WW

There aren’t many quiz shows left on TV but among history’s most famous was The $64,000 Question. It was broadcast on CBS from 1955 to 1958, based on an earlier radio version with a top prize of just $64. It was a huge ratings success until the scandal involving the competing quiz show Twenty-One and its winner Charles Van Doren made the news.

I don’t watch very much TV but I happened upon CNBC’s mid-day market coverage one day last week. This will not be news to regular viewers but I was nearly overwhelmed by the amount of information being offered. In addition to a series of stories in the main window, there were four sets of market quotations crawling across the screen, two at the top and two at the bottom.

All investors recognize the need for information.

Having recently qualified for Medicare, it occurs to me that I’ve been doing business with one bank or another for over sixty years. This began when my parents opened a savings account in my name to hold gifts I received for various occasions. Later, I deposited the earnings from my paper route and other part-time jobs into it.

If you happen to be gazing at a magnificent cathedral just as a mason walks by, you might be tempted to ask how one goes about building something so overwhelming. The answer is likely to be the title of today’s article.

The Second World War ended In 1945 and members of the Baby Boom generation began arriving in significant numbers soon thereafter. Boomers changed the country’s economy in many ways including providing new markets for baby books (remember Dr. Spock?) and denim fabric. Colleges were enlarged, even established, to accommodate them.

The artistry of the late Jim Henson made the Muppets an enduring American institution and it’s from his 1991 movie that I borrow the title of today’s article. His characters are on my mind because of the comments of Greg Smith, the London-based derivatives salesman who recently resigned quite publicly from investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Growing up in Indianapolis, I knew very little about what went on outside the city limits and absolutely nothing about farming. When I worked as a stock broker in Logansport, though, I had several farmers as customers and began to learn about their lives. To a person, they loved the land.

Many things have changed since I was a little boy. Back when the post-war generation was raising children, my dad worked a full day downtown but my mom taught school and arrived home about the same time my sister and I did. You may be surprised to learn that I was not a perfect child and I sometimes needed to be reminded of that fact.

Some stories are just so good that they bear repeating even if the supposed teller may not actually have said it.