Let's make a "deal" an Observation why we all love our "Discounts"

"Let's Make a Deal"

Monty Hall



Back in 2011 when my Faithful and Obedient Companion and I did a 2 month cross country trip across the USA we visited numerous National Parks.  It always amazed us to watch a parade of huge expensive Motorhomes, driven by wealthy retirees, using their lifetime National Park  "Senior Card" (which costs 10 bucks), to enter the Park for free.  Meanwhile those entering with a car full of kids, driving an old car, would be dropping 60 or 70 bucks to make a visit for just  the day.   It fondly reminded me of my wonderful Mother in Law who relished such "Senior Discounts" and always would add...I deserve it after all I am entitled .

Now don't get me wrong once we hit 65 we also purchased a 10 dollar lifetime pass, in my name.  A few months back I laughed when my Faithful and Obedient Companion, upon reading of a soon to be implemented 10 fold increase in such passes, suggested (tongue in cheek...I think) we get another one in her name as well before the increase, why ?  Well in case I died first and she could no longer use my card!

Somehow the "idea" that older people "need discounts" has become an integral part of our culture.  I guess we all have have been ingrained with this picture of poor seniors eating dog food or something and so we give discounts to those seniors who own $500,000 Motorhomes.

So just to write this blog I decided to "confirm" facts that most of us likely already "know"...how that image of "poor seniors" is really BS.

Here is a quick snapshot of median US wealth by household age,  and consider hat this does not even consider that younger households have more members.

Age 35 or younger: $11,100
Age 35-44: $59,800
Age 45-54: $124,200
Age 55-64: $187,300
Age 65-74: $224,100
Age 75 or older: $264,800

Here is average the stats based on "averages".
Age 35 or younger: $76,200
Age 35-44: $288,700
Age 45-54: $727,500
Age 55-64: $1.17 million
Age 65-74: $1.07 million
Age 75 or older: $1.07 million

So now about age discounts..I searched "Young People Discounts" and I only found a few results...mainly for college kids air fare and travel, and one for theater tickets. 

I then searched senior discounts and was flooded with results.  I will not even bother to copy and paste anything...my blog post would be page after page.  

OK so I state the obvious, charging people based on "age" in this country is a long standing marketing ploy which is not against the law.

So imagine my surprise when a few of my senior golfing friends raised a legal question (about age discrimination in pricing ) about this years Stowe Country Club pricing scheme:

My answer well of course it is.....so what?

Now I have no idea why from a financial standpoint the course would want to make long term members "miffed" by advertising such a pricing scheme but they did state this:

What’s New at Stowe Country Club for 2019?

One Club – All adult memberships will now have unrestricted access to any available tee times, up to 7 days in advance.

Next Generation – SCC is making a concerted effort to grow the game by attracting our next generation of Club members.  In addition to reducing our Under 20 pricing, we now have more affordable options for those under age 30 and 40.

Now everyone knows Golf is in trouble demographically, and I have no clue if this scheme helps stem that tide.  I also wonder how many members quit versus new ones that signed up and what the ultimate economic consequences are to SCC.  However, this is not a "private club" and is still in theory, a "Profit Center" at AIG.   I do know this to me seems a long term play to in fact grow the game, based purely on demographics.  The question long term is this.  When this crop of new members ages will they begin to look for  senior "discounts"or will they remember SCC as one of the few places that offered a youth discount when they needed it?  Only time will tell.

My Final "real" Observation is this:

Everybody wants a deal, but if history is any lesson what we  humans really hate to see is someone get a bargain that we cannot. It's just who we are. It's no wonder that our younger fellow citizens are likely to look for free stuff like "Health Care" when they see that the richer members of society are already getting their  "Health Care" via medicare on the cheap.  Be careful what you wish for because in total (as someone who is no socialist) there is no free lunch for any of us.

With that I bid you adieu

DNA - We are all related!

They took the whole Cherokee nation
Put us on this reservation
Took away our ways of life
The tomahawk and the bow and knife
Took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the beads we made by hand
Are nowadays made in Japan

Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die

Well a while back I did a blog post about My Faithful and Obedient Companions "Cherokee" Roots via Aaron "Chief Red Bird" "Cutsawah" " Brock 1721 – 1797.  Here was the origin of that post:

George-Brock Barbara's Maternal Great Great Great Grandfather Documented by DAR Genealogy


As you can see his Parents were shown as the Infamous Chief Red Bird.....but another possibility was also listed.

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Note also a sibling by the name of Jessie Brock was also listed, and he is likely descended from "The Chief".  It was from this that I got here the idea to claim her heritage!

This family story led me to surprise my "Faithful and Obedient Companion"  with a side trip to Salem Indiana on our journey back tom Stowe so we could dig further into this storied history.  It was also where Barbara's Mom spent her early years.

Unfortunately, over a cigar, I delved into Chief "Red Birds" history and uncovered this.  Which as I type I realize t will also be a "surprise" to "My Faithful and Obedient Companion" when she reads this post!

 What we have About Aaron "Totsuwha-Chief Red Bird" Brock

Some researchers believe him to be Chief Red Bird for which the Red Bird River in Clay and Leslie Counties are named. Aaron Cutsawah would be his American Indian name if this is the case as there are some places that refer to Chief Red Bird as Aaron Cutsawah Chief Red Bird Brock. However, on the 1805 Treaty of Tellico, Chief Red Bird's name was listed as Tochuwor with his "X" made by the name.

Alternate birth date: 8/21/1721

Please see http://www.indianreservations.net/2017/06/aaron-brock-red-bird-father-of-jesse.html

We don’t know his parents, wife or children. Documentation welcome, but don’t add anyone, please.

Disproved descent

• John Brock, {Fictional} Seen as son is a known fraudulent profile
• 2. Mahala Susannah b.1749 Cumberland Co. VA d.1820 Clay Co. KY m. Edward Callahan in 1773 VA. Edward b.1773 VA d.1823 Clay Co. KY [NO: she was a sister of Jesse, who was not Red Bird’s son]
• 3. George b.1752 Shenandoah Co. VA d. Jan 1839 Washington Co. IN. m. Julia Ann Bruner on May 28, 1824
• 4. Reuben b.1754 VA m. Elizabeth Camp in 1779 NC b.1760 NC [NO: Reuben Brock of German Ancestry]
• 5. James Brock b. 1758 VA d.1834 [NO: Brother of Jesse, Y DNA Haplogroup j]

Some more info about the "Brocks" reveals:

AARON BROCK (Sr.), is said to've been born 8 Dec 1721 in VA, though no source for the date can be found ~ the same birthday as his son JESSE BROCK (b. 8 Dec 1751, Cumberland Co., VA), so perhaps someone confused their birthdays. AARON died probably 1811 in Clay Co., KY. Nearly 200 years of oral tradition indicates Aaron Brock the English name of Cherokee treaty-signer Chief Red Bird (Cherokee name Tsalagi' Ugvwiyuhi Totsu'hwa) for whom the Red Bird River was named. Circumstantial evidence indicates but cannot prove he was the son of Chief Great Eagle and Woman Ani-Wadi. Dr. Kenneth B. Tankersley was shown the burial place of Aaron Brock - Chief Red Bird as a boy by his great-grandmother Elizabeth Saylor Tankersley, who was shown by her grandmother Elizabeth Brock Saylor, the granddaughter of Jesse Brock's son James C., as a place to be cared for by their family, which has looked after his grave since the murder.

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Aaron's son Jesse Brock was said in testimony by his grandson Elijah (son of Amon) to be "about 3/4 Indian." This suggests that Jesse was the grand- or great-grand-, or gr-great-grandson (?) of a European immigrant. A Brock DNA Project to determine the Y-chromosome of Aaron Brock is awaiting more test results, but so far three Brock direct-male-line descendants of Jesse Brocks's sons Amon, James, and Jesse, Jr., are haplogroup J-12f2.1+, of Mediterranean-Middle East- Ashkenazi Jewish (Jews who went to Northern Europe, primarily to England). Dr. Bennett Greenspan of Family Tree DNA wrote about our Brock family's DNA in June 2007, "I have looked into a Jewish database that we have and this line IS found as a 12/12 match with 10 people in the database of Jews…One from Turkey (likely Spanish origins) one from Iran, and many from the Island of Majorca from a group of people who where forced to convert to Christianity called the Cheuta’s. I do not believe that these Brocks are descended from a Native American male, rather from a Jewish colonizer of Spanish descent."

Another man tested whose DNA was tested descends from a George Brock who lived in the same area as Jesse, had land dealings with him, and is believed by descendants to be Jesse's son, shows haplogroup R1B, the most common European admixture, and no similarity to the other two. There is little chance they had a common ancestor. He and some other Brocks tested with DNA Prints, rather than Y-chromosome testing, all show a percentage of Native American.

So.......while the genealogy I thought I uncovered that Barbara was a descendant of  "Chief Rebird" has been  shattered by DNA testing...you will note that she apparently is still much more a Native American than one infamous "Native American" Democratic Presidential candidate.

Oh and perhaps it also shows she may perhaps (?) share some DNA with another prominent presidential contender from Vermont! ( But that does seem unlikely?)

All in all still a wonderful family story to share with you all, even if Barbara will likely say this DNA testing stuff is for The (Red) Birds!

With that I bid you adieu!