Class warfare...Karl Marx 101

Walter Williams provides a great contrast, allowing us to see the perverse, artificial dichotomy in how the mainstream media outlets cover stories, and the way our culture adopts those same views almost unconsciously. Class envy and warfare is the basis of Karl Marx's doctrine.  To gin up some unsatisfied views is like shooting fish in a barrel.  The Apostle Paul tells us to be content in all things.  Marx says the opposite.  Which one is right?

Check it out...http://newsbusters.org/blogs/walter-e-williams/2011/10/19/ever-notice-left-attack-wealthy-ceos-not-wealthy-liberal-celebrit

HOLY FLIRCKING SCHNITT!!!!!!! Actual quantum levitation demonstrated!

This is a REALLY COOL TOY...but what can we actually do with it?

Proves the point of which is more important and significant, Invention v Innovation.

The first is gee-whiz stuff (like the video, link is below), but the second is the lucrative, mass acceptance and use.  The real suspense in this drama is who/where will be the first to develop this amazing concept and apply it to general use utility.  Stay tuned...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ws6AAhTw7RA#!

OBTW...guess who or where cell phones were 'invented'?

Competition, Part 2 CELL PHONES...are smart. So are other things...

Competition, the third thing that makes economics the basis of life as we know it.  Even monopolies are competing, competing to keep out the competition (and it is not without its own opportunity costs for the monopoly...but what could those costs be?  Hmmmmm....).

So, I present some examples of 'modern day' competition.  The challenge is to determine who benefits from them...
1. http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=20850312-1A64-6A71-CE36C3DE0EA48BED

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/technology/bookstores-drop-comics-after-amazon-deal-with-dc.html?_r=2&src=recg

3. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-18/motorola-mobility-revives-razr-to-challenge-apple-s-iphone.html

4. http://www.tvkim.com/watch/1437/kims-picks-samsung-google-serve-ice-cream-sandwich

Competition, Part 1 GAME ON WAYNE!!!!!

Adam Smith brought us the concept of the 'invisible hand', in that if individuals are allowed to pursue their own self-interests, society will benefit.  That concept included the assumption of competition between suppliers, and competition between demanders.

The URL below gives a great demonstration of the invisible hand (of death).  And of course, I'd argue that society benefits.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/14/us-videogames-idUSTRE79D40J20111014

How much easier then to steal the opposing team's signals?

NFL is now 21st Century.  Using iPads as gamebooks.  How much time until the quarterback, and maybe the entire skilled player set has iTouches on their wrist bands?  Or heads-up displays inside their helmets' visors?

Can't wait.  Scarcity, Competition and Opportunity Cost are at it again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/sports/football/ipads-replace-bound-playbooks-on-some-nfl-teams.html?_r=3&ref=technology

The "OCCUPY" movement, at it's best?

The Occupy this that and the other thing is pretty 'newsworthy' lately.  A lot of human debris seems to have cashed in their welfare checks and bought some funky camping gear and decided to hang out in various public property places to synergize their intellectual vapidity.  Yes, they're 'synergizing' all over the place.  And defecating on police cruisers, throwing trash everywhere, beating up some who may disagree with their communist views...

So, the BEST part is about 6 minutes in...this chick is so intellectually wasted.  "I would like to see a workers' government, where people that work, people that make the wealth of this country run this country."  Um...we have that now.  Then she says, "Labor creates wealth." which is straight out of Marx.  Seems to ignore Land, Capital and Entrepreneurship...  Of course the leprechaun who escaped the insane asylum just before her is pretty convincing also.  6:40 iPhone fiasco, '...it's helping me record...'  And the piece-of-work holding it has no CLUE about how this useful consumer good ever came to be, let alone came to be in her hand at that opportune time...

But the cynic in all of us discounts this video as being anything representative of the upstanding stalwart citizens who have taken to the streets to protest the inherent injustices in our representative republic...after all, the TEA PARTY produced this video.  And we all know THEY'RE NUTS!  (or are they? Hmmm...don't recall any of the Tea Partiers pooping on police cars, or throwing trash everywhere, or urinating in public, or beating up people who disagree with them at rallies, or being racist, or any of the behaviors we see in the Occupy crowd...)

Lest we forget, the numerous advances and discoveries made by the Marxist-socialist countries vastly outnumber those by the bourgeois capitalist west.  Anyone care to name a few?  Right.  No other country/system can kill so many of it's own citizens BETTER than the socialists!  Karl Marx can justly have lain at his feet the responsibility for the murders of tens and tens of millions of innocents.  Nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuFQuEwJ5xI&feature=player_embedded

North Carolina Student Suspended for Facebook Comment Criticizing College « CBS Charlotte

North Carolina Student Suspended for Facebook Comment Criticizing College « CBS Charlotte

Freedom of Speech, guaranteed, right? Not necessarily. Can you recall where that 'guarantee' is expressly made? If so, I bet you also know the document you found it in was not intended to apply down to state and local gov'ts. So, was the college right, or not? What are the economic implications here? Will the P.T. Barnum axiom apply ("I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right."), or will it turn away the marginal students who are also considering other institutions of higher education? Hmmm...

Click here... http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2011/10/13/north-carolina-student-suspended-for-facebook-comment-criticizing-college/

The India pad 'solution'...hmmm...

It was recently revealed, " India introduced a cheap tablet computer Wednesday, saying it would deliver modern technology to the countryside to help lift villagers out of poverty."   As you read the article, ponder this.  TANSTAAFL.  MB ≥ MC  Gov't involvement in the economy.  Competition with others who already have equivalent resources, and may not make it to 'university' if those slots are filled by the new ones who received the cheap tablets paid for in part by the taxes from the ones already with resources.  Equity v Efficiency  Also, what of the infrastructure?  How will the tablet connect to the internet?  Will it connect?  Is the gov't paying to wire all the villages?  What use would a tablet be if it cannot be connected?  How will the poor villagers power their tablets?  Etc.

"If it seems too good to be true..."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jkCXZtzqXX87-pXex2nn23lWFwkw?docId=87163f29232f400d87ba906dc3a93405

"Stealing" a free education...ridiculous

The link below will take you to a story about a single mother who sent her children to a better, safer school by using her father's address for enrollment.  She was convicted of a few felonies, 'grand theft'.  She is black, and the school she sent her girls to is pretty 'white bread'.  Being suspicious, the school system hired a private investigator to track the kids and see if they actually lived in the district, etc.

Please read and respond to it incorporating the principles of economics; scarcity, opportunity costs and competition.  Also, address the whole racism issue, AND the concept of compulsory public education and its 'free' distribution.

Right.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/01/26/938788/-Parenting-While-Black:-Ohio-Woman-Jailed-for-Stealing-an-Education-

If the NFL used the same rules Teachers used...

Fran Tarkenton makes an interesting point from an equity versus efficiency standpoint.  I provide the first paragraph.  But check the real article...


"Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct..."


Read the whole article here... http://www.frantarkenton.com/component/content/article/54/327-reimagining-american-education

Barack Hussein Obama Mmm Mmm Mmm

Nice to see kids respecting authority on President's Day. Now if only the transcript were as easily found...

George Will

"Free" Enterprise is basically the FREEdom to pursue one's own self-interests, which usually entails including the satisfaction of others.

When the all-knowing, beneficent, paternalistic nanny-state gov't comes along to 'protect' us, what happens to "FREEdom"?

George Will

Opportunity Costs and Sacrifice (not scarcity)

Why would an individual pledge his life to defend an abstract principle?  What are the trade-offs faced by the individual?  These are as much economic decisions as any other decision.  Money is not economics.  Decisions are.

Star Parker on Black Unemployment solution

Star Parker, hardly an unbiased wall-flower, does have several great points to make.  The points she brings up, with few exceptions, have been proven to work.  The problem?  The solution cannot be tailored into a "Look, the Government solved it!" media sound bite, that promotes certain politicians at re-election time.  Adam Smith's invisible hand would be at work, and that doesn't make for a great bad news story the mainstream media likes so much.

Her second to last paragraph is the most telling.  The self-selection bias of individuals who pursue certain career paths brings us to an almost pre-ordained result.  Too bad.

I invite your comments and analysis.

http://townhall.com/columnists/starparker/2011/09/19/target_black_unemployment_with_enterprise_zones

Producing or Consuming...the role of the Household...hmmm...

OK...the article sounds good...at first.  Then, it swerves.  Can you see the subtle change?

http://www.debtproofliving.com/DPLResources/EverydayCheapskate/VisitorEverydayCheapskate/tabid/275/smid/663/ArticleID/533920/reftab/38/t/Default.aspx

JOBS...Jobs...jobs... (not Steve)

Thursday night, before the kick-off of America's most popular professional sport (Green Bay Packers v New Orleans Saints) , Obama will attempt to claim the spot light.  He will give an address to a joint session of Congress, meeting in the House of Representatives.  The speech is ostensibly about jobs, and his proposal of a $300,000,000,000.00 additional spending infrastructure program.  Every dollar is to create jobs.  That's the problem.  From Romney on the Republican side with his buddy Perry, to Obama and too many others, it is always about jobs, jobs, jobs.  "Where's my job?"  "I want a job!"

Jobs are not supplied by businesses, contrary to the obvious intent of the aforementioned points.  Jobs are certainly not to be provided by government (examples are too pervasive to list in 'corrupt' countries of nepotism and back-room deals).  A job is what one holds down when WORKING for a business, helping it produce goods or provide services that are sold above cost resulting in a profit for the firm.  Our political culture, and its lap-dog media (CNN, MSNBC, FOX, et.al.) have foisted this world-view of jobs as a commodity to be produced and consumed by households like it were a car or bag of Doritos.

There is the obvious impact upon the psychology of the individual who is out of work looking for a position that will pay him.  Instead of the perspective of seeking employment, or "finding work", he is looking for a job.  See the difference?  "Work" is a nasty word in 21st Century America.  It implies sweat, inconvenience, and sacrifice of one's precious leisure time.  A job on the other hand, it is that consumable commodity, and to no small degree, a status symbol as significant as a Lexus is to personal transportation.  So, the individual looking for work is selling his services, expertise, abilities to the company in turn for a wage.  The person who want a job is not much different in perspective than the lady pushing the shopping cart down the aisle of the grocery store looking for a deal on stewed prunes.  And yes, it is just as attractive a proposition to the prospective employer to see so many people apply to get their job instead of coming to find work and produce.

Time to get to work, America.

Breadwinners...right.

Bread Winner...

I was speaking to an emergency room physician this morning.  He told me that a woman in her 20s came to the ER with her 8^th pregnancy.  She stated, "my momma told me that I am the breadwinner for the family."

He asked her to explain.   She said that she can make babies and babies get money for the family.   It goes like this: The grandma calls the Department of Child and Family Services and states that the unemployed daughter is not capable of caring for these children.   DCFS agrees and states that the child or children will need to go to foster care.

The grandma then volunteers to be the foster parent, and thus receives a check for $1500 per child per month in  Illinois .

 Total yearly income:

$144,000 tax-free, not to mention free healthcare (Medicaid) plus a monthly card entitling her to free groceries, etc, and a voucher for 250 free cell phone minutes per month.  This does not even include WIC and other welfare programs..   Indeed, grandma was correct in that her fertile daughter is the "breadwinner"  for the family. 

This is how the ruling class spends our tax dollars.

Sebastian J. Ciancio, M.D. Urologist, Danville Polyclinic, LTD

Is this a GREAT COUNTRY or what...

Don't forget to pay your taxes!!!

There are a lot of Breadwinners depending on you & me.

Sen. Rubio: "Save the Whole House or It Will All Burn Down"

When is this guy running for President?

Real food for thought...like a grenade thrown into a conversation room...

Ever Think Of This?   Questions and few answers  WHERE ARE THE GIRLFRIENDS? I hadn't thought about this - but where are Obama's past girlfriends - surely he had at least one? No past girl friends popping up anywhere? Strange - strange to the point of being downright weird! OK, this is just plain old common sense, no political agendas for either side. Just common knowledge for citizens of a country, especially American citizens, who know every little tidbit about every other president (and their wives) that even know that Andrew Jackson's wife smoked a corn cob pipe and was accused of adultery, or that Lincoln never went to school or Kennedy wore a back brace or Truman played the piano. We are Americans! Our Media vets these things out! We are known for our humanitarian interests and caring for our 'fellow man.' We care, but none of us know one single humanizing fact about the history of our own president. Honestly, and this is a personal thing ... but it's bugged me for years that no one who ever dated him ever showed up. Taken his charisma, which caused the women to be drawn to him so obviously during his campaign, looks like some lady would not have missed the opportunity.... We all know about JFK's magnetism, McCain was no monk, Palin's courtship and even her athletic prowess were probed. Biden's aneurisms are no secret. Look at Cheney and Clinton-we all know about their heart problems. How could I have left out Wild Bill before or during the White House? Nope... not one lady has stepped up and said, "He was soooo shy," or "What a great dancer!" Now look at the rest of what we know... no classmates, not even the recorder for the Columbia class notes ever heard of him. Who was the best man at his wedding? Start there. Check for groomsmen. Then get the footage of the graduation ceremony. Has anyone talked to the professors? Isn't it odd that no one is bragging that they knew him or taught him or lived with him. When did he meet Michele and how? Are there photos? Every president provides the public with all their photos, etc. for their library. What has he released? Nada - other than what was in this so-called biography! And experts who study writing styles, etc. claim it was not O's own words or typical of his speech patterns, etc. Does this make any of you wonder? Ever wonder why no one ever came forward from Obama's past, saying they knew him, attended school with him, was his friend, etc. ? Not one person has ever come forward from his past. This should really be a cause for great concern. Did you see the movie titled, The Manchurian Candidate? Let's face it. As insignificant as we all are... someone whom we went to school with remembers our name or face...someone remembers we were the clown or the dork or the brain or the quiet one or the bully or something about us. George Stephanopoulos, ABC News said the same thing during the 2008 campaign. Even George questions why no one has acknowledged that the president was in their classroom or ate in the same cafeteria or made impromptu speeches on campus. Stephanopoulos was a classmate of Obama at Columbia-class of 1984. He says he never had a single class with him. Since he is such a great orator, why doesn't anyone in Obama's college class remember him? And, why won't he allow Columbia to release his records? Do you like millions of others, simply assume all this is explainable - even though no one can? NOBODY REMEMBERS OBAMA AT COLUMBIA Looking for evidence of Obama's past, Fox News contacted 400 Columbia University students from the period when Obama claims to have been there, but not one remembers him. For example,Wayne Allyn Root was (like Obama) a political science major at Columbia, who graduated in 1983. In 2008, Root says of Obama, "I don't know a single person at Columbia that knew him, and they all know me. I don't have a single classmate who ever knew Barack Obama at Columbia ... EVER! Nobody recalls him. Root adds that he was, "Class of '83 political science, pre-law" and says, "You don't get more exact or closer than that. Never met him in my life, don't know anyone who ever met him." At our 20th class reunion five years ago, who was asked to be the speaker of the class? Me. No one ever heard of Barack! And five years ago, nobody even knew who he was. The guy who writes the class notes, who's kind of the, as we say in New York, 'the macha' who knows everybody, has yet to find a person, a human who ever met him." Obama's photograph does not appear in the school's yearbook, and Obama consistently declines requests to talk about his years at Columbia, provide school records, or provide the name of any former classmates or friends while at Columbia. How can this be? NOTE: Wayne Allyn Root can easily be verified. He graduated valedictorian from his high school, Thornton-Donovan School, then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major in the same '83 class in which Barack Hussein Obama states he was. Some other interesting questions. Why was Obama's law license inactivated in 2002? Why was Michelle's law license inactivated by court order? According to the U.S. Census, there is only one Barack Obama - but 27 Social Security numbers and over 80 aliases. WHAT!? The Social Security number he uses now originated in Connecticut where he is never reported to have lived. No wonder all his records are sealed! Please continue sending this out to everyone. Somewhere, someone had to know him in school...before he "reorganized" Chicago and burst upon the scene at the 2004 Democratic Convention and made us swoon with his charm, poise, and speaking pizzazz. One of the biggest CONS this country has ever seen, and getting away with it. Go watch the movie The Manchurian Candidate, with Lawrence Harvey! Good movie!   -- Gene Sinkler 22584 west 112th St. Olathe, KS 66061

Government, a.k.a. "Gubmit" as in 'get your mits off me!'

Gubmint and How Gubmint  Works 

Once upon a time the government had a vast  scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, "Someone may steal  from it at night."  

So they created a night watchman  position and hired a person for the job. 
 
Then  Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job  without instruction?" So they created a planning department and  hired two 
people, one person to write the instructions, and one  person to do time studies. 
 
Then Congress  said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks  correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department  and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write  the reports. 
 
Then Congress said, "How are these  people going to get paid?" So They created the following  positions, a time keeper, and a payroll officer, then hired two  people. 
 
Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable  for all of these people?" 
So they created an administrative  section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a  Legal Secretary. 
 
Then Congress said, "We  have had this command in operation for one Year and we are  $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall  cost." 
 
So they laid off the night  watchman. 
 
NOW slowly, let it sink  in. 
 
Quietly, we go like sheep to  slaughter. 
 
Does anybody remember the reason given for  the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY..... during the  Carter  Administration? 
 
Anybody? 
 
Anything? 
 
No? 
 
Didn't  think so! 
 
Bottom line. We've spent several hundred  billion dollars in support of an agency...the reason for which  not one person who reads this can  remember! 
 
Ready??  
It was very simple...and at  the time, everybody thought it very appropriate. 
 
The  Department of Energy was instituted on   8-04-1977, TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN  OIL. 

Hey,  pretty efficient, huh??? 
 
AND NOW IT'S 2009 -- 32  YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS "NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT  $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. THEY HAVE 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND  APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES; AND LOOK AT THE JOB THEY HAVE  DONE! THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, "WHAT WAS I  THINKING?"  

32 years ago 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports.  Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports. 
 
Ah, yes -- good ole  bureaucracy. 
 AND, NOW, WE ARE GOING TO TURN THE BANKING SYSTEM,  HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY OVER TO THE SAME  GOVERNMENT?
HELLOOO!     Anybody Home?

Justice, Italiano style.

This is priceless     Facts about The killing of Osama Bin Laden: 1)    Fugitive for 19 years. Hunted by Saudi Arabia , Interpol, Scotland Yard, Mossad, and the CIA. 2)    CIA was looking for him for last 14 years.  Found him twice and lost him twice.  Cost $1.8 Billion 3)       CIA had 4 directors over this time period, 1997- 2011.  All failed to capture Bin Laden. 4)    Obama appoints Leon Panetta son of Italian immigrants as new CIA director April 28th, 2011 5)    Mr. Panetta calls in a few favors from friends in New York ,    New Jersey and Las Vegas on  April 29th 2011. 6)    They plan a raid over some espresso and cannolis  April 30th, 2011. Decide to dress as Navy Seals.                         7)   Bin Laden is killed (not captured or held for trial) and the body is dumped at sea May 1, 2011.       (also known as “swimming with the fishes” in Italian folklore) 8)  Job done in less then 100 hours:  Reward $25,000,000  9)       Estimated savings of not having a trial  $200,000,000. 10)   Shop Italian

Ponzi, who was he? Did he work for the Federal gov't?

Why did Bernie Madoff go to prison?  Simply, he talked people into investing with him.  Trouble was, he didn't invest their money.  As time rolled on he simply took the money from the new investors to pay off the old investors.  Finally there were too many old investors and not enough money from new investors coming in to keep the payments going.

 

Next thing you know Madoff is one of the most hated men in  America and he is off to jail.

 

Some of you know this..  But not enough of you.  Madoff did to his investors what the government has been doing to us for over 70 years with Social Security.  There is no meaningful difference between the two schemes, except that one was operated by a private individual who is now in jail, and the other is operated by politicians who enjoy perks, privileges and status in spite of their actions.

 

Do you need a side-by-side comparison here?  Well   here's a nifty little chart.



 

BERNIE MADOFF	SOCIAL SECURITY
Takes money from investors with the promise that the money will be invested and made available to them later.	Takes money from wage earners with the promise that the money will be invested in a "Trust Fund" (Lock Box) and made available later.
Instead of investing the money Madoff spends it on nice homes in the Hamptons , and yachts.	Instead of depositing money in a Trust Fund, the politicians transfer it to the General Revenue Fund and use it for general spending and vote-buying.
When the time comes to pay the investors back, Madoff simply uses some of the new funds from newer investors to pay back the older investors.	When benefits for older investors become due, the politicians pay them with money taken from younger and newer wage earners.
When Madoff's scheme is discovered, all hell breaks loose.  New investors won't give him any more cash.	When Social Security runs out of money, politicians try to force the taxpayers to send them some more; or they cancel S/S to all those who paid into it.
Bernie Madoff is in jail.	Politicians remain in  Washington ... with fat medical and retirement benefits.

 

'The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government

but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.'

~ Ronald Reagan

  "If you put the federal government in charge of the  Sahara Desert ,

in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.”

~ Milton Friedman

The GREEN thing...

"Green", nice name for some people, but a crazy politically motivated concept in today's culture in my humble opinion.  Here's why...

The Green Thing

 

 

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. 

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. 
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.  So they really were recycled. 

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day. 

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. 

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind.  We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.  Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. 

 

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. 

 

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. 

 

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.  We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

 

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. 

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. 

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.  And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. 

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?