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Monthly Archives: April 2017

THE FORGOTTEN MAN by Amity Shlaes – Book Discussion [Part 2]

29 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, Book Review, books, debt, Discussion, friend, home, House, job, Life, Non Fiction, rain, time, Today, work

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Admittedly the first and second chapters of Amity Shlaes THE FORGOTTEN MAN are rather clunky – however, if you press on a, (as I like to call it) clarity-in-hindsight occurs where the argument being made in the beginning chapters begin to reveal themselves. Despite the book continuing to be a slow read, I am enjoying the later chapters far more.

Chapter three is where discussion of the Great Depression begins; or at least, where history likes to give it a starting point; October 29, 1929. The build up to this however, was years in the making. This is where the ‘clarity-in-hindsight’ aspect comes into play as Shlaes recap of the prosperity of the 1920’s among a wide range of industries is referenced. The feeling that people did not know how to adjust to the prosperity and take adequate precautions emerges. ‘Panics’ in the stock market were not new – the best way to handle them, however, varied greatly that when ‘black Tuesday’ occurred – there was not a consensus on how to handle it.

The Forgotten ManConflicting opinions in regards to how to handle the stock market crash and the subsequent recession – and what part the government should play in helping to alleviate the economic hardships is where I begin PART 2 of THE FORGOTTEN MAN book discussion.

After the crash – one of the first financial plagues to sweep the country was deflation. Money was becoming scarce and, in some areas, non-existent due to it’s increased value. People could not afford the money issued by the Federal Reserve so some communities improvised by creating their own currency such as the vallar which was developed for a short time in Salt Lake City, Utah. Other communities developed barter systems.

Although these alternative currencies allowed people to make day-to-day purchases from merchants that accepted them, the money wasn’t an acceptable form of payment for the payback of mortgages and other bank issued loans. Citizens weren’t the only ones seeking a way out of the financial problems. The government decided to get idea’s about how to help the economy from elsewhere – and with, what appeared to be the recent success of the Russian Revolution, that ‘elsewhere’ was, indeed, Russia. Later in the book, Shlaes points out that the US government also was looking at Mussolini’s Italy to get ideas on how to confront the USA’s economic woes.

What I found interesting is how much experimenting was taking place both in the US and the world when it came to dealing with the economy. There were two new forms of governments that had emerged – both centralized in nature; Lenin’s form of Communism in Russia and Mussolini’s fascism in Italy. Democracy in the USA, as anyone knows, is an ongoing experiment. At the time of the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve was new – as it was created in 1913 and many banks were not part of it’s centralized money system.

In some aspects it was like the blind leading the blind trying to find the best solution in dealing with an expanding economy and a growing country. A lot of the proposed solutions of the Great Depression were the result of guess-work. The rise of the so-called ‘alphabet agencies’ of Roosevelt’s New Deal were the result of this guess-work; his experimenting.

Putting people back to work in whatever capacity was a clear goal of Roosevelt, the plan was to reinvigorate the economy with jobs, even if the government was the one footing the bill for it. Another experiment was finding the best way to, essentially, control the value of the dollar. Should the US be on the gold standard? Should the US leave the gold standard? The answer to this was debated and resulted in some indecisiveness.

Meanwhile parts of Europe were growing weary – Chancellor Hitler of Germany had entered the political arena and pulled the fledgling Wiemar republic out of it’s depression and was already leading the country into a reconstruction stage. In an effort to protect their gold – people began sending it (or returning it) to the United States for safe keeping.

One thing that appears evident is that Roosevelt believed that, in one way or another, it was the government’s responsibility to get the US out of the depression. That without the government’s careful guidance of the economy there would be no recovery. He perhaps got this notion from Russia (which soon would be recognized as the Soviet Union) or even from Mussolini – regardless he didn’t seem to believe that the economy, left to its own devices would save itself. And that ultimately is the crux argument that Shlaes is attempting to make; that Roosevelt’s interference in the economy enhanced the depression instead of relieving the country from it.

I’ll have further thoughts in Part 3…

On a personal note…

23 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in friend

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I believe that I have solved the roommate crisis.

Yesterday I met with a prospective roommate and I couldn’t be happier. He is a nurse who currently commutes an hour to work and was looking for a place closer.

Him and I talked for several hours and we shared a lot that we had in common. I haven’t had an ‘adult’ conversation like that in such a long time. It, quite honestly gave me an adrenaline rush.

The fact that he is also a nurse gives me a peace of mind that is difficult to describe.

I am very happy about this situation – I feel better and more calm about it than even when my [former] best friend was here.

This new roommate, although younger than me is much closer to my age. He also know’s what it is like to live alone and have to be responsible for himself. These are qualities that I haven’t seen in any of the other people that have inquired about the room.

So much of my stress has been alleviated due to this. Now I can more whole-heartedly  focus on other things.

WATCH THIS SPACE – As you might’ve seen from my previous post – I intend on transforming this blog into an (almost) exclusive book review and/or discussion blog. Like now, I may have a post or two about my personal life, but I do want to focus heavily on books.

This blog that I started over a year ago has chronicled the many ups and downs my life has taken as I try to navigate being an adult in a world riddled with people that continue to have the mentality of children.

Things are looking up.

Today I’m going to walk to the park with a notebook and perhaps write some poetry or a short story.

Look for part 2 of my The Forgotten Man book discussion in a few days. I’m still on the fence about given up on this book, I will give it another 100 pages before making that decision.

It’s a new day!

THE FORGOTTEN MAN by Amity Shlaes – Book Discussion [Part 1]

22 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, Book Review, books, Discussion, Money, Non Fiction, Trump, work

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“Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American Dream. I’ve spent my entire life and business looking at the untapped potential in projects and in people all over the world. That is now what I want to do for our country.

Tremendous potential. I’ve gotten to know our country so well — tremendous potential. It’s going to be a beautiful thing. Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.

We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.”

– President Elect, Donald Trump Victory Speech Excerpt, November 9, 2016

The Forgotten Man

The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes presents a “new” look at the great Depression.

The idea of ‘the forgotten man’ has a storied history in politics – it’s a concept that was used widely during the Great Depression and first introduced to the public conscious by Franklin D. Roosevelt in a 1932 radio address. The expression, when used by Roosevelt, was meant to represent the people on the bottom of the so-called ‘economic ladder’. Trump insinuates that same feeling in his victory address; which is the understanding of that phrase that most American’s also share.

Most American’s share this view of the phrase – except for Amity Shlaes, author of THE FORGOTTEN MAN A NEW HISTORY OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION. This is a book that was published in 2007 and became widely popular* as people tried to interpret what the recession of the following year; 2008, meant. Shlaes understanding of what ‘the forgotten man’ is is summed up in a quote by William Graham Sumner of Yale University from 1883 which she quotes at the beginning of the book:

“As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X, or in the better case, what A, B, and C shall do for X. . . . What I want to do is look up C, I want to show you what manner of man he is. I call him the Forgotten Man. Perhaps the appellation is not strictly correct. He is the man who never is thought of. . . .
        He works, he votes, generally he prays – but he always pays. . . .”

When I got this book, admittedly I did not know it’s importance in the current political realm. I purchased this book believing – from what I understood of the summary and of the phrase ‘the forgotten man’ that this book would be a compilation of sorts of stories of people who struggled to get by during the Great Depression. What I got instead is a critique of the New Deal and how many of Roosevelt’s policies hurt the bottom line of rich corporate overlords.

I’ve considered DNFing this book (DNF = ‘Did Not Finish’) as the first two chapters are a mess. Shlaes writing is, simply put, atrocious. She spends nearly 70 pages just name-dropping rich business men of the 1920’s and so without making any sort of recognizable point. Her editor (if she even had one) really dropped the ball here. Some of her praise comes across as border-line worship of these people who, quite simply, brutalized their own workers in the name of profit.

As I considered giving up on this book that I began over a week ago, I noticed it started to get heavy attention once again in the media. For example, Media Monarchy just did a short talk about this very book – among other sources and this rejuvenated my interest, so I pressed on.

After the mess of the introduction and chapters 1 and 2 of this book, I just finished chapter 3 and am happy to say that Shlaes writing is becoming more coherent. The point that I was craving that she’d make in the first and second chapters is beginning to formulate now. I see the reason why people are dusting off their old copies of this book.

Although Roosevelt spoke of the people on the bottom rung of the economic ladder, I’m beginning to believe that Trump is referring to the same “forgotten man” that Shlaes is in her book – the wealthy business person who is being put in a ‘disadvantage’ due to policies and regulations set in place by a powerful Government. Trump is looking out for “C” and not “X” and his past 100 days (roughly) in office have reflected this as he rolls back numerous regulations put in place over the past several years to help remedy the 2008 recession.

As of right now, I plan on pressing on with this book. I just began chapter 4 – which is page 105. Considering it took me a week to get this far, perhaps next weekend I’ll be able to write another post covering the next 100 or so pages.

*I have the text version – I realize that not too long ago this book was made into a graphic novel. I do not have that and, admittedly, am not interested in getting it.

Anticipations

16 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, books, cat, debt, friend, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, time, Today, Trump

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Easter morning started at 3:30am for me, not for any religious reason – I just badly wanted to finish the book I was reading (The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough). Right now I’m contemplating what I want to eat for lunch.

The weather isn’t as bright and cheery as it was yesterday. It appears that at any moment it could rain and I am anticipating a down pour.

But that is alright.

It came to my realization a few weeks ago that the reason it is so difficult for me to work on my “Bad Dinosaur” project is that it carries with it so much baggage. It was a project that my [former] best friend and I were supposed to be working on together.  A lot of the ideas behind it were the results of brainstorming between him and I.

And that has created a mental road block when trying to work on it.

So I am going to divert my attention elsewhere – to an entirely different project all together. And this morning I spent a little bit of time outlining that project. How that project will ultimately manifest itself is unknown to me at the time.

I figure that I will begin it once my “Daily Donald Trump Political Notebook” is finished – that would be the 90 page notebook that I hand-write a daily essay about the Trump administration in. I have 13 more blank pages to go before that is complete. The notebook has been a nice way for me to get into the habit of writing on a daily basis. Although, I will admit that there was a 10 day period where I didn’t write a single word as I was trying to come to grips with my [former] best friend vanishing on me.

When that notebook is done, I think that I will also log off Twitter so I can focus on the new writing project. Perhaps even this blog will go on the back-burner for a short time.

I need things to start looking up for me.

That’s all I know right now.

This little life of mine

15 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in anger, books, cat, home, House, Life, Money, rain, time, Today, work

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Spring is here – the forecast originally called for storms today, but Michigan thought that a sunny, 80 degree day would be much better. Considering how my week has gone, this change in the weather is very welcome.

After Wednesday, my week finally began to mellow out. The basement is in the process of drying up and not too many eventful things have happened. It is a pleasant 180 from last weekend that included a flooded basement, a flat tire and rejecting a potential roommate.

The past two days I’ve spent being rather ‘lazy’. I did spend a considerable amount of time today cleaning up the house. I vacuumed for the first time in about two months and did various other things I’ve been neglecting.

I have also been reading a lot. I finally finished that (dull) post office book that could have been so much better. I recently started David McCullough’s THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD and I am enjoying that quite a lot. The book is so well written I am visualizing some of the terrifying scene’s he’s depicting and they give me shivers.

Lately I’ve had a strong desire to just read non-fiction. I’m not sure why this is. I tend to gravitate towards non-fiction when I’m depressed – which I still am. I’m trying to figure out how to pay all of this month’s bills which has me considerably stressed. My roommate said that he’d cover the utility bill, but until I see the money for that, it’s still going to be my problem.

I renewed the ad I have on Craigslist in the hopes of finding a new roommate, but I shouldn’t get my hopes up right now. My [former] best friend really threw my life into a loop when he left and it’s been quite the struggle ever since.

I catch myself at least once a day trying not to break down.

Things will get better I’m told.

But when?

A Victory of Sorts

12 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in books, Coffee, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, time, Today

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After 12 hours of working on my basement yesterday – I was pleased to go down their this morning to see that the floor was indeed drying up.

I was so exhausted yesterday that I even took the night off from work, which will have future implications I’m sure.

For now however, I’m celebrating a victory of sorts.

More rain is expected this week, so the battle may not be completely over, however other area’s that the nearby river flooded are beginning to go down, so I might be good.

I’m also beginning a new book; THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD by David McCullough just because it seems fitting.

This river, it’s at flood level

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in home, House, Life, rain, snow, time, Today, work

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The Grand River in Michigan is at flood level – it’s the highest it’s been since 2013; the ground is heavily saturated with water and it wants to go somewhere.

So it forced its way into my basement.

I, of course was not aware of this until I called the city council to inquire about whether or not there was a sewer back up. I also went online and did some rudimentary research in order to help ease my mind.

With in minutes I found out about the flooding going on all along the Grand River, and within a half hour a person who works for my city checked the sewer and kindly came to my door to tell me that the sewer isn’t backed up, that ground water is most likely getting into my basement and that many people are experiencing this as well.

I found all of this reassuring. Sometimes when unfortunate things happen, it helps a lot to be given a rationale reason as to why it is happening.

When I got home this morning, I knew there would be some water in the basement considering that it had rained most of yesterday evening. I immediately began to sop it up with a sponge and was making considerable progress when suddenly I saw that the water was beginning to get deeper.

It was slow at first and I didn’t think too much of it until I began to notice that the water was forming puddles in areas of the basement that it hadn’t before.

This got concerning.

So I got up from the step I was sitting on and took a soggy walk around the basement just to discover that the lid to the sewer drainage was floating in a rather large puddle. That’s when I started to worry and wanted a more definitive answer to what was going on.

At the beginning of 2016, the previous owner of my house had made an insurance claim in order to water proof the basement. Even upon purchasing the house I was informed that occasionally I’d see some “wet spots” in the basement.

Two inches of standing water is quite different than a few “wet spots”.

Since the river is at flood stage, and it will remain at flood stage for a couple more days, right now I’m going to chalk the situation up to there being excessive water in the ground. I’ll keep an eye on the basement situation – but right now trying to do anything about it is a losing battle.

I did move some of my [former] best friends stuff to higher locations so they wouldn’t get damaged by the water – however I’m not sure what compelled me to do this since I am planning on throwing it all away soon – kind of like what he did to our friendship.

 

 

Every time he spoke, weird contradictions came out

10 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, cat, debt, home, House, job, Life, Money, time, Today, work

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There is no way to sugar-coat it; life is hard right now. Pretending that things aren’t tough doesn’t help.

I’m still in need of a roommate, and that search isn’t going too well. Yesterday after getting home after replacing the tire on my car, I had a prospective roommate come here to look at the room that I’m attempting to rent out. I think he would have been a good fit except… he has no job.

He said that the internet I have is too slow (24Mbps) for his gaming and wanted me to cancel my contract with my internet provider so we could get internet through the provider that he currently has.

This is just too much of a hassle for someone who may only stay here a few months. Someone that doesn’t even have a job right now. He didn’t understand why I’d want a partial payment of the first months rent the day he’d move in either. He thought it was some sort of down payment on the room when in reality – as I told him – it’s so I don’t get screwed over again by having someone stay here a few weeks and suddenly leave with out paying a dime.

I really don’t know how to go about finding a roommate.

I supposed to have another prospective roommate stop by this morning. He called yesterday evening while I was just falling asleep.

His story is complicated and confusing.

His current roommate kicked him out because the roommate got a girlfriend. He badly needs a place near where he currently is because he wants to stay near his fiance and daughter. He’d have transportation problems because his fiance takes him to where he needs to go. He needs a place badly but wouldn’t get paid until Wednesday. 

Nothing this guy was saying was making much sense. If he has a fiance, why couldn’t he stay with her for a short while? If he has a job, how exactly does he get there?

Every time he spoke, weird contradictions came out. In fact, he said that he once worked where I currently worked but wasn’t sure what we did there… then asked where it was located.

I’m thinking – despite whatever situation he’s in – I’m not having him move in either. He clearly has trouble conveying the truth and that will lead to inevitable problems.

Assuming he even stops by this morning. He was suppose to have been here 45 minutes ago.

At any rate, I updated my ad on Craigslist so that people who are interested text me instead of call. I don’t know how people managed to get my phone number, but I work 3rd shift and getting woke up by random calls is quite aggravating.

Life begins to fall apart again…

09 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in car, debt, Life

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I ran some errands this morning and ran over a nail – due to the nails location I had to get a new tire using money that I don’t have.

Life really is not going well for me right now. Every ounce of optimism that I try to conjure up gets stomped on.

I wish things would start going right for me… for once.

[I will] Get Through This

09 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, car, cat, Coffee, debt, friend, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, time, Today, work

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The last of the remaining water in the basement I just finished mopping up. I would not be surprised if there is a bit more in a few hours, however I think the worst of it is over.

Until the storms move in on Monday that is.

Although there was no precipitation yesterday or today, and there isn’t supposed to be any tomorrow either, I’m not sure if the ground is dry enough to take on another surge of rain. So I’m hoping that the storms we are supposed to get on Monday aren’t as heavy as the predictions are saying.

I don’t feel like dealing with another flooded basement for at least a week.

On Friday morning when I first saw what I was up against in regards to the water in the basement, I didn’t think that I’d ever see an end to the battle. Maybe because there is enough bad luck coming my way this year, this new challenge just didn’t seem too promising. But with a mop, a plastic tote box and a lot of persistence, I was able to prevail.

It did take a few sessions because once I got the basement dry, the water would slowly seep back in. But each time that I went back down there and did more mopping, the task took less time and became less frustrating.

It was something that I could deal with – despite it feeling overwhelming.

That will be the case for quite some time from now on as I try to figure out this new situation that I’m in. I’ll need to discipline myself to stick to a tight budget in order to cover the portion of the mortgage that my [former] best friend stuck with me. I’ll need to stay focused.

Will I have tough times in the days and months ahead? I’m sure of it.

Considering that my [former] best friend left EVERYTHING of his that he’s ever owned since childhood here at the house – I do believe that he will, someday, try and come back for it. That day I perceive, will be a tough day.

Does he know that I’ve gotten rid of at least 50% of his belongings? (And I’ll continue to get rid of more in the days and weeks to come).

How will he respond?

I’m not sure I even care any more.

His leaving has left me in the position where I’m wondering if I’ll even be able to afford the house any more.

The waves of depression that I get hit with aren’t as strong as they were weeks ago, but they still come and they still pull me under. I just wish that he had given me some sort of notice before just leaving.

So I didn’t have to lose valuable weeks in trying to figure out what exactly had happened (and I still don’t know what exactly has happened!) Now I’m in this emergency mode where I can’t figure out a solution to how to come up with an extra $300 a month – and still be able to pay my other bills.

Right now I’m taking advantage of ‘grace periods’ when I can.

It’s the utility bill that hasn’t arrived yet that has me the most worried. Whenever I try to budget a certain amount for it, it’s always higher than I anticipate.

I won’t be able to handle a high utility bill this month.

Challenges.

I’ll face them with the same determination and persistence I had when I was drying out the flooded basement. The waters will recede and things will return to some form of normal again.

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