies, none of whom (to my knowledge) wore the uniform unlike you, me (Air Force) and Bill Bonner (Navy)
Better if he would talk to our elected officials. It's these guys who are over-spending and who have pushed a gargantuan tax burden onto generations of unborn citizens
Jimm,
I get your point. I’m sure you’re right. But words actually convey meaning. And to lump every single individual in a generation under one banner is unfair at best, ignorant at worst. And I will NOT be “shamed” by the likes of Mr. Druckenmiller. The more appropriate question is ( as Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford answered in libraries, colleges, and the like) “What have YOU done with your exorbitant wealth”?
Carnegie was a socialist and atheist. He suffered from the same fatal flaw most people suffer from - he wouldn't allow God to save him.
When I was 12, my mother told me there was a man coming who might take our car and she wanted me to promise I wouldn't fight him or shoot him (my dad, after 3 wars), was a recently retired Air Force NCO who had suffered several heart attacks, and was fighting for his VA disability rating). I went on to serve 8 years in the Air Force and and raised two daughters who did not spend one day in public schools--both are now graduates of UC Davis. Yes, our parents were part of an amazing generation and we have given far less. But given nothing?
It’s somewhat the “fault” of the Baby Boomers I suppose. But blaming an entire generation falls into the trap that Gen X and Millennials love to set. And I think you have fallen. The difference between those born in 1946 and those born in 1965 is massive. In just about every measurable way. And you are ‘covering’ for those born in the 40s who are not Boomers. People like Pelosi, Schummer, Feinstein, Soros, Warren Buffet and a plethora of others. In my view, the creak chaos has been caused by those born at the tail end of the Silent Generation and the first 1/2 of the Baby Boomers. That is where you will find most of your culprits, the vast majority who should have been sent out to pasture a decade or two ago.
Bill, I so look forward to your daily issuances (or from your cohorts). I was born in 1944 and have worked all over the world - and enjoyed it (I may have been blinded by the joy of what I was involved in constructing - like a light rail system in New Jersey, or the tanker piers in Alaska for the Trans Alaska pipeline, or offshore platforms built in England for installation in Mexico and numerous hospitals in California and one in South Korea). I am deeply concerned for my grandchildren and their future as the incompetents in DC (getting richer by the day) continue to run this country down the drain at the expense of the TRUE hard- working middle class American CITIZENS suffering due to the Politicos failures. Keep up the great work.
Bill, enjoyed your article today...good job! Not looking forward to a happy ending...but hopeful.
Happy ending dear Dorothy? I know we don't see eye to eye on too many subjects, but pleae read "Mao's America" and then follow the trail of denial it sets you apon.
You may find the "facts" and the truth, but I'm sorry, it's probably too late...
Steve, she is impossible. I sent her to sub stack, zero hedge, Lou, Rockwell, etc. websites will you get the truth. She prefers CNN. Do not engage her. It is senseless.
Yes brother, as I always say, “ you can’t fix stupid” 😳
SL: I don't think it's always too late. I'm really an optimistic person. I still have hope that you and some of your friends will find out the real truth about the Republican's fall from grace. I know, 1-6 was just a walk in the park and Donald has Never cheated on his taxes. What a guy! I will checkout Mao's America.
GF: I am optimistic, but it gets harder each day. Thanks for giving to the food banks..every little thing helps someone...Have a nice day!
It is not to lament, but to give thanks for what we have today. Tomorrow comes with its own problems. Tomorrow's generation can best work through tomorrow's problems.
Rather than a Happy Thanksgiving, let ours be a "Thankful Thanksgiving." Leonard Hartman
This is why they were not the greatest generation. As a generation, they were not all that great.
However, there were great among them, and you just mentioned a few.
And every generation has a few great people. Mostly not, though. And fewer and fewer with every passing generation.
We are now completely governed by the weak and the corrupt. We collectively elected them. Well, the system is rigged to vote for corrupt “A” or corrupt “B”.
However, history has a way of correcting these inadequacies…
Yes, Bill. Ad nauseum. We already know all of this. You've written it many times in your haphazard way. And I've gotten more rational analysis from elsewhere. But I get it - it's difficult to come up with something new every day as you write your daily column. So, don't write a daily column. We certainly will survive without it.
P.S. It is totally wrong to blame a generation. It's not a generation that is to blame, it's particular individuals. There are always dissenting voices within a generation. Who was it, Brokaw, that wrote the Greatest Generation - the generation that gave us FDR for 3-1/2 terms?
It is not correct to blame a single generation.
I spend a great amount of time lobbying Congress and going door to door in an attempt to reform our immigration system (stop illegal immigration, deport illegals and greatly reduce legal immigration) to no avail.
I did not find the younger generation supporting these positions in the least.
The older generation? They gave us the Immigration Reform Act of 1965 that set us on this course. That bill was not passed or signed into law by Boomers.
Correct David, it never was a "Generational" issue, but always a communist one.
Damn straight, and it was either Teddy Kennedy, of the famed Kennedy ilk, (or maybe LBJ) that proclaimed, "This bill we sign today is not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not restructure the shape of our daily lives" when they passed the "Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965".
It's too bad neither one of those idiots is still around today to see what they foisted upon us as a nation.
Stanley D for President!!!👌👊
Mr. Bonner, and the rest of you, are wrong as to the cause of the decline of the USA. The real reason the US is declining is the unbelief of the 7th church. Jesus description of it in Revelation 3:14-21 is perfectly accurate. This church was supposed to preach the good news to a dying world, and usher in Christ's second coming. Instead, the 7th church rejected the righteousness of Christ in 1888, and, not content to wander in the desert for 40 years, went even further to Egypt, joining the other partially fallen Christian churches. Isaiah 4:1. Thus, the 7th church is responsible for all the wickedness in the 20th century; the wars, starvation, the perfection of godlessness, the millions murdered, the hopelessness, and, of particular interest to BPR subscribers - the debasement of money. As the acorn to the oak. There is no 8th church. Thus, the only one who can remedy this is God Himself. When the cup of the 7th church is full, He will separate the wheat from the chaff. The details are in Ezekiel 9, and the reasons this event will come about are in the previous chapters. Hardly any of you know what I'm talking about, but the wise among you will understand. Stay tuned, all will be made clearer.
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.
-Henry David Thoreau
Christ will strike at the root, or, rather, He will prune the dead branches, so the tree can flourish.
“People are neither always good, nor always bad… but always subject to influence.”
The Baby Boomer generation was the first to live in an economy without a gold backed currency… only possible because of the ‘goodwill’ earned by previous generations and ‘globalisation’ which traded cheap labour for our technology and paper.
But… “what do we do when it becomes impossible to keep living in the style to which we’ve become accustomed? Do we own up … and straighten up?
Or print more money? If only? All we can do is print more inflation… after which we will be forced to straighten up!
How many very wealthy, such as Mr. Druckenmiller, so convincing on what WE should do, are convinced enough themselves to do it first, just to see if WE will follow.
Aw, gee, Bill...what the hell? Can't "we" hate "ourselves" just a little more? Best always. PM
The reason that America was able to enjoy great prosperity and become the preeminent power in the world was because of WW2. If we hadn’t thoroughly destroyed the Axis powers, then we would not have had the dollar become the reserve currency for the world, have fully developed our industrial might, or have been able to enjoy Pax Americana. War brought peace for a little while. Now, a lot of bad decisions have been made that have wasted much of that advantage and undoubtedly more stupid and venal decisions will be made, but the answer isn’t to dwell in demoralization. It’s to carry on. Try and do better. Denial of reality and institutional idiocy has a finite lifespan. And we’re nearing the inflection point. Yes everything is cyclical, that’s the way it is in life. So take care of yourself and those you love and stay optimistic and constructive in the face of all the craziness, because it will pass eventually. The world is reverting to its usual state and pretending that we are immune or above all that isn’t going to do us any good. Good and evil are real and we are in a battle. Unicorns and leprechauns are fun, but the world has other ideas at the moment and you can’t avoid the problems because they are everywhere.
When my grandson was in third grade, 2016, he was studying Sitting Bull. I had just bought a Casita. For some reason Sitting Bull resonated with me. I decided to go on a quest to his grave.
I had been a ski bum, in Colorado, in 1966, did Kerouac all over the Western United States.
God! I loved this country!
In 2016, I was the crying Indian in the old commercial.
Sitting Bull and I were brothers, born into one wonderful environment only to see it destroyed in a lifetime.