Al Cleinman's Blog

Back to the Future - Goodbye to Money

I think you'll find this short article from TIME Magazine from May 12, 1961 to be fascinating.  Enjoy the read.

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What computers can already do makes any prophecy of future potentialities difficult: it is hard to top the fantastic. But Dr. Simon Ramo, executive vice president of the booming electronics firm of Thompson Ramo Wooldridge (TIME cover, April 29, 1957), last week took a bold peek into the future. At a U.C.L.A. lecture, Si Ramo painted a picture of the coming "age of intellectronics":

LAWYERS: "Two or three decades from now, every attorney might have an electronic connection to a huge national central repository of all the laws and commentaries upon them that he needs." Instead of searching through law libraries for precedents, says Ramo, a lawyer will consult the intellectronics system by means of a typewriter-like gadget in his office which, within seconds, will produce "any information that is available on his particular question."

DOCTORS: Doctors of the future, according to Ramo, will feed their patients' case histories into a medical intellectronics system that will correlate the information with that amassed from thousands of previous cases and then supply "the statistical probabilities of the relative effectiveness of various treatments."

BANKS: The routine chores required to keep money transactions straight, Ramo argues, are "as unsuitable for the human intellect as pulling huge stones to build the Pyramids was for human muscles. Some day, currency and coins will be only for the rural areas. If you buy a necktie or a house, your thumb before an electronic scanner will identify you, and the network will debit your account and credit the seller."

At what risk all this? Well, admits Ramo: "Occasionally, a transistor burning out in Kansas City may accidentally wipe out the fortune of someone in Philadelphia."

Our Government at Work???

I was contemplating our country's current financial situation and our government's attempt to figure out a solution.  It reminded me of some poetry that I wrote a decade ago.  Perhaps you'll see the connection and humor...perhaps not.   

 

The Economics of Firewood

It started with three deadwood trees,

to pros I had to turn;

Twelve hundred bucks for them to fell,

for me to split and burn.

For two days straight they toiled high

to bring those limbs to earth.

A stack of wood ten yards wide

some three feet in girth.

So now to split and stack in cords

I had my work cut out.

But what great fun and heathy too,

and cheap firewood no doubt.

For weeks on end we puffed and groaned

and six cord split we cut.

Fifty hours of my short time

worth another thousand bucks.

So hire some kids to speed things up

and rent a machine I did.

Another eight cord for us to burn;

to Brits a hundred quid.

Tired and worn, determined though

to make this effort pay.

Hired a pro, his splitter too,

to finish the job in a day.

“Forget the ax and mall”, said he

on his splitter he relied;

State of the art, the best, no doubt,

“two hundred”, he replied.

More wood then we could ever burn

resulted from our strength.

Our stacks will be a side lawn fence

one hundred feet in length.

Load and stack, the wheelbarrow broke,

to move this wood, no luck.

A truck we'll need, that's the trick

just two more thousand bucks.

So now out back, we had a fence

of cordwood it was made.

For fires we had a life's supply,

but think of what we'd paid.

Then came the day, not winter yet

the house we said to sell.

But not the wood, it cost too much!

...and the buyer wouldn't yell.

Now closing day came up too fast,

act quick, it would behoove

to take some wood to mother's house;

so fast she worked to move.

With three trucks and strapping men

of the wood she took a hold.

“Just leave a bit for me”, I said.

“Don't worry”,  I was told.

The big day came, move fast they did

not a single piece of  pine;

not one cord, not a single one,

was left for any fire of mine.

So there I was, no wood to burn,

a call I made to Jack.

“Thirty bucks the cord”, he laughed,

“delivered, split and stacked.” 

Now keep in mind the cost of this

cordwood that was like gold;

so far I've got five thousand bucks...

a cord... to stay the cold.

  

Alan H. Cleinman

©1998

You Get What You Pay For

So I'm in the Big Apple (that's New York City to those west of the Hudson River) last week and got the bright idea that I'd attend the Knicks season opener.  I'd never been to a professional basketball game and didn't have a ticket, so my only chance was the scalpers.  After inquiring to three different somewhat seedy looking dudes I learned that the going rate was $150.  Ouch!  I wasn't prepared for that big an investment.  So, as I'm standing in the lobby area of Madison Square Garden, with litterally thousands of people streaming in from every point of the compass, I spot a couple who seem to be selling a ticket.  "Have a ticket for sale?" I asked.  "Yes, we have an extra ticket," was the warm response.  "How much?" I inquired.  "$30...we just want to get rid of it." Wow, I thought to myself...my lucky day!  I quickly grabbed the ticket and exchanged my money.  The couple disappeared into the crowd. 

I looked down at the ticket to figure out my seat location. "Cirque du Soliel" jumped out in bold type.  Seems that their were two events at Madison Square Garden last Wednesday...and in my own excitement over finding a cheap ticket I failed to even consider whether I bought the right one.

So, the moral of the story:

- If it's too good to be true...it probably is.

- You get what you pay for.

PS:  I did end up springing $100 for a ticket and enjoyed watching the Knicks beat Miami.  The way I rationalized this one was that I was still $20 ahead...and life is all about rationalization. 

Enjoy life, it's the only one you can count on.

Al Cleinman