1925 VERSUS 2025
100 Years of Progress. You know women vote now, don’tcha? Not so in 1925. Things have changed in the last hundred years. For example we used to use cash for … Continue Reading →
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100 Years of Progress. You know women vote now, don’tcha? Not so in 1925. Things have changed in the last hundred years. For example we used to use cash for … Continue Reading →
Soon after Daisy Younes was transferred to the executive offices at The Overweight Medical Clinic where I was working in 1969, she came to me with a simple request. “Mr. … Continue Reading →
TIKTOK The young monk stood before me gazing into my eyes. His head was shaved, and his saffron robes were elegantly draped across one shoulder. His complexion seemed almost golden, … Continue Reading →
One definition could center around the ability of its people to pursue happiness without interference from government – city, county, state or federal. And without fear of governmental violence against … Continue Reading →
Evening sun aglistens on The Spanish moss clad oaks, Their black trunks agnarling To Frame the golden hour Before old Sun sets so red. It’s time to sit and ponder … Continue Reading →
I am a little greedy, so I jumped right in when I got an offer of $500.00 cash just for opening a bank account with Bank of America. The main … Continue Reading →
ONE WONDERFUL LAND OF OPPORTUNITY Many of us are stressed out this November 2020. The election process moves at a snail’s pace. We are used to seeing a sitting loser … Continue Reading →
1791 The United States of 1791 was far different from today’s America. Few people had jobs as we know them today. People worked for themselves with some exceptions. Think Slaves … Continue Reading →
Time in a bottle – our lifetime supply of days is limited. Like guessing the number of jellybeans in a big jar. We are challenged to guess the number of … Continue Reading →
Many of the gizmos that I’m using today seems like pure magic to the 1940’s-boy that is inside my head. Continue Reading →
The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Continue Reading →
CLICK on the link to read my short opinion about a brush with evil. DON’T BE ONE OF THEM 1
Hi all. Just finished Chiming of Forgotten Bells. It will be available at Amazon and Kindle by September 15, 2017. Here’s the foreword: THE CHIMING OF FORGOTTEN BELLS VAIN … Continue Reading →
WHO AM I? ~ Uber in America? I found Nikita V. at 1300 Red John Drive, west of Daytona. He was a small man – perhaps no more than five-and-a-half-feet tall, … Continue Reading →
Note to President Trump Miami obvervations I sojourned in and around Miami, Florida while still in my wonder-years, from 1956 through 1987. At first I was a dirt-poor student living … Continue Reading →
Job creation, undocumented migrants, illegal aliens, job creation, utopia, unemployment JOB CREATION IN WILLYOPIA – Let’s say that there is a remote community of ten homes and ask the question, “What … Continue Reading →
2016 American elections. “Crooked Hillary. Lying Hillary. Untrustworthy Hillary. Jail her!” These words ring out across America on a daily basis – loud and certain. Part I – Our distant … Continue Reading →
MARISA AND THE BUM – Charity on the street His clothes were dirty and wrinkled. He needed a shave and his fingernails were dirty and broken. He sidled up to … Continue Reading →
ABUNDANCE Mankind is in desperate need of many things. Millions of us lack for clean water, for food, for clean air and for a decent place to live. Work is … Continue Reading →
RE: Dreams I let go, illegal immigration, and Anchor Babies in the U. S. A. Date: The Twenty First Century Dear Americans, I was born on the 4th of July … Continue Reading →
THE FAMILY OF FAILURE AND SUCCESS Could be Failure is the father, and Persistance is the mother of Success. The nickname is Try-Try-Again. Everyone fails from time to time. My … Continue Reading →
ME AND GEORGE H. W. BUSH I didn’t get to shake his hand. There were just to many of us on that fine Miami afternoon. V.P. George H. … Continue Reading →
Modern inventions – Network radio, television, digital clocks, frozen food, ballpoint pens, freeze dried food, bubble gum, dial telephones, electric adding machines, copy machines, home fax machines, GPS, cordless telephones, cell phones, … Continue Reading →
Disturbing News – Not for Sissies – Ogg – What would Jesus Do? I’m getting old. There are lots of signs including spending more time watching the TV news. That … Continue Reading →
Oasis of the Seas
Tony’s Place in Naples.I’m not sure why we went to Naples, Italy. We had other choices – Venetia, Roma, Paris, Firenze or even Moscow. But we thought it would be … Continue Reading →
EDNA’S LOVE LETTERS. THE WRITTEN WORD IS A POWERFUL THING – My good friend Amy Garza, is an entertainer, historian, writer, editor, publisher, historian and nurturer of writers. A life … Continue Reading →
SPAIN, GREECE, ALBANIA 2014 WANNA MAKE GOD LAUGH? TELL HER YOUR PLANS. I want to tell you about our plan for a great vacation. It might be interesting to tell … Continue Reading →
MY CHILD MADE ME PROUD PART II – BILL SERLE III My son Bill stands tall and is loved by all who know him. I snapped this photo in about … Continue Reading →
BAD DECISIONS MAKE GOOD STORIES. I am not the world’s worst driver. But I’ve been at it a long time and have made some bad decisions along the way. I … Continue Reading →
INTERNET POWER I wanna tell you a story bout a man named Bill Because if I don’t tell ya nobody will. There’ll be some glory and a smatter of pain … Continue Reading →
BEST BROOKLYN FRIENDS I met Huey Develin when I was 7 years old. My family just moved to Martense Street in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. … Continue Reading →
OLD FOOLS (Written for the Martin Andersen Senior Center’s Senior Writers Workshop 4/1/2014) I love America and I love the U. S. Coast Guard. Yep. I … Continue Reading →
PADDY MCGINTY’S GOAT VERSUS VALENTINE’S DAY Yep. It’s a fun day and an opportunity for folks to spend money on cards, chocolate and even valuable presents to assure us that … Continue Reading →
Arthur Godfrey, Tom Mix and radio was the metronome of my young life There was Daytime Radio and Evening Radio. I don’t remember late night radio because I had … Continue Reading →
POKER NIGHT IN NEW JERSEY We moved to Rockledge from New Jersey last April. We had many good reasons to move including loving children and grandchildren, warm weather and bargain … Continue Reading →
Ronda Spain ~ A good plan. Heed well. There are lessons to learn when plans gang aglay and things go amiss. When rain falls in buckets, and you’re uncomfortably in … Continue Reading →
Tangiers, Morocco Daisy and I have spent time in South America, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. We love traveling, so we seized the opportunity to … Continue Reading →
Joyce Kilmer National Memorial Forest 1990 ~ I worked hard back then. Seven days a week in the summer season. Days waiting on tables at Relia’s Garden Restaurant. Nights waiting … Continue Reading →
Parenting. It was a fine Miami morning in early June 1969, that Saturday morning when I walked into the Royal Castle Restaurant with my five-year-old son Billy. He was always … Continue Reading →
BING CROSBY, FARAWAY PLACES, WISHES, DREAMS AND PRAYERS CALL ME A DREAMER Far away places with strange soundin’ names Far away over the sea Those far away places with the … Continue Reading →
2012 Happy New Year Dear Grandchildren, I like books and accumulated a lot of them by the time I married Daisy Alonso in 1974. So I decided to build some … Continue Reading →
I wanna tell you a story bout a man named Bill Because if I don’t tell ya nobody will. There’ll be some glory and a smatter of pain It’s a … Continue Reading →
I was raised as a Christian in the Dutch Reformed Church in Brooklyn, New York. I am not a regular churchgoer. I attended Sunday school until I was 12. I … Continue Reading →
I went to work in the installment loan department of the First National Bank of Miami in 1959. I stayed there for almost eight years working in a number of progressively more responsible jobs. This was the largest bank in the State of Florida with 1,000 employees under the same roof – it was before branch banking was permitted in the state.
They gave new employees classes on Wednesdays in the nice meeting room in the Personnel Department. (This is before we discovered Human Resources.)
One lesson was about Derived Deposits – Meaning that when we made a loan, the funds would wind up in a bank somewhere in town. If it was a cash loan the customer might cash the check and walk out but, before the day was done, it would be used to buy a washing machine, pay a doctor, buy a scooter or whatever comes to your mind. The money would mingle with other funds and go into someone’s bank account. Maybe even in our own bank. So we never minded when a customer took his loan proceeds as cash. We’d get it back eventually to loan again to another deserving customer.
By the way I met my wife Daisy over the phone while working at the bank. She and her first husband George Kruntz were expecting a baby at any moment when they applied by phone for a $300.00 loan to help with hospital expenses. They didn’t meet the bank’s stringent standards for an unsecured loan and I lucked out to be the one to call and turn them down.
She was really mad when I gave her the “no” news. She gave me a bawling out that I remember to this day. Sadly she and George had to go without the First National’s money. I recommended Beneficial Finance Company when she paused to think of some other names to call me.
We met in person in 1967 at work and married in 1974. It was probably 1999 or so when we remembered that conversation. She got mad again!
It’s a slow day in a little West Texas town.
The sun is beating down, and the streets are deserted.
Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
On this particular day a rich tourist from back east is driving through town. He stops at the motel and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. As soon as the man walks upstairs, the owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.
The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.
The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel.
The guy at the Farmer’s Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her “services” on credit.
The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.
The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the $100 bill, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town.
No one produced anything.
No one earned anything.
However, the whole town is now out of debt and looks to the future with optimism. That is how the world sometimes conducts business. THE HOOKERS DERIVED EARNINGS SAVED THE DAY!