Posted on 05/17/2019 6:21:35 PM PDT by SamAdams76
I'm reading a book about Florida called "For Sale —American Paradise: How Our Nation Was Sold an Impossible Dream in Florida" by Willie Drye. A lengthy title but a very good book, I am learning so much about how Florida went from a swampy backwater full of alligators where nobody wanted to live to our third most populous state (and perhaps someday to be our most populous state) and certainly the most air-conditioned state in the union.
Willie Drye's book is very well researched and is full of very interesting stories about the early days of the Florida boom and even back then there were some some very colorful and strange people.
So let's go back to the winter of 1894-95 when on Christmas Day, the temperatures soared into the 80s even up in Orlando and everybody down there were just basking in the sunshine. Nobody was yapping about global warming down there, instead they were growing oranges! Yes, the citrus industry was exploding thanks to the warm and sunny climate of Florida. Oranges by the boxcar were traveling up north and this was before FCOJ was even a thing!
So on that Christmas Day, everybody was happy, happy, happy down there in Florida and life was good. Even if they were excessively hot, because remember, nobody that was grown up was allowed to go around in shorts and flip-flops like they do today. No! They had to dress the same as if they were still up in New York City. Heavy woolen suits for the men (with banana boat straw hats) and layer after layer of petticoats and frilly dresses for the women. So they were happy but HOT!
Just days later...disaster!
On December 28, 1894, a sharp cold front came in from Wisconsin and Lake Superior. Temperatures in Orlando reached 24 degrees! The damage to the citrus industry was catastrophic, especially due to the unusually warm weather of Christmas Day, as the trees did not have a chance to go dormant, in which they might have survived.
Even those few trees that were saved ended up dying a few weeks later when ANOTHER arctic blast dropped the temperature to 17 degrees in central Florida. The end result was that the citrus industry was ruined and 7 of Florida's 8 banks went belly up.
It basically sucked for everybody down there. In fact, it really sucked for a man who was staying at the San Juan Hotel. He stumbled out of the hotel with a thermometer while wearing a Stetson hat to take the temperature outside, knowing that more freezing weather would ruin him financially, as you see, he had all his money tied up in the citrus industry.
Once he confirmed the temperature was below freezing, he groaned out loud, pulled a pistol out of his pocket, and shot himself in the head. Tragic ending and it was all because of that darned cold weather. Global warming would have saved this poor man but alas, it was not to be.
But I digress. The point I'm trying to make here is that we have a lot of suicides when life savings are lost. We saw it on Wall Street during the big crash of 1929. Stockbrokers, butchers and even movie theater ushers were jumping out of windows in the financial district.
So that's pretty much my post for tonight. I put it in the Bloggers and Personal section so that those who don't want to read this won't have to read this.
They want to take the easy way out, or at least they perceive it to be the easy way out.
Leverage.
It is great on the way up.
It will destroy you on the way down.
Perhaps so the loan shark they borrowed from won't kill them more slowly and painfully.
Men often define themselves by their ability to support their family
Take that away...
I’m immune...I just have debts from my parents and no life savings.
“They want to take the easy way out, or at least they perceive it to be the easy way out.”
Are they democrats?
I’m reading Pat Buchanan’s book on Hitler, Churchill and how we got involved in an unnecessary war. Young men losing their lives are more important than somebody who loses their life savings.
People killing themselves after losing their life savings? Here’s a story that sorta fits with this.
According to our former financial adviser, baby boomers blow through their IRA’s in just a few years and are back to work again at 70 or so because social security is not enough.
I’ve only personally witnessed this with one person. He went through his IRA because he deserved the things he bought. Then put his home into full mortgage so he could continue the happy lifestyle he deserved. Now he’s selling off toys, like his boat he loved so much to take out fishing.
Now he’s depressed, taking pills and seeing a therapist. I do not want to see this happen, but he might off himself.
Our retirement income is much less than his, but we do not outspend our income and are quite happy.
My point is, many people create their own problems. There’s always a life saving solution out there too.
A bit of-topic (can a “chat” thread have anything off-topic?), but in addition to the sunny climate, you should probably credit discovery earlier in the 19th century about how to get ice from places like New England and Canada down to places like Florida without inordinate meltage, so that the oranges could be shipped up north without spoiling.
The embarrassment, the magnitude, the amount they also owe others, their age and likelihood of settling everything—these and more are all reasons one could feel there was no future but severe anguish.
Just bought a used copy on amazon, 5.99 and free shipping. Sounds interesting.
I am happy that I’ve reached the point in my life where I’m no longer a slave to “stuff”.
As long as I have a roof over my head and the ability to travel, it’s really all I need.
Sir, your parents’ debt—I take it you are helping them pay it off, correct?
You are a fine son.
They did not kill themselves.
They just worked themselves to death trying to pay everyone back.
“No! They had to dress the same as if they were still up in New York City. Heavy woolen suits for the men (with banana boat straw hats) and layer after layer of petticoats and frilly dresses for the women.”
Where the heck did he get this?
Is there any way to get the LeftistCommunists to go all lemming?
What I meant was: Is there any way to get the LeftistCommunists to all go lemming?
Exactly. They were more than likely trying to make their fortunes off of borrowed money.
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