8 Dec 2020, Tuesday

 8 Dec 2020, Tuesday

Prioritized Daily Task  

8 AM  Legacy Center to exercise

10 AM - PIBCOA clinic appointment

Clara Gourley's 13th birthday (grand daughter) Debbie went with her and her mother, Laura, shopping and to lunch today

Kylie Jo Hobbs' 15th birthday (grand daughter) is in Hawaii with her family

I talked to Tracy Dickson, Forester, in Georgia.  I signed a contract with the Georgia US Forest Comission to build fire breaks and slow burn the under growth in the forest at the farm in Tallapoosa, Haralson County.

When Debbie got home from lunch and shopping with Clara and Laura we had dinner, watched some TV, read, had prayer and read scriptures together before Debbie took the second present of the 12 present of the 12 days of Christmas to our single mom with 4 or 5 small children who live next door.  She left it where it will be found in the morning when they leave the house.   

I emailed Gavin: Gavin Please Take Time to Read and Think About This  

Before the printing press, only the few educated scholars and monks had to copy books by hand.

One book cost as much as a house.

But thanks to the printing press, books and newspapers could be made quickly. And cheaply.

Literacy blossomed and education spread to the masses. Then came the Renaissance.

Without the printing press, we may have never witnessed the Renaissance.

The Renaissance ushered in some of the greatest fortunes in human history. Such as the Medici banking and political family dynasty.

And then Jakob Fugger, a merchant’s son who built the biggest fortune in world history —by financing kings, explorers and popes.

The benefits of the printing press and the Renaissance passed to everyone — not just the wealthy.

Finally, the working class could get an education. The common man gained powerful knowledge previously reserved for kings, nobles and priests.

And with knowledge came independence. Inevitably, power grew from that independence.

Democracy was born.

America was born.

Let us look at America and see what lesson we can learn.

To buy a new car…a home…or to go to college — most Americans must take on a stunning amount of debt.  U.S. student loan borrowers owed a collective $1.67 trillion in federal and private student loan debt as of June 2020, according to the Federal Reserve.

The price of food has skyrocketed...

In the early ‘70s, $1 bought 3 TV dinners. Today, that costs about $9.

This April, the cost of eggs, meat, cereal and milk shot up the most in 46 years.

And it’s not just food.  Land sold in the 1950s for as little as $3.34 and acre.  In 1951 my Dad, James Olin McAlpin, sold 150 acres, part of our farm, for $500 ($3.34 an acre).  The property was on a paved road about 5 miles from town.  Today December 7^th, 2020 that same property would sell for about $300,000, $2,000 an acre    

In the early 1970s I was working for Stoffel Seals Corporation as a sales representative assigned to the Southeast.  I remember seeing billboards on the roads advertising 3 bed-room brick homes, with kitchen, heat and running water, to be constructed on your land for $9,999.00. 

Take the Ford F-series, a classic American truck.

It debuted in 1950 for just $1,287.

But today, the same basic model costs $32,737.

Ford’s entry-level truck now costs almost 25 times more.

The question that people are asking, am I making 25-times more money today?  Many Americans are.  The minimum hourly wage in January 25, 1950 was $0.75.  That would be equal to $18.75 today (7 December 2020).  Throughout history, Congress has raised the minimum wage 22 times. The current minimum wage level is at $7.25 an hour, was set in 2009.  Cities and states have the option of setting their own minimum wages. As of January 2019, 29 states had a minimum wage rate above the federal level.

Today many people struggle to maintain a middle-class lifestyle.

It’s why the vast majority of Americans can’t even cover a $400 emergency expense.

This is why it is so important for you to get an education and then continue to learn and gain knowledge and wisdom.

If you enjoyed reading these thoughts, I have a few more but you will have to let me know that you are interested.

Love you, 

Grandpa