August 1, 2010, A thousand words or so...
Yes. yes, a picture is worth... well, you know. So we'll start with this Financial Times piece that's pretty verbose in its own right, in which, through the examples of a family in Minnesota and a family in Virginia that are offered as paradigmatic of larger trends in the United States that, in the Cliffnotes version of the piece, amount to a middle class whose present existence is progressively more squeezed causing trepidation particularly viz concerns for retirement and their children's futures, with a somewhat uniquely for Americans sense of foreboding for the future in general. And thus, we find ourselves on the road to Latin America... possibly making the millions of immigrants, legal and illegal alike, from that part of the world... more at home, as both their home countries and adopted countries veer toward playgrounds for a privileged elite and ever more miserable for everyone else... but at least (for the moment)... we eat?
And I'd like to juxtapose that piece of at least 1000 words with this piece that gives us a picture, from the ever-astute IOZ of the fundamental immorality of the structure of our world, in this case, the Australian government (other governments of the West do much the same thing) destroying millions of perfectly good pairs of shoes which could go on people's feet destroyed out of copyright infringement... the sort of intrinsic waste of perfectly good stuff be it food, clothing or other material goods or resources not to mention human lives that are routinely ground up and thrown away in the interests of... the system. "Private property" means that, well, someone in a position to make money has to make money and... well...
You know. Thing is, this is not an "ever thus"... human rapaciousness, venality, corruption... sure. But to allow them to play out in such a way that everything, including the future itself, is consumed in the interest of the system... ? Maybe the desire was always there, but the ability is finally there, anyway... Anyway... there you are. Is there a solution? I would suggest that the only approach is "micro-" rather than "macro-". Don't waste time even thinking that the "Democrats" or "the Tea Party" or the Romulans or whomever serves in Congress or whatnot are going to "make it better"... they are in it for themselves... The Chuck Schumers (yes, it always come back to him) are concerned with their own reelection, and if policy helps that, good, and if not... well, too bad. Things "got done" in the early 20th century, in the 30's and in the 60's quite literally because angry mobs in the streets made whomever the prevailing Chuck Schumers of the time scared enough for their own tushes to do something.
Well... a medicated, but largely at-least still-eating populace (to the point of insane levels of obesity)... with worries about losing their jobs and their homes and what's left of their children's futures and alls... doesn't seem to have the juice to do what it takes to take to the streets... It truly has come down to "if it's going to be, it's up to me." So by all means, keep the faith and fight the power... but do it discretely, and be in a position to go on, if not comfortably, at least at all then when the lights go out, the supermarket shelves are empty, the banks fail beyond-any-ability-to-bail-them-out and so forth. And keep your sense of humor .. A horse walks into a bar... OUCH!!!