Onward Christian Soldiers? But Watch Your Wallets.
The Blues Brothers and the Value of Knowing History
The other day, I was at a store, and the clerk made a comment that immediately reminded me of a line from The Blues Brothers. So, naturally, I quoted the movie. The blank expression on his face told me everything—I had lost him.
Trying to bridge the gap, I said, “Oh, that’s actually a quote from a famous movie, The Blues Brothers. You’ve probably seen it.”
“No, I haven’t,” he replied.
A little surprised, I added, “Well, it starred Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi.”
His response? A polite but clueless, “I don’t know who that is.”
That’s when it hit me—there are functioning adults out there, professionals doing their jobs well, who have no idea who Dan Aykroyd or Jim Belushi are. Many have never seen *Saturday Night Live* beyond just hearing about it. And yet, for those of us who remember watching George Carlin host the very first episode, that’s part of our history.
But it’s not just entertainment history that gets lost between generations.
Growing up, I heard stories about all of my father's father and his businesses and my mother’s father delivering eggs, butter, milk, and ice by horse-drawn wagon as he owned numerous teams in Detroit. Think of him as today's Kroger Amazon delivery equivalent. I learned about Al Jolson, the big band era, and the entertainment icons of my parents' time. These weren’t just passing stories; they became part of my repertoire—part of how I understand the world.
When I was giving seminars in the ‘80s and ‘90s, people were often amazed at what I knew about history, business, and politics. But that knowledge wasn’t because I had lived it all firsthand—it was because I had listened, read, and studied. I was fortunate to have parents who valued history, and they passed that appreciation down to me. Fortunately, both of my parents came from large families and the oral history I heard during the annual family reunions continues to bring a smirk, smile, wink, and nod.
Everything is a Remix
Yes, The Blues Brothers might be old, but there are some things you’d think everyone would know—classic films like Gone with the Wind, legendary actors like Gene Autry and John Wayne, or even Rin Tin Tin (Recall the group The Who and the song Who Are You), the German Shepherd rescued from World War I who became a Hollywood star in the 1930s.
The real question is: how much history have we collectively forgotten? In my opinion, too much my too many.
We live in a time when people seem to focus far too much on the immediate—what’s trending, what’s happening today. But if you step back and study history, you start to realize that everything happening now is just a remix of the past.
There’s a phrase from Ecclesiastes 1:9: There is nothing new under the sun. That’s another way of saying everything is a remix.
The Importance of Studying History
When do you think was the last time Tarzan read a history book? A biography? An autobiography?
Sure, they may not be as thrilling as a superhero, murder mystery, or a romance novel, but history has a way of repeating itself. And if Tarzan pays attention, he'll see that the political chaos of today is nothing new. People are still swinging around, running into trees, and dealing with chimps, elephants, natives, and clueless explorers.
Take the Trump and Biden administrations—whatever your views, the truth is that we’ve seen variations of all of their political battles before. One example that comes to mind is the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which exempted charities and religious organizations from pension funding requirements. That decision led to today’s pension crises, where employees who worked faithfully for decades at churches and charities, are now finding their retirement funds not just gutted, put pilfered, gone, vanished. And the loyal employees are left with no protection under the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and no chance to recover a dime. The phrase "God bless them," seems a bit hollow, not holy. Right? Right.
And let’s talk about Social Security. Under current law, the trust fund is projected to run out of money somewhere between 2034 and 2035. That doesn’t mean retirees will stop receiving checks, but benefits will be slashed dramatically, by twenty to thirty percent. Again, none of this is new—history is full of financial mismanagement and last-minute policy changes that leave people scrambling.
Understanding the System
Looking further back, the Medici family in Italy became financial powerhouses by mastering information—gathering intelligence, managing wealth, and maintaining absolute loyalty. They understood that power existed at both the state and religious levels. It would benefit many to understand the cultures in and around Italy, Germany, France, the British Isles, and my Viking kin from many, many hundreds of years ago. History repeats? You bet.
That same principle holds true today. Laws, rules, and regulations are constantly manipulated and abused. If you don’t take the time to understand how the system works, you can’t use it to your advantage.
And let’s be clear—there’s a difference between understanding the system and endorsing it. As a true investment fiduciary, my job isn’t to dictate ethics. My job is to provide my clients with the best financial course of action that’s legal and in their best interest.
Politics, business, and ethics often collide, and people get caught in the middle. But whether you like the game or not, you need to know the rules.
History isn’t just about the past—it’s the roadmap to understanding today