1978, 1968

1978--“Banks are loaning money right, left and center,” the woman says with easy confidence, assuring her son that selling the house will be a cakewalk. “Small family loans. People are building. Everyone wants a piece of land. It’s the only sure investment. It can never depreciate like a car or washing machine.” ... Heh-heh. The words resonate with grim humor today in the 30th-anniversary revival of Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class” ... “See, I always figured on the future. I banked on it. I was banking on it getting better,” he says, adding later, “I figured that’s why everyone wants you to buy things. Buy refrigerators. Buy cars, house, lots, invest. They wouldn’t be so generous if they didn’t figure you had it comin’ in. At some point it had to be comin’ in.” ... . “The whole thing’s geared to invisible money .. “You never hear the sound of change anymore. It’s all plastic shuffling back and forth. It’s all in everybody’s heads. So I figured, if that’s the case, why not take advantage of it? Why not go in debt for a few grand, if all it is is numbers? If it’s all an idea and nothing’s really there, why not take advantage?” NYT 5-13-08, B1, B5

--May 13, 1968—... general strike called by all the major trade union organizations, including the students, teachers, and lyceens ... demonstrations .. Nantes, 20,000, Marseilles, 50,000, Toulouse, 40,000. Attempts by the CGT [communist controlled trade union federation] to separate student and trade-union contingents in Paris fails. Between 3 pmand 8pm between 600,000 and 1,000,000 people (depending on estimates) march across Paris. [75]