"Where'd all the Grumpy Old Men Go?" (Wabasha, MN) 

we have not been to minnisota but it looks interesting... the country

I'm very political, but these waters are so clean, I refuse to pee in the pool. I save that for other comment sections. I come here to escape that. Thank You

My dad grew up down there, and much of my aunts and uncles still live there. It's a place I've come to love, yet don't see that often. I will move into the Red Wing, Lake City, Wabasha area some day!

I had to read the other comments before I chimed in because I figured this video would bring out some strong opinions. That was a correct assumption. My brother and I were having a similar discussion the other day. One of the points that came up is the extent that jobs are changing. Industries that we couldn't even imagine 25 or 30 years ago are critical. The boom of the software industry is the best example. It is very sad that many small towns have suffered but I watched that begin when the big malls and mega stores started showing up in the 70s and 80s. This is about as political as I will get here. On a different note, I saw that you commented below that you should do a series of small towns in the midwest. That is a fantastic idea. Some of your best videos (besides your interviews) have been the ones where you toured the towns you come to in your travels.

I will most definitely have to make this a stop on my Mississippi cruise. Nice view point on the generation thingy. Oh ya, pontoon launch in 12 hours before it starts raining here in Indiana again late tonight. Have a great weekend and will be setting here watching for your next installment. Sail west my son or any direction a river may take you...LOL,.

True, there is a shift. Partly, I think we want cheap things and we are getting them at the expense of well paying jobs, . Automation, online shopping and globalization are factors also. I doubt there is any going back! I notice automatic check outs are being forced on consumers and lines in those stores are on purpose long at the tellers to force you to use them! Might be a great new world where we all have lots of free time to build boats! Lol! We shall see! I have some hope, as I just finished teaching some young people and they are all full of energy and are a great examples of our future! It is too easy to fault the young people coming up and forget how we had our own issues as a generation (still do). Enjoyed the video and the thoughts Back Waters! Best/Roy

GREAT Storyline Lead!

Howdy! In my travels I visited Taos NM recently compared to....back in the 70's I visited.....the town square used to have Native Americans selling artwork, sand paintings, textiles, etc .Now they are all gone.....I went in a trades store to find some more sand paintings......all they had was junk from China.....every piece I looked at. I mentioned this to the store clerk and she said "Oh yea, we got those folks removed from the square years ago " . ......wtf

Yeah. Interesting. What does future bring? Probably a lot of the same. Not sure. Enjoy your vids. I’d like to see manufacturing return. I think we’re on a better track lately. I think u got it figured out: be a good person and try to enjoy life.

I think that if we had the ‘big box’ stores like Walmart, Cosco, Menard’s, and the like before there were small towns there wouldn’t be many ‘downtowns’. Most of the commerce that left the little town did so due to cost of products. The high cost of hometown products is no match for global products. This is only my thoughts on it. There are many towns near where I live that are the same.

Yes is my town in midwest we have big retail stores closing, I think from everyone buying online on Amazon and the like, we do have a Mexican restaurant on every corner , seems like if a restaurant closes it's taken over by a Mexican restaurant, I'm not kidding , I need to start counting, it has to be over 40 by now. Also been getting transients from the big city that if u watch them walking down the street they always throw their garbage on the ground , as a grumpy old man its driving me nuts, I take care property and have never picked up so much garbage in my life. What I call it is people don't give a crap about their neighbors anymore, they just piss on America, I do buy redwing shoes , they last, usually shoes don't last me long, but it's a good company, I have watched videos of their manufacturing. Grumpy old man out.

I remember good old stobe the hobo notice and talked about how the towns were empty and hardly anyone around also.

I was waiting to walk into Slippery's! Heck.

The middle class are not having enough kids. Simple as that. These towns have only basic services and tourism to keep them afloat. Wabasha is lucky that it has the old historical Mississippi River front, natural beauty and Grumpy Old Men. People buying everything online may save them a few bucks but it costs a lot to the smaller towns as far as jobs and economic activity. So we jump in the car and go wine tasting or drink a cup of nice coffee instead. Take a video and show people we've been to so and so town.

I grew up in a small town and still live in one. I'm a suffering blue collar factory worker. I was a union officer for nine years at another job. I even own an old time clock that I fixed up. These trade agreements killed these towns. As the factories closed so did the businesses in town that the workers supported. Families had to move and the ones that stayed just see their kids go off to college and settle in other parts of the countries. I think the only thing that can save our towns is a Federal Job Guarantee Program that is locally administered. We have to redefine what a job is. There are many good ideas in the MMT (Modern Money) community. Warren Mosler, Bill Mitchell, L Randall Wray and other MMT economists are good people to look to in order to learn it. They've won me over. Here's is one video talking about Job Gaurantees. There are many videos on youtube. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DcGHYp-LauA.html Another good video that is more of an explanation: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3YnHT2A3a6Y.html Time for positivity and solutions!

As a member of Gen X it's all our fault. The Baby Boomers did nothing wrong.

Welcome to midwest america, things are just not the same, sad. We must move on to the population centers with the kids, driverless cars and keep our minds occupied with cell phones. This town will shrink into oblivion. Who is right, us or the kids?

thanks for sharing history and some valuable memories. safe health and joyful journeys ahead

I am a US manufacture, had to change my whole outlook the last few years. Everything is Amazon and EBay now. Instead of a storefront I now ship to Amazon or off a website of some sort, just the way it is right now

I need to come up there and we need to dress up like old men and set on that bench and do a little skit from the movie and video tape it' I think your right on the economy

Hi how are you

I remember seeing this when it first came out, seen a million times and still cant get enough I love it

You asked where all the grumpy old men went. They are you and several of your com mentors. If you want things the way they were or the way you want them to be, then get old or get out of the way. Is Wabasha downtown a tourist town or representative of the entire Midwest? Probably more touristy. There is more than just the downtown. There is Slippery’s restaurant, the Parkside Marina, the National Eagles Center, and a great downtown restaurant. So you don’t like less manufacturing and a more service economy. You probably complain about any type of change. By the way, what do you contribute? Open the floodgates, tell me I’m wrong. Quoting Rhett Butler: “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Oh, Pokey had regular professional boat mechanic oil changes.