Weekend Economists Trace the Long and Winding Road February 7-9, 2014

[Demeter]

1. 50 years ago

This was a different country then....no protective seals on bottles of aspirin, catsup, mayonnaise, windshield washer fluid, etc., no bans on smoking or advertising cigarettes, no talk of climate change, peak oil, austerity, and gas was 29 cents per gallon.

And the Beatles landed on our shore, and the entire world changed.

No, I don't blame anything on the Beatles. They just fit the times better than anything since.

Can you imagine the Beatles today, on a cruise ship gig, or trying to perform rap songs? Or dragging their weary bodies through endless retrospectives? Neither can I.

And yet, what I wouldn't give to turn back the clock, and steer the ship of state in a better direction.

The Beatles did try, and succeeded all too well, as far as the 1% were concerned. They changed our story for the better, unlike the Bushs, the Cheneys, and others of that power-grabbing ilk.