“When I was growing up we had to walk 5-miles uphill both ways to get to school.”
“Yeah, well we were so poor I had to step in dog doo just to keep my feet warm in the winter.”
“Yeah, well….”
We often romanticize the past. Especially concerning how bad things were. I know that our football practices were MUCH tougher than the practices are nowadays. I know that we were much poorer when we were kids than my children are today. School was tougher. Life was tougher. Everyone has it much easier today.
I am rich. In fact, I am very rich. According to Richard Stearns in "The Hole in Our Gospel", if you make more than $25,000 a year, you are richer than 90 percent of the world’s population, and thankfully, I am one of those.
In terms of family, I am also very “rich.” I have a great wife, two great children, and a wonderful extended family. My family frequently watches The Walton’s on DVD, and John Boy often speaks of his family being “rich” because they had each other, but little of anything else. Of course, that depression-era TV show was made long after the depression ended, and there is, no doubt, some “Hollywoodization” of exactly how bad the depression was. Now, I am not at all trying to make light of what they did or didn’t have, I am just demonstrating that we all tend to romanticize the past – for the better or for the worse.
That said, I am not sure why I should be so rich. We just experienced the “worst” decade economically in America in 70 years. The Washington Post ran a graph with data created by Agora Financial that demonstrated the percentage change in GDP and the percentage change in household net worth by the decade dating back to the 1940's, and the change was made with inflation-adjusted dollars, so we are comparing apples-to-apples, at least to the best of our ability.
In the 1940’s, the change in GDP was 72.0%, and that was the best year on the graph. The worst decade? You guessed it – the 2000’s. Our decade’s percent change in GDP was only 17.8% - far worse than any of the previous 6 decades that we have data for.
If that doesn’t paint the picture enough for you, how about this statistic: In the 2000’s, household net worth decreased by 4%!! The average household began Jan. 1. 2000 with 4% more wealth than they ended with on Dec. 31, 2009!! Yikes!
To put this in perspective, during the 60’s households increased their wealth by 44%, in the 70’s by 28%, in the 80’s by 42%, and in the 90’s by 58%!!! (No data reported for the 50’s.)
So, here we are – just now finishing the worst decade in the last 70 years, and I am going to begin to romanticize. “The 2000’s were SO bad, that I went to Europe on vacation at least 6 times, we bought a big screen television, we bought two new cars, built a pole barn, and we remodeled our kitchen.” Now, I am not saying that we shouldn’t have been more frugal; I am not saying that we didn’t make some poor financial decisions. What I am saying is even as bad as it was, things were still not as bad as that romanticized “ideal” we all have in our heads about how bad things really could become.
It does demonstrate, however, how much our lives have improved over the last half-century. I am sure the poor in the 1950’s had it worse than the poor in the 2000’s. I hope in another 50 years that I can look back and say – truthfully – that the “2000’s were SO bad, that I was only allowed to travel to Europe 6 times.” That would be very nice, indeed!
Let’s all take a step back and think about how blessed we really are compared to the other 90% of the world that does not make $25,000 a year. Yes, the 2000’s were bad for investors, homeowners, and many, many people in the job market. But were they really that bad? Take a look around. There are many more out there far worse off than we are now. If you don’t believe me, travel to Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, or Belize. Equally important – travel to the “bad side of town” in your nearest big city, go to Appalachia, or spend some time down on the still hurricane-ridden Gulf Coast.
I guess the 2000’s weren’t really that bad at all – at least not for my “rich” family. I hope I can keep this in perspective as I grow older, and maybe you will want to, as well.
Of course these are just my thoughts – Clark’s Thoughts.
www.clarksthoughts.com
