Ok... I'm back. The world is still here. Yay me.
On WW clip #1 (and I have not rewatched it again; this is from memory... )
- When the man says "it
should be hard"... he meant that non-monetary effort should be required (in his mind) from parents & children (you hear him talk about his kid loves the piano, and the thing before that [my short-term memory is turning to shit, these days... wonder why?] ).
IOW, 'so that everyone has skin in the game'. He started with the financial stuff bc the scene was (presumably) about the aftermath of a bad day / period on the market. So he lost a good chunk. And on the salaries he mentioned... with two kids... I think he said he lost $50K out of the portfolio (?) I remember he was about $55K in salary and the wife was $25K on top of that. It was a fairly devastating hit, as I recall. But -- and I don't mean to be flip about this... the markets have always managed to recover after big losses (and in shorter periods of time, compared to '29 and it taking until the 1950's to crawl back. And that took the aftermath of WW2 to ensure that it did. )
Sorkin's character probably recovered the college fund a couple years later, if we're comparing WWH (West Wing History) to RH. The other thing? He HAD a market portfolio (I believe he did say 'portfolio', which meant he had at least somewhat diverse holdings). So many families did not / do not / will not ever. The average family at that time was probably looking at Pell / Stafford. IOW, incurring debt. 25yrs ago, it was juuuuust coming into vogue that college was 'mandatory', and a lot of deserving kids just didn't get to go. Many feigned interest in blue-collar and went that way, bc there really was no alternative. Our character example is decidedly white collar (although a beer drinker)
Finally, the idea of 'free college' (it's early, and I can't remember the fancy term) wasn't on the average person's radar, but by 1999, there were conversations about getting the first 2yrs out of the way with as little financial burden to the student / family as possible. Did anything (substantial) result from those conversations? No, but they *were* held.
(BTW, I added the above two paragraphs,
last to my reply, and I already know (?) it will be the most contentious with you... lol). It's contentious with me, bc it's sort of a mishmash to finish, but that's pretty much what you get from me... 1st drafts (why I love the edit button so... )
Back in 1999... $75K for family of 4 was probably 'middle of the middle class' (I remember my salary back then, and I was doing just a little better, personally -- but I was also a SINK, at the time). They probably wrote it that way, to acquiesce to your other point -- the 'middle of the road' writing that's de rigueur (sp?) for network TV, especially back then. That's where the greatest market share is, and where the prime ad dollars go. Was this part of the big Tues / Thurs blocks on NBC, back then? I remember the money presses were working overtime at NBCU, back then (Friends, Mad About You, etc., etc.). Shows how much about that time period I remember, but that was 25 years ago, and I was a younger bull in my prime.
I only remember 1999 because I did look it up quickly, for this. So that's why the time range, in perspective.
Now... the other clip is going to take me a little time to get through, but I will, as I respect you too much at this point not to watch something specifically directed at me. (see how comity works, newer members? LOL) So, when I get through that, I'll make another post on that (better anyway... imagine the length of this post if I did both clips at once... LMAO)
Time for bkfst and another hippie speedball...
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