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Another Perspective
Thirty Years Ago
Recently, I met a young woman at The River shopping center in Rancho Mirage. She was celebrating her 30th birthday. She was also lamenting the fact that she was now 30 and telling me how hard it was to be 30. Not so hard, I thought, for a man who is 64, but I patted her on her head and wished her well, and then I started to think about the passage of time and chance and thought about measuring what we've gained and what we've lost, to paraphrase a great songwriter.
Thirty years ago. Early 1979. If you think we have it bad economically now, with our bank crisis and our recession, think about 1979. Yes, unemployment was about one and half percentage points lower, but it was rising fast. We were well on our way to the worst recession in postwar history, far worse than the one we are in now, at least so far. But inflation -- that was the killer. On the heels of the radical revolution in Iran and a huge jump in oil prices, we had inflation in 1979 of over 13 percent. The misery index -- the total of unemployment and inflation -- was about 19.5 percent, compared with about 7.5 per cent now. Times were hard.
We got through it, and went on to record-shattering prosperity. We got through the bleak days to "it's morning in America." There is hope today, too.
Think the stock market is bad now? We thought it was bad in 1979. It has risen since then -- even with the recent crash -- by almost ten times. Not ten percent. Ten times. Think real estate has dropped now? It has but it is still about four times what it was in 1979 here in Southern California. Things look bleak now, and they are, but they are a lot better than they were in 1979 in many, many ways.
We will get through this. I wish I had bought more stock in 1979, and more real estate, too. But here's what I really miss about 1979: both of my parents were alive. I could have spent as much time as I wanted with them, I could have learned from them, shared with them. Loved them. Let them love me. I desperately wish it were 1979 again, not for Jimmy Carter and the bargain stock market, but for missing my parents, whom are both long gone now.
I don't know if it's a good time to buy stocks or real estate or what the inflation rate will be next year. I do know you won't have forever with the people you love. Be with them now. That's your best thirty-year investment. You cannot lose.
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El Wayne| 1.30.09 @ 8:09AM
Who says lawyers don't have hearts? What a way to say it...good going Mr. Stein.
Jeremy Jester| 1.30.09 @ 10:17AM
Priorities and a long term perspective...two things sorely lacking in our current tumult.
Jack Hughes| 1.30.09 @ 11:44AM
Isn't it sad that a 64 year old male has been reduced (by political correctness) to patting a 30 year old female on the head?
Marc Jeric| 1.30.09 @ 12:08PM
Good old Ben Stein, reminiscing of those Carter years. Being 12 years older than Ben, I remeber them even better, those Carter years. With the oil embargo the gas went from 30 cents a gallon to over 1 dollar. Carter printed wagon-loads of gas ratiioning coupons and recommended setting our thermostats at 65F, with sweaters at home, and installing weather strips around doors and windows. But then - radioactive radon concentrations shot up; who would have predicted that disaster? Well, we scientists did, to no avail, but a rise in lung cancers (wrongly attributed to smoking) put a stop to that nonsense.
les grossman| 1.30.09 @ 1:05PM
Jack Hughes| 1.30.09 @ 11:44AM--we have a winner! comment of the day.
pretty good reminder from Ben Stein, too.
Thom1s| 1.30.09 @ 4:31PM
But thirty years ago as badly hollowed out as they were under the Carter regime, our armed forces existed to serve the nation as reflected in their oath to protect the Constitution.
Heard the latest?
Obama is going to change the oath for members of the armed forces. Instead of swearing to protect the Constitution, members will be asked to take an oath to protect the President, thus converting what has been a magnificent force serving the Republic for the last 233 years to Mr. Obama's private security force.
Wonder if the Cry Baby Boom lunatic left will see any harm in THESE loyalty oaths?
For NORMAL people this is a frightening development, the conversion of our armed forces into a Praetorian guard to protect our glorious new Caesar.
Dustoff| 1.30.09 @ 4:59PM
Thom1s
It's a lie and a BAD joke.
Alan Brooks| 1.30.09 @ 6:23PM
Carter midwifed Obama.
Thom1s| 1.30.09 @ 6:30PM
Dustoff, I'd give worlds to believe you, believe me; but this a.m. an email sent to me contained what purported to be White House justification for this planned July 4th change because the President "feels" that taking an oath to "American society" somehow justifies what the President thinks of as the "nationalism, racism, and classism that led to the Abu Ghraib atrocity" or words to that effect . . . a situation he evidently believes will be remedied by members of our armed forces taking what is in effect a loyalty oath to the President. Regrettably this is exactly the sort of extremist, "anti-war" clap trap so many of his swooning cult-like admirers have embraced to the extent that every silly Blame America First syllable Obama utters sends them into clouds of rapture. That is why, for example, they have gone ga ga with joy at news of his interview with Al Arabia in which he promises a return to the halcyon days of Jimmah Cawtah.
President Kristi| 1.30.09 @ 6:55PM
The 1970s and President Carter are the correct comparison for the malaise we're in now. This idea terrifies the Democrats: Everyone knows that it took a President Reagan to pull us out of that swamp.
A. Brooks| 1.30.09 @ 11:38PM
i'll take Obama over Jimmuh Cawtah.
O isnt smarmy, or at least not like the political faggot from Plains is TO THIS DAY.
why doesnt he just retire and grow peanuts? nothing wrong with peanuts.
Mark| 1.31.09 @ 8:58AM
Ben is right. 30 years ago, the economy really sucked because of rampant inflation. The interest rate on the first house my wife and I bought was almost 12 percent. Credit cards were in the mid to high 20s. Money market funds paid interest rates in the teens, but that didn't matter because everything was really expensive (in relative terms). But Ben is right. We survived and as I've gotten older I've started to realize how important family and friends really are in the grand scheme of things. My parents have both passed on and I'd give anything for more time with them. It makes me treasure my wife, sons and other family members so much more.
Steven B.| 1.31.09 @ 12:52PM
Ben misses his parents not only because he loved them, but because they were part of a majority of Americans who understood the value of family, God, hard work, and America. They are gone and so are the other people of their generation with these values. What has replaced them are a group of nihilists who don't understand the dangers surrounding them. God help them.
malm| 1.31.09 @ 1:02PM
In 1979 we had a different nation, we were a different people, and Ronald Reagan was out here to lead. Reagan raised a big tent, and people of all kinds came into it. he appreciated all his allies. He liked Senator John Chafee for instance, even though they did not agree on every issue. John Chafee was a great help to Reagan in many areas and vice versa. With the help of Chafee, the Gipper even carried Rhode Island once. Chafee was a Marine officer in WW2, and Korea. Like the gipper he was a brave lifeguard. However, as movement conservatives took over the GOP, he was sneered at and called a rino. Limbaugh called this brave Marine " linguine spined ". When he died not a single conservative talker or writer had a good word to say about him. A political party that can't find enough room in the tent for such a man is doomed. Thus, we have less hope now than in 1979 to have sanity and reason and decency. This is because we lack a viable second part in our two party system.
the closet conservative| 1.31.09 @ 4:07PM
Once again, Mr. Ben Stein shows us a different perspective other than the one we're used to seeing these things from. I tend to write from a political and economic point of view. Ben is taking a spiritual one. Yes, the economy is bad, but its been worse. But we should still keep a cool head about things and take time out to appreciate those whom we love. Thanks for the reminder Ben. http://theclosetconservative.com
Richie Aprile| 1.31.09 @ 4:07PM
Maybe the Spectator can hire Frum to write the "Another Perspective" column. A nice way to let X-conservatives (X=compassionate, comeback, crunchy,neo-, Northeast-) try to justify the liberalism they are trying to avoid.
Maybe we can have David Brooks, Peggy Noonan, that guy Tabin who was calling for Tom Delay to be executed, Obama, and maybe, ahh George Bush
Alan Brooks| 1.31.09 @ 6:36PM
Idi Amin and Jeffrey Dahmer invited Jimmuh Cawtah to dinner.
but what sort of meat they ate is anybody's guess.
ko| 1.31.09 @ 9:12PM
well i'd feel a lot happier about ole ben if he hadn't awhile back astounded me by coming out in favor of raising taxes.....i danged it i can find any evidence of his being sarcastic...i think he really meant it...
blechhhhh
Alan Brooks| 1.31.09 @ 10:54PM
Carter led to Reagan, RR led to Bush 41, Bush 41 led to Bush 43; Bush 43 led to Obama.
there you have it. of course Nixon led to Carter, but then LBJ had led to Nixon.
so the catastrophe of Carterism really began with Lyndon Johnson.
Trackback| 2.1.09 @ 8:18AM
The American Spectator : Thirty Years Ago, on article, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Alan Brooks| 2.1.09 @ 5:11PM
Ben's got it just so on parents. once they're gone were spiritually finished, like when the patrimony goes.
we just sputter on blindly.
Kristine| 2.1.09 @ 8:02PM
Isn't it sad that a 64 year old male has been reduced (by political correctness) to patting a 30 year old female on the head?
I think it has been a pattern with Mr. Ben Stein that women, from contestants on "Win Ben Stein's Money" to the teen-age girls at Birmingham High School (which he admits he sees more than his wife), that they only let him go so far.
William| 2.2.09 @ 3:11AM
The last paragraph made my day.
Thank you.
William| 2.2.09 @ 3:11AM
The last paragraph made my day.
Thank you.
Sowell Disciple| 2.3.09 @ 7:50AM
Thomis -- Please check your sources more carefully. A moment on Google is all it takes to confirm that your assertion is a simple urban legend. Here's one article about it: http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2009/01/31/military-to-pledge-loyalty-oath-to-obama.htm
Pingback| 2.5.09 @ 2:02PM
Ben Stein on Financial Crisis, 1979 vs. 2009 | Through A Glass, Dimly links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Paul Oyler| 2.10.09 @ 10:39AM
This is from Abraham Lincoln's First inaugural address 1861 "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it"
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