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Volumes
(18 items)
America's Revolutionary War
It seems too specific to say the Revolutionary War's causes were economic or sociologic. North America grew too busy and valuable to be governed from three thousand miles, using available tools. The Empire fell apart after it got too big.
Robert Morris' United States
Robert Morris of Philadelphia created many of the best features of the United States. His face might be carved on Mount Rushmore if he hadn't created one really bad feature, as well.
Regional Overview: The Sights of the City, Loosely Defined
Philadelphia,defined here as the Quaker region of three formerly Quaker states, contains an astonishing number of interesting places to visit. Three centuries of history leave their marks everywhere. Begin by understanding that William Penn was the largest private landholder in history, and he owned all of it.
Tourist Walk in Olde Philadelphia
You've seen the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.
Come now on a tour of the city the Founding Brothers lived in, a smaller city than today which they knew intimately. Their Colonial Philadelphia can be seen in a day's walk through the center of town.
History: Philadelphia and the Quaker Colonies
Philadelphia and the Quaker Colonies
America's Capital City, 1774-1800
The Continental Congress met in Philadelphia from 1774 to 1788. Next, the new republic had its capital here from 1790 to 1800. Thoroughly Quaker Philadelphia was in the center of the founding twenty-five years, where the enduring political institutions of America emerged.
Philadelphia Since the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution began about the time America declared Independence. The young nation faced a clean slate and boundless opportunities.
Invaders of Pennsylvania
For a peaceful state, Pennsylvania has suffered many invasions. It's all been one-way; Pennsylvania has never invaded anyone else.
Tourist Trips:
Philadelphia and the Quaker Colonies
The states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and southern New Jersey all belonged to William Penn the Quaker. He was the largest private landholder in American history. Using explicit directions, comprehensive touring of the Quaker Colonies takes seven full days. Local residents may need a couple dozen one-day wanderings to match it.
The Right Angle Club of Philadelphia
The Exchange luncheon club of Philadelphia, then meeting at the Bourse, withdrew from association with other Exchange Clubs on a point of principle -- hence the name it adopted, the Right Angle Club.
Culture: The Flavors of Philadelphia Life
Philadelphia began as a religious colony, a utopia if you will. But all religions were welcome, so Quakerism mainly persists in its effects on others, both locally and in America, in Art, clubs, and the way of life.
Sociology: Philadelphia and the Quaker Colonies
Sociology: Philadelphia and the Quaker Colonies
Colonial Times
More than half of American history took place before 1776, but after 1492. For Philadelphia, Colonial history lasted about a century.
Colonial Days
More than half of American history took place before 1776, but after 1492. For Philadelphia, the Colonial period lasted about a century.
Philadelphia Medicine
Several hundred essays on the history and peculiarities of Medicine in Philadelphia, where most of it started.
Computers, Websites, and other Digital Gadgetry
What is novel today is old-hat tomorrow; but what is old-hat to someone today is still novel for someone else. These are our own thoughts about a variety of electronic novelties, for whoever finds them of interest.
Recent Convulsions in World Finance
Few people choose to study economics; most people don't want to. But world economics have got in such a state that lots more of us had better give it some thought.
BANKS REDEFINED
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Topics
(161 items)
Nobel Prizes
Some Philadelphians won Nobel Prizes for work done here, or elsewhere. Some prize winners would deny they are Philadelphians, but their work was nevertheless done here.
Delaware (State of)
Originally the "lower counties" of Pennsylvania, and thus one of three Quaker colonies founded by William Penn, Delaware has developed its own set of traditions and history.
Chester County, Pennsylvania
Chester was an original county of Pennsylvania, one of the largest until Dauphin, Lancaster and Delaware counties were split off. Because the boundaries mainly did not follow rivers or other natural dividers, translating verbal boundaries into actual lines was highly contentious.
Suburban Philadelphia
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Health Insurance
Clinton Health Plan and its replacements.
Old Age, Re-designed
A grumpy analysis of future trends from a member of the Grumpy Generation.
Insurance in Philadelphia
Early Philadelphia took a lead in insurance innovation. Some ideas, like life insurance, flourished. Others have faded.
Evolving Philadelphia
The city changes.
City of Homes
At first, there were limitless forests, but then the city burned down. After that, the "Red" city has long been built of brick. Philadelphia's masonry future is unknown, but it won't be wood.
Architecture in Philadelphia
Originating in a limitless forest, wooden structures became a "Red City" of brick after a few fires. Then a succession of gifted architects shaped the city as Greek Revival, then French. Modern architecture now responds as much to population sociology as artistic genius. Take a look at the current "green building" movement.
American Finance After Robert Morris
In progress.
George Washington in Philadelphia
Philadelphia remains slightly miffed that Washington was so enthusiastic about moving the nation's capital next to his home on the Potomac. The fact remains that the era of Washington's eminence was Philadelphia's era; for thirty years Washington and Philadelphia dominated affairs.
Le
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Legal Philadelphia (1)
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Why Bother Investing?
In a sense, money is worthless until you spend it.
Whither, Federal Reserve? (2)
Whither, Federal Reserve? (2)
Robert Morris and America
Robert Morris was an energetic problem-solver. In solving those problems he devised some innovative solutions which have become such axiomatic principles of a republic and its economics, that his name is seldom associated with them.
Personal Passions
My own personal short list; eight decades in retrospect.
Revisionist Themes
In taking a comprehensive view of a city, an author sometimes makes observations which differ from the common view. Usually with special pride, sometimes a little sullen.
Investing, Philadelphia Style
Land ownership once was the only practical form of savings, until banking matured in the mid-19th century. Philadelphia took an early lead in what is now called investment and still defines a certain style of it.
Dislocations: Financial and Fundamental
The crash of 2007 was more than a bank panic. It was a collision of several revolutions which were all ripples from the same splash.
Government Organization
Government Organization
Controlling the Currency
Robert Morris confronted an enduring theme of American politics in 1779: how can citizens without political power protect their assets from government confiscation?
Albert Gallatin
A magnificent but largely forgotten man.
Right Angle Club 2012
In progress.
Shaping the Constitution in Philadelphia
After Independence, the weakness of the Federal government dismayed a band of ardent patriots, so under Washington's leadership a stronger Constitution was written. Almost immediately, comrades discovered they had wanted the same thing for different reasons, so during the formative period they struggled to reshape future directions . Moving the Capitol from Philadelphia to the Potomac proved curiously central to all this.
Robert Morris: Think Big
Robert Morris wasn't born rich, or especially poor, but he was probably illegitimate. He had no recollection of his mother; his father, a tobacco trader in England, emigrated to Maryland and died rather young. It didn't take long for young Robert to become one of the richest men in America.
Subcultures
E pluribus unum refers to thirteen colonies peacefully becoming a single nation. But it applies to Philadelphia in a different sense. Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods.
Descendants of Anthony Morris, 1654-1721
There were three unrelated Morris families prominent in Revolutionary Philadelphia. A short-hand description would be that this one is the Free Quaker Morris family, although it has been much more than that.
Robert Morris: The Dark Side
The richest man in America suddenly was locked in debtor's prison, $12 million in debt. While in prison, he reduced that to $3 million, and got released under a new bankruptcy law he helped devise.
Right Angle Club 2011
As long as there is anything to say about Philadelphia, the Right Angle Club will search it out, and say it.
Science
Science
Academia, Medical Version
The first hospital in America generated the first medical school, the first medical society, and many of the unique features of American medicine. In modern times, the gusher of federal research funds not only distorted academic medicine, but academia as a whole.
Academia (2)
continued.
Philadelphia's River Region
A concentration of articles around the rivers and wetland in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Religious Philadelphia
William Penn wanted a colony with religious freedom. A considerable number, if not the majority, of American religious denominations were founded in this city. The main misconception about religious Philadelphia is that it is Quaker-dominated. But the broader misconception is that it is not Quaker-dominated.
Quakers: All Alike, All Different
Quaker doctrines emerge from the stories they tell about each other.
Military Philadelphia
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Philadelphia Fish and Fishing
Less than a century ago, Delaware Bay, Delaware River, Schuylkill River, Pennypack Creek, Wissahickon Creek, and dozens of other creeks in this swampy region were teeming with edible fish, oysters and crabs. They may be coming back, cautiously.
New Jersey (State of)
The Garden State really has two different states of mind. The state motto is Liberty and Prosperity. (www.Philadelphia-Reflections.com/topic/96.htm)
Food and Drink in Philadelphia
A flowing abundance of food sources made Philadelphia the capital of food and drink, right from earliest times.
Favorites - II
More favorites. Under construction.
Customs, Culture and Traditions (2)
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Bystanders to the Revolution
It wasn't heroic to everyone.
Causes of the American Revolution
Britain and its colonies had outgrown Eighteenth Century techniques of governance. Unfortunately, both England and America lacked the sophistication to make drastic changes smoothly.
Arch Street: from Sixth to Second
When the large meeting house at Fourth and Arch was built, many Quakers moved their houses to the area. At that time, "North of Market" implied the Quaker region of town.
Fanny Kemble
Fanny Kemble was more than the toast of the town, she was the most glamorous woman in the English speaking world. But far beyond that, she was a famous author, Shakespearean scholar, and had a major influence on the Civil War.
Customs, Culture and Traditions
Abundant seafood made it easy to settle here. Agriculture takes longer.
Sights to See: The Outer Ring
There are many interesting places to visit in the exurban ring beyond Philadelphia, linked to the city by history rather than commerce.
Philadelphia's Middle Urban Ring
Philadelphia grew rapidly for seventy years after the Civil War, then gradually lost population. Skyscrapers drain population upwards, suburbs beckon outwards. The result: a ring around center city, mixed prosperous and dilapidated. Future in doubt.
The Proprietorship of West Jersey
The southern half of New Jersey was William Penn's first venture in real estate. It undoubtedly gave him bigger ideas.
Curtis
To Cy Curtis, magazines were just vehicles for advertisers. In fact, his mags taught former farmers how to manage urban life, more or less accidentally creating a focus for American books, authors, politics and literature. The fall of his empire teaches the lesson that antitrust laws against vertical integration are probably unnecessary.
City of Rivers and Rivulets
Philadelphia has always been defined by the waters that surround it.
Particular Sights to See:Center City
Taxi drivers tell tourists that Center City is a "shining city on a hill". During the Industrial Era, the city almost urbanized out to the county line, and then retreated. Right now, the urban center is surrounded by a semi-deserted ring of former factories.
Connecticut Invades Pennsylvania!
The rest of the world fights wars about national grievances, both recent and long past. Meanwhile, Connecticut once waged a serious war with Pennsylvania, and we don't even remember it.
Medical Economics
Some Philadelphia physicians are contributors to current national debates on the financing of medical care.
Historical Preservation
The 20% federal tax credit for historic preservation is said to have been the special pet of Senator Lugar of Indiana. Much of the recent transformation of Philadelphia's downtown is attributed to this incentive.
Whither, Federal Reserve? (1)
The Federal Reserve seems to be a big black box, containing magic. In fact, it's high-wire acrobatics that must not be allowed to fail.
Haddonfield
Haddonfield is a bit of a secret. It's Philadelphia's "Main Line, East"
Quakers: William Penn
Although Ben Franklin gets more ink lately, William Penn deserves at least equal rank among the most remarkable men who ever lived.
The British Attack Philadelphia
Fighting in the Revolutionary War lasted eight years; for two years (June 1776 to June 1778) Philadelphia was the main military objective of the British.
Quakers: The Society of Friends
According to an old Quaker joke, the Holy Trinity consists of the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Japan and Philadelphia
Philadelphia and Japan have had a special friendship for 150 years.
Custom Tour of Private Philadelphia
Philadelphia Hospitality, a non-profit group, puts together the following tour for visiting bigwigs. A good guide to what's best around here.
Legal Philadelphia
The American legal profession grew up in this town, creating institutions and traditions that set the style for everyone else. Boston, New York and Washington have lots of influential lawyers, but Philadelphia shapes the legal profession.
Articles of Confederation
For thirteen years the country was ruled by the Articles of Confederation, and by Philadelphia. John Dickinson wrote them. We learned many lessons during that episode, and begin to forget we learned them.
Theatre in Philadelphia
Theater has declined, everywhere in the western world. But in Philadelphia, even today if you attended every new play you would keep pretty busy.
Musical Philadelphia
Quakers never cared much for music, but the city has nonetheless musically flourished into international fame. At the same time, quarrels and internal battles have also been world class.
Art in Philadelphia
The history of art, particularly painting and sculpture, has been a long and distinguished one. If you add in the art schools, the Philadelphia national influence on artists has been a dominant one.
Philadelphia Physicians
Philadelphia dominated the medical profession so long that it's hard to distinguish between local traditions and national ones. The distinctive feature is that in Philadelphia you must be a real doctor before you become a mere specialist.
Philadelphia Medicine
The first hospital, the first medical school, the first medical society, and abundant Civil War casualties, all combined to establish the most important medical center in the country. It's still the second largest industry in the city.
Medical Malpractice
The medical system is on the point of abandoning the city to escape abusive lawsuits. A series of observations about shared blame, ultimately assigns responsibility to the mistake of allowing this matter to be covered by insurance, thus creating a financial target.
To Germantown, a Short Appreciation
Seven miles from the heart of Philadelphia, Germantown was once a separate town, the cultural center of Germans in America. Revolutionary battles were fought here, it was briefly the capital of the United States, and it still has an outstanding collection of schools and colleges.
Franklin Inn Club
Hidden in a back alley near the theaters, this little club is the center of the City's literary circle. It enjoys outstanding food in surroundings which suggest Samuel Johnson's club in London.
North of Market
The term once referred to the Quaker district along Arch Street, and then to a larger district that had its heyday after the Civil War, industrialized, declined, and is now our worst urban problem area.
The Park and Beyond: East Falls, Germantown, Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill
Fairmount Park is large enough to split the City from its suburbs, and is partly a playground, partly a museum. East Falls, Germantown and Chestnut Hill are almost a separate world on the far side of the park.
Outlaws: Crime in Philadelphia
Even the criminals, the courts and the prisons of this town have a Philadelphia distinctiveness. The underworld has its own version of history.
West of Broad
A collection of articles about the area west of Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia, A Running Commentary
A series of observations in and around Philadelphia by notables over the last three and one-half centuries.
Benjamin Franklin
A collection of Benjamin Franklin tidbits that relate Philadelphia's revolutionary prelate to his moving around the city, the colonies, and the world.
Sporting Philadelphia
A few reflections about sports in and around Philadelphia.
Downtown
A discussion about downtown area in Philadelphia and connections from today with its historical past.
America's Historic Square Mile (pre-1800)
Society Hill: Philadelphia's authentic colonial area, from the Delaware River west to 8th Street the limit of settlement in 1776, but for a while the center of America. The richest, most famous men in America lived within a few blocks of each other. Things happened here.
Philadelphia Changes the Nature of Money
Banking changed its fundamentals, on Third Street in Philadelphia, three different times.
Conventions and Convention Centers
When you have a big convention center, some circus is always coming to town. Philadelphia has always been a convention town, has had and still has lots of convention sites, and hopes to have more of the kind of famous convention we have had in the past.
Federalism Slowly Conquers the States
Thirteen sovereign colonies voluntarily combined their power for the common good. But for two hundred years, the new federal government kept taking more power for itself.
The Constitution
The Constitution was not just a paper written at a convention. It was a choice between uncertain alternatives, and new difficulties soon were revealed by making those choices. Its reliance on compromise displays the powerful influence of 18th Century Quaker Philadelphia.
Personal Finance
The rules of financial health are simple, but remarkably hard to follow. Be frugal in order to save, use your savings to buy the whole market not parts of it, if this system ain't broke, don't fix it. And don't underestimate your longevity.
British Abandon Philadelphia, Morris Takes It Back
It was fear of the French Fleet that made the British abandon conquered Philadelphia. Robert Morris took over and restored the insurgent headquarters, a hundred miles from the Ocean.
Banking Panic 2007-2009
Mankind hasn't learned how to control sudden wealth, whether in families, third-world countries, or the richest nation in history. The world banking crisis of 2007 is the biggest example yet.
Philadelphia Politics
Originally, politics had to do with the Proprietors, then the immigrants, then the King of England, then the establishment of the nation. Philadelphia first perfected the big-city political machine, which centers on bulk payments from utilities to the boss politician rather than small graft payments to individual office holders. More efficient that way.
Cultural
Culture and Traditions (2)
Ethnic Subcultures
Diverse ethnicities make up this city.
Natural Science
foo
Gardens Flowers and Horticulture
Gardening, flowers and the Flower Show are central to the social fabric of Philadelphia.
Historical Motor Excursion North of Philadelphia
The narrow waist of New Jersey was the upper border of William Penn's vast land holdings, and the outer edge of Quaker influence. In 1776-77, Lord Howe made this strip the main highway of his attempt to subjugate the Colonies.
Revolutionary Philadelphia's Patriots
All kinds of people were patriots in 1776, and many of them were all mixed up about what was going on and how they stood. Hotheads in the London Coffee House stirred up about an inoffensive Tea Act, Scotch-Irish come here to escape the British Crown, the local artisan class and the local smuggler class, unexpectedly prospering under non-importation, and the local gentry -- offended to be denied seats in Parliament like other Englishmen. Pennsylvania wavered until Ben Franklin stepped forward with a plan.
Central Pennsylvania
"Alabama in-between," snickered James Carville, "Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Alabama in-between."
Revolutionary Philadelphia's Loyalists
History is written by the victors, so the Tory Loyalists of Revolutionary Philadelphia have mostly fallen from view.
Philadelphia Economics (3)
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Academia in the Philadelphia Region
Higher education is a source of pride, progress, and aggravation.
Obamacare Follies, Executive Summary
Obamacare needs simple explanation
Obamacare Examined
A short appraisal of the Obama Health Plan, its tricky politics, and a proposal of less disruptive health reforms that would suffice for the moment. www.Philadelphia-Reflections.com/topic/134.htm
Clinton Health Plan of 1993 - Part Two
After the Clinton Plan was dropped, and then after fifteen years of aftermath, public dissatisfaction with the health financing system is no better, probably worse. Here are some fresh ideas.
Philadelphia Women
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Education in Philadelphia
Taxes are too high, but the tax base is too small, so public education is underfunded. Drug use and lack of classroom discipline are also problems. Business and employed persons have fled the city, must be induced to return. Deteriorating education, rising taxes and crime are the immediate problems, but the underlying issue is lack of vigor and engagement by the urban population itself.
Computers, Digital Cameras, and Cellphones
Much of the early development of the electronic computer took place in Philadelphia. We lost the lead, but it might return.
Website Development
The website technology supporting Philadelphia Reflections is PHP, MySQL and DHTML. The web hosting service is Internet Planners. The development of this website has provided an opportunity to learn new technology, to try out different techniques for getting noticed by the search engines and the trials and tribulations of dealing with malicious hackers and spammers who range from the annoying to the abusive.
This collection of articles documents some of our experiences and we hope that people surfing the web looking for solutions to problems we've encountered will benefit.
Escape Path of the Philadelphia Tories
Grievances provoking the American Revolutionary War left many Philadelphians unprovoked. Loyalists often fled to Canada, especially Kingston, Ontario. Decades later the flow of dissidents reversed, Canadian anti-royalists taking refuge south of the border.
Thinking About Thought
There's a yawning gap between concepts of the mind, and concepts of brain function.
French Philadelphia
French Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Media
The Philadelphia Media
Montgomery and Bucks Counties
The Philadelphia metropolitan region has five Pennsylvania counties, four New Jersey counties, one northern county in the state of Delaware. Here are the four Pennsylvania suburban ones.
Favorite Reflections
In no particular order, here are the author's own favorites.
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Literary Philadelphia
Literary
Volunteerism
The characteristic American behavior called volunteerism got its start with Benjamin Franklin's Junto, and has been a source of comment by foreign visitors ever since. It's still a very active force.
Up the King's High Way
New Jersey has a narrow waistline, with New York harbor at one end, and Delaware Bay on the other. Traffic and history travelled the Kings Highway along this path between New York and Philadelphia.
Up Market Street
to Sixth and Walnut
Millions of eye patients have been asked to read the passage from Franklin's autobiography, "I walked up Market Street, etc." which is commonly printed on eye-test cards. Here's your chance to do it.
Tourist Walk in Olde Philadelphia
Colonial Philadelphia can be seen in a hard day's walk, if you stick to the center of town.
Tourist Trips Around Philadelphia and the Quaker Colonies
The states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and southern New Jersey all belonged to William Penn the Quaker. He was the largest private landholder in American history. Using explicit directions, comprehensive touring of the Quaker Colonies takes seven full days. Local residents would need a couple dozen one-day trips to get up to speed.
Touring Philadelphia's Western Regions
Philadelpia County had two hundred farms in 1950, but is now thickly settled in all directions. Western regions along the Schuylkill are still spread out somewhat; with many historic estates.
The Main Line
Like all cities, Philadelphia is filling in and choking up with subdivisions and development, in all directions from the center. The last place to fill up is the Welsh Barony, a tip of which can be said to extend all the way in town to the Art Museum.
Sixth and Walnut
over to Broad and Sansom
In 1751, the Pennsylvania Hospital at 8th and Spruce was 'way out in the country. Now it is in the center of a city, but the area still remains dominated by medical institutions.
Shakspere Society of Philadelphia
Maybe not the first, but the oldest Shakespeare club in America or possibly even the world, has kept minutes for over a hundred fifty years.
Ross and Perry, Inc. Publishers
A topic devoted to the best selling books from Ross and Perry Publishing.
Right Angle Club 2010
2010 is coming to a close, a lame-duck session is upon us, and probably after that will come two years of gridlock. But the Philadelphia Men's Club called the Right Angle, keeps right on talking about the current scene. A few of these current contents relate to speeches given elsewhere.
Right Angle Club 2009
The 2009 proceedings of the Right Angle Club of Philadelphia, beginning with the farewell address of the outgoing president, John W. Nixon, and sadly concluding with memorials to two departed members, Fred Etherington and Harry Bishop.
Right Angle Club 2008
A report, to the year 2008 shareholders of the Right Angle Club of Philadelphia, by the outgoing president, Neale Bringhurst...
www.philadelphia-reflections.com/topic/120.htm
Right Angle Club 2007
A report, to the year 2007 shareholders of the Right Angle Club of Philadelphia, by the outgoing president.
www.philadelphia-reflections.com/topic/73.htm
Reminiscences
Watching the constantly passing scene, occasionally opportunities arise to change its flow.
Railroad Town
It's generally agreed, railroads failed to adjust their fixed capacity to changing demands. It's less certain Philadelphia was pulled down by that collapsing rail system.
Pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia
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Pictures in the Library
On the walls of the Reading Room of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia are 38 portraits of the most famous scientists of 19th Century America. Here are three of them.
Philadelphia Medicine (2)
Philadelphia is where medicine began in America
Philadelphia Economics (2)
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Philadelphia Economics
economics
Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
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Pacifist Pennsylvania, Invaded Many Times
Pennsylvania was founded as a pacifist utopia, and currently regards itself as protected by vast oceans. But Pennsylvania has been seriously invaded at least six times.
Notable and Quotable
From President James Madison's veto message on the Internal Improvements Bill (March 3, 1817):
Nature Preservation
Nature preservation and nature destruction are different parts of an eternal process.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
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Medical Club of Philadelphia
The Medical Club of Philadelphia was founded in the Nineteenth century, as a social club of doctors devoted to non-medical interests. Lots of famous names, here.
Litchfield to Wilkes Barre, Today
The journey of Connecticut's invasion path into Pennsylvania has changed little in two centuries. But some pretty important history has since taken place along that route.
Land Tour Around Delaware Bay
Start in Philadelphia, take two days to tour around Delaware Bay. Down the New Jersey side to Cape May, ferry over to Lewes, tour up to Dover and New Castle, visit Winterthur, Longwood Gardens, Brandywine Battlefield and art museum, then back to Philadelphia. Try it!
Indigents
With a long history of welcoming and assisting the poor, Philadelphia has always risked swamping the lifeboat by attracting more of them than it can handle.
In Memoriam
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German Immigrants via New York
Twenty-five German families made their way to the Harrisburg area by sailing up the Hudson, and then down the Susquehanna, years before other Germans got there by way of Philadelphia. The trip, re-traveled.
FRONT MATERIAL: Deaths of the Shah
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Foreign Affairs
This topic is under construction. Feel free to watch it evolve.
Financial Planning for a Long Retirement
How should an individual investor ensure they have enough money for retirement?
Such a person is often a professional or entrepreneur who has worked to accumulate wealth. Legions of "advisors" are lined up to take this money and manage it or else to sell "products" that promise to solve some problem or other.
A person who has created their career and their wealth from scratch by intelligence and hard work can also manage their investments themselves, or at least supervise the process from a position of strength created by knowing what needs to be done.
This collection of articles explains to the individual investor how to take control of their wealth. They may eventually decide to look for help from an advisor but they will retain control of their assets and they will know what to do.
Financial Planning videos on YouTube
Favorites Podcasts
Recordings of Dr. Fisher's personal favorites.
Delaware County, Pennsylvania
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Clinton Health Plan of 1993 - Part One
Mistaking Senate re-election of Harris Wofford to mean the country demanded reform of the medical system, newly-elected President Clinton announced he would create one. When stakeholders surmised he was making it up as he went along, they deserted him.
Charter of Pennsylvania, from Charles II to William Penn
William Penn suggested what he wanted, and the Royal bureaucracy suggested suitable modifications of the gift. The resulting charter is a shrewd and fair legal document, but contained a major geographical error.
Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Bucks County once seemed destined to be the capital of Quaker America.
Black Philadelphia
The City of Philadelphia is only a part of the region, but within that part, the black population holds political power. That's definitely not true in the rest of the region. Discordances like this create problems until political evolution smooths them out.
Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Ben Franklin called himself Poor Richard, and he also was invited to visit five kings. Was he rich, or poor?
The weather is a big business.
Moving your place of residence has many influences, but property taxes seem to have the biggest influence on business executives decision to move. By contrast, property prices have the biggest influence on the middle class.
We can't make people any younger, or stronger, or much healthier. But we certainly can replace some institutions for the elderly with a much more enjoyable -- and cheaper -- assisted living at home.
William Penn laid Philadelphia out in squares, using a compass for North. If he had used true North instead of magnetic North, Easter sunrise might shine down every cross street just in time for an awesome spectacle.
Obadiah and Mary (Bloomfield) Ayers moved to Perth Amboy, NJ in 1730 and purchased the Long Ferry Tavern from Alexander Barnes. In 1750, Mary, while sitting at the window of this Tavern was shot dead by two of her husband's negro slaves, who were burned at the stake on the 5th of July of that year in a ravine just north of the town.
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You would get the satisfaction of increased, and perhaps active readership; they would get a great source of interest in the local area.
stop play FT fraud hands cheaters room N 1 FU...
I have watched some players winning hand after hand defying the statiscal probabilities. After such a player leaves the room, I immediatley did a search on their ID and I was told that they are not in the database. This is impossible. It should say they are not sitting at a table. I made sure to type the ID exactly the way they had it. Nobody's account just disappears.
The strange part is that this is in the play money rooms. Why would someone cheat for play money? Are they testing something to be later used for real money? Are they full tilt employees? Are they just sickos?
Ever wonder why no one has even been arrested for all the fraud that caused the Global Depression? ... It's tilting back to a Lib Dem - Tory deal ~ link ~ Good! ...“The administration responded with all hands on deck from day one. ... in the Redflex Contract along with some garden variety payroll fraud, .
In a mean village in the backwater capital city of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, one of the oldest cities in the original 13 colonies, at one of the oldest inns in the country, the Long Ferry Tavern, there is a party going on. The Long Ferry Tavern was the two day rest stop between New York’s Battery ferry at Whitehall Slip and the overland stage route to Philadelphia. On this night a group of people are assembled for the purpose of finalizing a slave trading venture involving both New York and Perth Amboy.
It was in this tavern, removed from the everyday hustle and bustle of New York and Philadelphia that some of the most prominent and influential men in the young country gathered, shuttling between the two cities free to map out in secret and seclusion their most intimate plans and policies. Newspapers of the day advertised the Long Ferry Tavern as a place where “good entertainment for man and horse would be found at the house of Obadiah Ayers”.
The Long Ferry Tavern was built out of mortar and bricks in 1686. It was a sturdy structure. It withstood the fiercest hurricanes and the most frigid winters. It survived over 250 years. But New Jersey’s capitol offered intrigues born in the hearts and minds of men that would rattle the place to its foundations.
Perth Amboy was New Jersey’s main seaport and a duty-free slave importation center. Slave trading, both legal and illegal, took place in an attempt to rival New York City as the major center of slave commerce. The Royal African Company had representatives there to oversee the official operations. There were huge wooden barracks standing on pilings overlooking the Arthur Kill to house the slaves until they were sold. Because this market was patronized exclusively by whites, it was known as the “white market”. The underground slave trade was run by pirates and profiteers operating in a subterranean parallel which was coined coincidentally, the “black market”. That the town allowed this dual system to exist wasn’t strange to anyone. A steady supply of slaves would be assured and the buyers and sellers shuffled between both. Perth Amboy was wide open.
Bill Galetta excerpt from an upcoming book
Dr. Fisher's Blog and happy to
be able to read about
Philadelphia here in New York.
annburke@rcn.com
April 18,2010
Wish you were back. Take care and continue your good work.
Kimmer, volunteer for
genealogytrails.com/penn/philadelphia/index.html
Anita McKelvey
anitmckelvey@verizon.net
Why not contact them and suggest that they link to you and perhaps even recommend you to their visitors?
Ditto the local magazines and newspapers. One of their missions is to generate interest in the region and a recommendation from any of them would drive a great deal of traffic to your diary.
You would get the satisfaction of increased, and perhaps active readership; they would get a great source of interest in the local area.
I'm glad to see you're back on the air: rotating your articles and adding new content. A veritable encyclopedia on the Quaker Colonies and environs!