Beach Read

"Pineapple Street": https://tinyurl.com/5c3vmd4b

As in the book doesn't demand much, but calls out to you and keeps you reading.

As a matter of fact, once I started, I finished in a day. Because I was invested, I wanted to know how it all turned out.

This is the story of the rich you don't see in the newspaper or on TV. Not exactly blue bloods, but something in between them and today's wealthy. The blue bloods inherited their wealth, and downplayed it. In the sixties you could tell them by their khakis, Topsiders and Country Squires. And at this point, after decades, in some cases centuries, many were not rich, then again rich yesterday is different from rich today.

Rich yesterday?

You not only went to private school, you went to private boarding school. And this school set you up to get into an Ivy League college, or close to it. There's a big story about affirmative action in today's "Times," as a result of the policy:

"By the early 1990s, affirmative action helped boost the percentage of Black Americans in medical school by a factor of four,"

https://tinyurl.com/4u5kcw8t

Do you want to go back to the old system?

Actually, that's exactly what the rich and powerful would like, to close the doors and leave you out. If everybody starts on the same line, you'd be surprised who doesn't make it to the finish, for so many reasons, poor schooling, poor home life...

And now this screed has the wrong spin. I don't want to write a diatribe here, but to give you an idea of the book without telling you so much that you don't need to read it.

You see the Stocktons made their money in real estate. And they want to preserve this wealth. They don't want to dip into principal. Do you even know that concept?

I hear it again and again from friends. They fret about their income, take Social Security early, forgoing thousands on the back end, because they don't want to dip into their principal, which in some cases consists of double-digit millions.

They don't want to kill the core nest egg. Do you have a nest egg? Let me hip you, you want one, start saving now. Did you read that story about...

"Violet Carson married her high-school sweetheart in a small North Carolina town and raised two children in a three-bedroom ranch.

"When her husband died a decade ago, her children expected their mom, then 78, to follow soon after. She had Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia and required 24/7 care.

"'Never in my wildest dreams did I think she would last until she was 88," says her daughter, Teresa Wyche. Violet died last July. 

"The Carson family spent more than $1.3 million taking care of Violet at her home over the last decade. Fortunately, she and her husband had saved, and the family could cover the cost of round-the-clock in-home care without going into debt. 

"Many people aren't as well positioned."

"'We Thought Within a Year, She Would Be Gone.' When Mom's Care Costs Over $1 Million. - Caregiving costs are rising as people live longer and their needs increase": https://tinyurl.com/3xn56upf

Too many are worried about dying early and sacrificing "their money" to the government. They'd be better off worrying about living too long.

But if you know people like the Stocktons, you know all this.

And if you don't know people like the Stocktons, you probably stopped reading this diatribe long ago, and probably don't even read books.

Amazing what books will teach you. Fiction even more than nonfiction.

But this is why you go to an elite college, to have contact with these people. Otherwise, you live in the dark. I went to college to find multiple people who came from the same town I did, but I'd never known them or of them or of their families. You see they never set foot in a public school.

So the question arises, can the poor or middle class be happier than the rich? There's nothing worse than being broke, then all you can think about is money, but assuming you're a bit more comfortable...

Those rich people in the press living it up, those are not the people I'm talking about. These rich want privacy, and they don't party to the extreme. And they don't have to work and if they do they often get the gig because of who they are. Amazing how many times you can fail if you're connected.

So Sasha is from Rhode Island and middle class. She meets Cord in a bar. They get married.

And Cord's two sisters can't accept her. Partygoers think she's the help. All she is trying to do is please her in-laws, but no matter what she does they won't accept her. Furthermore, ultimately Cord's loyalty is to his family, not his wife. He can't understand her frustrations. He just tells her to get along. That's what these rich do best, get along, at their clubs and...

"Pineapple Street" is a very easy read, a very engaging read, and it will make you think about your place in society, your choices. You're reading for more than plot, and you never feel like your time is being stolen.

It's not heavy, and it's not dreary, and if you're looking for something to read on vacation, or if you're a voracious reader who finishes books in a day, I highly recommend it.

And then we can talk about it.


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