Small Business Boomers

50 years ago. February 2, 1959. Storm Lake, Iowa. The Winter Dance Party played at the Surf Ballroom that night.
Shortly after 1 a.m. on the 3rd, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson boarded an airplane bound for Moorhead, Minnesoata. The plane crashed in a cornfield near Mason City.
Before the flight Richardson asked singer Waylon Jennings to give up his seat on the plane; Jennings agreed but said, “I hope your plane crashes.” He never got over saying those words. Dion (of Dion and the Belmonts) could have gone but …read more

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On MLK Day, we Baby Boomers stop and think about the past 40 years, and the Inauguration of Barak Obama tomorrow bring back memories of another man who delivered a famous speech in Washington, D.C.
It is fitting that tomorrow, Martin Luther King, III will deliver a speech in honor of President Obama.
From Doctor King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963, in which he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of …read more

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First, quiz answers:
1.  What holiday movie was first released in 1947 with Cary Grant and re-released with a different title (and some plot changes) in 1996, with Denzel Washington?  The Cary Grant movie was The Bishop’s Wife, and the Denzel Washington one was The Preacher’s Wife.
2.  What two holiday movies feature John Candy?  (One isn’t thought of as a “traditional” holiday movie, but it’s set during the holidays.) Home Alone, and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.  
3.  Who is ZuZu?  Jimmy Stewart’s youngest daughter in It’s a Wonderful Life.  Her “petals”were featured in the movie.  
4. What holiday movie …read more

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The Chicago Tribune today filed for Chapter 11 reorganization protection.  Like many other newspapers, it had been in declining health for many years, but its final lifeline was cut by the credit crisis.  Should we mourn?  Or should we move on and accept these changes as a sign of the times?
Yes, I know the paper is in reorganization, not liquidation, but it’s not getting any help from Dr. Paulson, like the automakers. So I’m guessing its days are numbered.
Other Baby Boomers might remember a little of radio, but radio slid into the background when TV came into every household.  Newspapers …read more

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I was talking to someone the other day about holiday movies.  I enjoy this time of year because I love to watch the old and new movies we don’t see at other times.  Are your favorite holiday movies the ones you remember from when you were growing up, or are they more recent ones?  Let’s talk about holiday movies!  I’m excited to announce a special December contest about holiday movies.  Here is the deal:
Write me a comment to this post telling me your favorite holiday movie and why you like it.  I’ll run all the comments through my random number …read more

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For those of us Baby Boomers who have been buying homes for years, it was a big surprise a few years ago for us to learn that we could buy a home and get a 100% LTV (loan to value) mortgage. Well, not any more.  The banks are finally tightening up and requiring 20% down again.  It’s about time.
Over the years, I have owned many homes (I count 24, including the one my husband and I currently own).  In the late 1990s, I started to see the 100% home equity loans and I wondered, “Why would people do that?”  Even …read more

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My parents never put their money under a mattress, but I do know some people of that generation who did.  They lived through the Great Depression and lost money in bank failures.  So they were not about to trust a bank.
Today we don’t have the same concern about banks -the FDIC says it will protect money in bank accounts, but many people are still nervous.  And nervous people do strange things.
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The sale of safes is booming, as people look around and decide that they can’t risk their money in the market, and the interest rate on …read more

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In the midst of all these bailouts – investment banks, insurance companies, and possibly automakers – I ran across this quote from Lee Iacocca:
There ain’t no free lunches in this country. And don’t go spending your whole life commiserating that you got raw deals. You’ve got to say, ‘I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it.’
Wait a minute!  Isn’t Lee Iacocca the same guy who engineered the  “bailout” of Chrysler back in 1979?  So, Lee, have you forgotten that you received the proverbial “free lunch”?  Or, did you?
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My husband and I have a favorite restaurant.  We go there at least once a week, usually more.  We just realized last weekend that we haven’t been there in two weeks.  The reason – we decided to eat out less.  And it appears that many other Baby Boomers are doing the same thing.
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When we were children, my husband and I remember, eating out was a rare treat.  When we traveled in the summer with my father (a service representative who traveled every week), we thought it was cool to go to Howard Johnson’s for every meal.  …read more

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