Things Have Changed

It's now been 14 years that I've been in McAllen.  Seven normal years is really 1 year in Valley terms.  So people still ask me "How's it going?"  They're also the same people who moved away for a while (the Dog Years analysis works both ways) and they say "Things have really changed here!"

Here's a list of some significant changes in the last 14 years:

1.  The rise of terrorism both worldwide and at home.  After September 11, I thought we'd have more situations like in Israel, bombs in restaurants, etc.  It look a while, and they come in the local gun form, but its here.

2.  Drug Violence in Mexico.  Fast and Furious helped get guns in Mexico and the bad guys used them.. a lot.. to intimidate and eliminate their enemies and everyone else.  A generation of Mexico has been scarred.  And we wonder why immigration (legal and otherwise) into the USA has grown out of hand.

3.  Enron and the corporate meltdown.  Billions of dollars of value go away and no one gets any  real punishment.  A real shame for the working man.

4.  The Great Recession.  Housing markets crash.  See item 3 above.

5.  US Oil Boom/bust.  At least we don't have a criminal basis or a greed basis.  Its simply a lack of "want" - no need to invest in the USA when Saudi Arabia will sell the oil cheaper.  Again, its the working man that suffers, maybe not at the gas pump but on paycheck Friday.

6.  Social  media/ Facebook.  I read a book called Web 2.0 that talked of the change into user-created comtent.  Facebook gets all its content for free and then sells the ad  rights.  A $45 billion + company, all created in the last 14 years.

7.  Cell phone usage.  While they were around, now everyone has one and uses it without regard to any incremental cost.  And the phones cost $600-800 and even children have one.  Apple has made a mint off this.  And now we have what we always thought was out of reach:  video calling.  And it's (somewhat) free!

8.  Decrease in the Estate Tax.  A little esoteric but the rise of the exemption from $625,000 net worth to $10.9 million means that this 45% tax on net worth has basically gone away.  There a lot of wealth that will transfer for the next generation as a result.

9.  Disparity between Rich and Poor.  See items 3-8.  The rich have avoided the downturns and the poor have absorbed the costs.  Its a shame that people are working for less than a living wage in this country that is the richest in the world.

10.  The increase in the US population.  Texas now has over 22 million people and the US at last estimate is about 310 million.  Birth rates are not raising that much across the board, so people are clamoring to get here.

11.  2 Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  All with a "volunteer" army.  A certain segment of the population has born the significant share of the cost of war.  No wonder we are happy for the soldier - happy that he/she is doing the job for the rest of us.  Thank to those who answer the call.

12.  Google as a verb.  Back in the day, search was not where the Yahoo's of the world thought the money was at.  How wrong they were.

13.  Criminalization of the youth.  I did my part overseeing the crimes that young people were accused of (disruption of class, etc.) and I'm proud that I finally stood up to speak out against it.  I'm happy to say it's a thing of the past.

14.    And still, no jet packs, no return trips to the moon.