Thursday, July 13, 2006

Perspective



Nice car..Chrysler, not a jaguar or anything but not shabby. The other day I had a talk with the telephone man. He came out to work on my line because some drunk hit a light pole and blew out a transformer and there was this power surge, and well things went to hell. So I had to call for help. We got to talking. He told me that he was going to buy his wife this car, so that she could go visit her family in comfort, no little car for her... no siree. He then proceeded to tell me how everything is going to hell in a handbasket and the economy sucks. It is really rough out there for a working man.

Once upon a time he says people had more spending power.

I am the proud owner of a Buick Century with over 100,000 miles on it and with that in mind I told him that once upon a time people did not own two vehicles, the combined value of which was almost as much as their home.

Maybe people are just forgetfull, but believe it or not back in the good old days only rich people had cars like the ones in this picture. It is hard to compare spending power today with a time when there were no cell phones or computers or cable TV or CDs or Ipods and damn few houses that it costs $30 thousand to put a new roof on. I see the homes today in the subdvisions and I think to myself, back when I was a kid only rich people had houses like that.

I am not rich. I am a working woman who lives in a rural area where oppurtunities are not what city people might expect, but I am not starving. But I can remember tar paper shacks, kids with no shoes or decent winter coats, folks losing their farms because they could not come up with even a paltry sum to pay their taxes.

This young man is bemoaning the cost of a college education for his kids, but he would consider it beneath those kids to a technical school to become nurses or plumbers.. Nope, he wants lawyers in the family. Because they make money, lots of it and won't have to do without like he does. They won't be forced to buy Chryslers instead of Jags.

6 comments:

Barry Dauphin said...

[shameless plug alert]Tell this guy to go buy my book, so he'll better understand why he feels the way he does. Even though it will cost him a tank of gas for that car, self understanding is priceless ;>)[/shameless plug alert off]

Unknown said...

Skook:

Buttercream frosting.... that is her diet talking.

In truth I am thinking of buying something cheap and small that gets about 50 miles to the gallon.

Barry, he is too poor to buy your book.

Morgan said...

Bet he's getting her the SRT-8. It's his wife, after all, and what husband could deny his wife the full 425 HP, 0-60 in 4.9 seconds experience. It makes merging easier, and when you're in a bad neighborhood, you can get out faster.

I hope his budget doesn't limit him to the standard version.

Unknown said...

Hey, my old man never bought me a car. I had to do that.

Unknown said...

the 300.

You should see Gale's collection. It is a good thing he owns land. That way he can have a place to put his fleet.

Unknown said...

skook:

She will see right through it. Eyeballs will roll up, there will be sighs, and she will look at you as if you were daft man, daft.

I was never good at that. My old man got whatever he wanted. I just do not know how to pick em.