FREE NEWSLETTER
Go to main Forum page »
As a country with only a couple of centuries under its belt, I think that our nation has beaten the odds. When the intrepid souls left England and crossed the pond to start a new country, what were the odds of success?
England was a tremendous world power, a strong navy, territories covering the globe, etc., and it must have seemed foolhardy to fight that. Yet, here we are, and thanks to the native Americans, and the millions of immigrants that have come here from 200 nations, we are the world leader in many categories.
Our business friendly policies, and our government so willing to help new businesses and entrepreneurs and the like, have enabled so many to start businesses and thrive, from mom and pop pizza parlors and service stations, to high tech companies and so forth.
My favorite restaurant is owned by people born in Greece, computer repair by a great guy from Japan, and my house was built by nice people born in Portugal. The general contractor that built the small addition is from Italy.
My kin came from Canada, France, Russia and Finland and they never regretted it. In New York City, something like 800 languages are used, showing the variety of the population.
Of course it is vital to have allies, and when a mad man tried to conquer the world about 80 years ago, we all banded together , and defeated The Third Reich , and lets hope that no more wars costing the lives of 80 million people should occur. Winston Churchill, the brilliant Prime Minister, was very worried about the outcome of the war, prior to the Pearl Harbor attacks.
He traveled across the Atlantic, pleading with FDR , to have us enter the war. Roosevelt refused, but after December 7, 1941, our congress voted for war. Churchill wrote,” Only after hearing of the attacks on Pearl Harbor was I able to sleep fitfully, through the night, as I knew once America entered the fray, the outcome was no longer in doubt”.
Our stock market cap is 60% of the worlds total, even though we are only 4% of theat nations. a population. Our 3 largest companies are 10% of the total.The dollar is the reserve currency and our treasuries are the gold standard for safety , stability and liquidity.
In my opinion, The United Kingdom is tied with us, for great nations ,as are others, no, not North Korea. It is amazing that with countries like Sweden and Norway and dozens more, that we hear so much about not so terrific places, and much less about good places, and I will leave it at that. Bad news makes the money, I guess.
Now , another vital topic, the number of superbly talented musicians that are from The United Kingdom. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Rod Stewart. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Robert Palmer and Elton John. Joe Cocker. Dire Straights. The Who. Graham Nash. And so many more. The number of musical talents is way out of proportion to the population, and I, for one, am grateful. There is something there that ensures England produces such a wealth of talent.
It is similar to the number of superb long distance runners that come from a very small part of Africa, way too many for it to be chance. Whatever it may be, please, continue.
Finally, and you are welcome, I recently added a bit of umbrella insurance liability coverage. I had a million dollar policy that cost a modest 800,yearly, and for a mere 169 dollars more,I doubled it to 2 million. The horrific proliferation of personal injury ads on tv and print media spurred me into action. I am shocked and also horrified, it appears that a litany of lawyers are so driven by money! Who would have thought that?
Now, I am barely 5′ 8″ tall , but a whopping 251 lbs, ( I prefer to use kilograms, actually, then I am “only” 114),so, a doubling of the rain umbrella was necessary, also*.
My doctor wants me to shed some significant tonnage, insulted, I asked for a second opinion. ” Sure, your nose is too big!”, she replied.
*A few years ago, after having surgery, I was walking the halls, helped by 2 nurses, and another one near, alas, the little dinky johnny they force you to wear opened in the back. There were many people behind me, and I heard gasps of shock and horror ,people fainting ,etc.. So far, no lawsuits, but, one cannot be too careful. More secure ties are now required on hospital gowns.
Yes, many great people , inventions and products, besides musicians are from our great Allied nation. I am glad we have world wide friends!
I use Liberty Mutual Insurance. I have very low liability coverages on auto and home policies, 100,000 grand, I think. Maybe that’s why my umbrella is a bit higher?
I am puzzled though. I asked my cable tv people what number is the English Channel, I cannot find it. They keep telling me it’s a strip of water between France and Great Britain. Do they think I was born yesterday, and I am that gullible? Weird.
Yes, my auto and home liability coverage is higher. My rental insurance is $265 a year. My auto is $952 – I had an accident this year and was worried they wouldn’t renew it. However, older female with older car not driven much.
As you are aware, England stood alone , after France and other nations fell to the Germans. Hitler, not the tallest rung on the ladder, thought Churchill would sue for peace and appease him.
Instead, the air Corp crushed the Luftwaffe , Battle of Britain , and the rest is history.
Hitler ignored his far wiser and more experienced leaders, and fancied himself a genius.
A few years later, England was the staging ground for the Normandy invasion.
We worked well with England, and Scotland and others, Ike was the commander, while the component leaders were British.
I, for one, am glad that we have great alliances with the UK, Germany and other NATO nations, and the others.
Clearly, a Hitler type would not do well facing a coalition including the USA and the UK.
If there were more places like ours and less North Koreas, the world would be better off.
Now, I will raise the bonnet of the car, to check the oil and later, check the petrol. But, I will always prefer coffee over tea!
And , I was surprised to learn that the English Channel is too shallow, 80 feet, to accommodate the largest ships. Oh well.
Some people swim it. You can see France from England, and during WWI apparently you could hear the guns.
It was, of course, extremely unfortunate that Hitler wasn’t stopped when he invaded the Rhineland in 1936.
BTW, when I first came to the US I confused people because I drank coffee instead of tea.
I believe it is about 20 miles across. Yes, Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles, and let us hope we never see anything like him again.
Speaking of appreciating the United Kingdom…
Today in a small town near Cambridge we attended a ceremony marking Remembrance Day. The day is technically November 11 but in the U.K. is celebrated on the nearest Sunday, aka Remembrance Sunday. It shares the same 1918 Armistice Day roots as the American Veterans Day, but in spirit is more like the American Memorial Day; it’s for those who’ve fallen, not all those who’ve served.
To my knowledge there’s no cookout or other food or drink involved in marking the occasion. There was a parade of sorts, but this came after about a 30 minute ceremony that was mostly solemn silence, broken by very short remarks, short prayers, a couple of songs, and the reading of names of people from this town who died in the two world wars and other conflicts since. A pretty large turnout, and apparently similar things were happening at 11am in towns all over the country today.
We were glad to be here.
Glad to see you are appreciating my native country, although musicians wouldn’t have been my first thought.
BTW, that seems high for an umbrella policy. I’m paying Erie $265 a year for a two million dollar umbrella policy, and I think that’s a bit more than I was paying State Farm before I fired them a few years back. I do have my rental and auto policies with them as well.