Life In Legacy - Obit of the Week

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Joseph Williams & Jose Burgos
by Viki Reed

On November 18th, Jose Burgos died at the young age of 62. Joseph P. Williams passed away on November 24th, at the ripe age of 88. Outside the worlds they worked in, their names meant nothing and their deaths made obits, but mass media all but ignored their legacies.

Mr. Williams was the mastermind behind the first credit card (Bankamericard) that could be used for multiple purchases; with installment plans and financing charges. While Amex and Diner’s Club were already around, they demanded full payment in 30 days. Bankamericard made ‘charging’ a sort of cultural ‘ism’. Mr. Williams is therefore the founding father of the Credit Culture. He’s responsible for legions of idiots who fill their wallets and purses with plastic, buying stuff with money they don’t have and paying it all off in bits-or not at all-and tossing more money out the window by accepting tricky fee structures and penalties.

If not for his innovative approach to purchasing, we might value the real world dollar more. We might not walk around perceiving that we can now buy this or that because this plastic card has a numeric virtual value. We might not be so insanely vulnerable to fraud. In fact the first generation of the Bankamerica card failed because of the new crimes that were born with the revolving credit card-that and because so many card holders defaulted on their accounts and merchants went unpaid.

But of course the banking industry caught-up, instituting usage fees, fines, penalties and grace periods....the card was licensed for use outside of California (Bank of America was based in San Francisco) as recently as 1966, and recreated the lovely slave-driver we know as VISA.

Whether you’re older or younger than the institution of revolving credit and all it’s evil side-effects; the world simply will never return to a cash and carry operation and it’s all thanks to one man who died quietly of age-related illness in the retirement capital of the world, Florida.

Check your mailbox-is there a pre-approved application for a VISA card addressed to your 5-year old?

Now, Jose Burgos died relatively young of what was described as a "lingering cardiopulmonary ailment". His heart was what made him famous-again, only in the world he worked in. His heart told him to expose one of the most famous dictators in modern times: Ferdinand Marcos and his hideous wife, Imelda. His journalistic swashbuckling was mirrored by the world’s press and we saw the defection of reality played out on television daily in the 1980's. For all his courageous reporting, Burgos was jailed and charged with sedition. The alternative press (The Marcos regime called their tabloid, the WE Forum a ‘mosquito’ press) he ran so bravely was padlocked and the staff busted.

Burgos’ spirit of exposing the truth was with him from his first professional days-he began as a police-reporter in the early 1960's. It took nearly 40 years but in 2000, he was named "One of the 50 Freedom Press Heroes of the Century" by The International Press Institute.

A fellow countryman, Sen. Aquilino Pimental said of Burgos, "...even when buffeted by gale-force pressures of dictatorial rule, lived his principals."

He was praised and honored when Marcos was knocked out of power, and in 1986 he retired from political writing, as if his obligation as a human reality-check machine was over. It must’ve taken a lot out of him. He turned to organic farming and only wrote agricultural articles.

Try and imagine how terrifying his life must’ve been when he was most needed. His sacrifices were made knowing his duty to will the perception of truth in the Philippines was more important than his freedom, safety, right to speak and publish under the giant foot of tyrannical power that he decried. He passed and his family, friends and comrades in the truth know how important he was and so should you.

Now look in your wallet and see how much realistic spending you’re doing and know that it is not mandatory to purchase underwear on credit out of habit. That it was just one banker’s idea that spread like a disease. Think about what you’re willing to see and sacrifice when you remember these two men.

Viki Reed is a Life In Legacy Correspondent