Nostalgia II

Nostalgia really isn't fair to the present. This was in a day when cars were hot and girls were not. Girls were good looking chicks but they weren't "hot". Even when mini-skirts and bra-less shirts were the thing. Today you have hot girls and sweet cars. Go figure.

Still, cars were hot; gas was less; the dollar bought more (two bits bought more than the loonie today); the summers were hotter; the winters were colder - well you get the drift. However, it is only the baby-boomers or older that have that backward-glancing perspective to say that it was better then or nostalgically "Remember when". People born into the post '80s economics just see it as the regular hard scrabble to make ends meet. Taxes are high; my job doesn't pay enough; school is expensive; I can't find a doctor, place to live, job - well, you get the picture. No nostalgia there.

Basically, the problem is that the economic system is hooped; it doesn't work for everybody; it puts marketers and shareholders ahead of all other values that define a civilized nation. When shareholders require that their investments show a year-over-year guaranteed growth, all I see is greed. A fair return on investments is to be expected but to expect that the return is to increase every year by double digit percentages is just greedy. This expectation has degraded everything that we hold dear on this planet.

When a system no longer works for the majority of people, it will inevitably change. The present system only works well for that top 2% of the population who hold 90% of the wealth. It doesn't work for the under-employed or unemployed youth. It doesn't work for the overworked and underpaid middle class. It doesn't work for the civil service, educators, or doctors who must do more with less because of resource cut-backs. The system no longer works in crime prevention or law enforcement. The system of courts certainly doesn't work or is badly limping. Farmers and fishermen are declining and looking for other work. Look at any aspect of our civilization and try to find what works well for everybody.

Indications of a necessary change to come is evident on the streets. Disaffected people rioting after a hockey match. Occupy movements spreading to most major cities. Homeless people in every town large or small. Governments are unable to do anything to fix the situation because they are themselves part of the problem. When did the whole system become topsy-turvy where the government calls the shots and we work like hell to pay the bill. Don't they work for us?

I suppose nostalgia has us looking back to the heyday of the industrial revolution in the post-war years. Workers were paid a wage that had value with regard to prices. A father was able to house, clothe and feed his family and still have money left to save. How many have money left over at the end of the month today? That is another indication that the industrial revolution has run its course and we are coming to a paradigm shift.

Turkeys to Arrow

Yesterday, we took a load of frozen turkeys to Arrow Branch. Arrow Credit Union once had the distinction of being the smallest credit union in British Columbia and perhaps smallest in western Canada, situated in Edgewood on the shores of Arrow Lake.

 The village of Edgewood was once on the shores of the Columbia River where the Inonoaklin River and the Columbia met. However, in 1968, the Hugh Keenleyside Dam was completed, flooding the Columbia Valley for 230 km to  Revelstoke. The village of Edgewood had to be moved to higher ground.

 The residents of Edgewood make their living mostly from forestry and agriculture and are known for their rural and individualistic lifestyle, as in most rural towns and villages in Canada. People work hard, know their neighbours, and are connected more to their communities than in urban areas.

 Back to turkeys. VantageOne Credit Union in Vernon, BC, gives a turkey for Christmas to every member household, as a token of appreciation for the banking partnership. When Arrow Credit Union joined with VantageOne, members of the board and management began making the drive over Monashee Pass with a trailer full of frozen turkeys.

 

 The arrival of the birds has been known to cause a traffic jam in front of the Arrow Branch.

 The Great Gobble Give-Away has turned out to be a great means for credit union board members to meet many of the membership who they normally would have no contact with. Normally, the tellers in any bank are the "face" of that bank but this is an opportunity for the behind-the-scenes people to directly pitch in.

 

Merry Christmas.