CoL49 Chapter 4

[Michael Bailey]

On Sat, Jun 15, 2024 at 4:36 AM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>>
> Yes!  BUT!  Are any of these “speculations” suggested anywhere in the text?
>


- it’s really just one speculation: that the estate was broke. The other
ideas followed from that.

I mentioned it because it’s an intriguing possibility which never occurred
to me before.

It’s suggested by Metzger’s grouchiness, by his quitting, by their selling
Pierce’s beloved stamp collection, and by no mention of beneficiaries - the
debts have to be covered first & if a shortfall were obvious, it wouldn’t
matter who they were.

Then also the many different types of holdings suggest a business
conglomerate, a phenomenon on the upsurge in 1964 but already headed toward
a downturn later in the ‘60s - a well-informed author would’ve been aware
of vulnerabilities in a conglomerate structure (and possibly objectionable
things about them from ethical points of view)

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/11/the-forgotten-history-of-how-1960s-conglomerates-derailed-the-american-dream/