Nixon Warned of U.S. Decline (WSJ / Opinion)

hank

Excerpted from WSJ

The U.S. has been through dark times before—and in living memory. Fifty years ago this week, President Richard Nixon spoke frankly about America’s doldrums in a speech that didn’t get enough attention from the media at the time or historians since. On July 6, 1971, the 37th president addressed senior midwestern media executives in Kansas City, Mo., amid racial unrest, campus agitation and antiwar protests.

The columns of the National Archives Building in Washington reminded Nixon of ancient fallen empires. “I think of what happened to Greece and Rome, and you see what is left—only the pillars. What has happened, of course, is that the great civilizations of the past, as they have become wealthy, as they have lost their will to live, to improve, they then have become subject to decadence that eventually destroys the civilization.” Nixon’s lament: “The United States is now reaching that period.”

(Please don’t shoot the messenger.)

WSJ July 7

Derf

I would like to add, if you visit your local library to read Hank's article, you may like to check out the weekend WSJ for an article named "Tom Thiel may have blown up your Roth." Appears changes maybe coming to the Roth.

Stay Kool , Derf

catch22

@Derf et al

Roth IRA article at Bloomberg........hopefully, y'all may have access.

ProPublica reported that in 1999, Thiel, the co-founder of Paypal Holdings Inc., placed 1.7 million shares of then-private PayPal into his Roth Ira. They were valued at $0.001 per share, meaning the contribution was under the $2,000 limit at the time.

This reads as more of an "envy" write. No law was broken, and anyone here who is or was an excellent investor could have invested in their choice in 1999.

--- APPL Apple
--- Avg. stock price for the year, 1999 = $.52
--- The easy math...........let us assume one bought $2,000 (1999 Roth limit) of APPL stock at $.50/share in 1999.
--- This equals 4,000 shares, yes?
--- AS OF July, 8, 2021 the cumulative percent change, which includes all distributions and splits, etc. = +45,129%

As with Mission Impossible, your mission; if you choose, is to provide the total value today from the original $2,000.

I've really got to get my arse in gear with chores.

Thank you for finishing the math; and no, no prize awarded. And, yes; verify my numbers......there may be a "too little" coffee error.

Regards,
Catch

Mark

True story - my dad bought Apple sometime during the 80's for 20-30 cents a share. Unfortunately he died in 1987. My mother who thought investing in anything other than US savings bonds was a recipe for disaster sold Apple along with whatever else my dad had (FMC, XOM, and the baby bells after the AT&T split up are all I know for sure) when she assumed control of his investment account. Too painful for me to do the math.

Mark

So, on July 6, 1971, was Nixon in his speech amid racial unrest, campus agitation and antiwar protests making a case for more tax breaks for the businesses and the already wealthy and the dismantling of or cutbacks in social programs by keeping him and other republican candidates in office? Or was he predicting the fall of the middle class as we understood it? Anyway, he too never met a lie that he wouldn't tell.