Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Quote:
but these people aren't the scourge of the earth by any means.
Many are not. We'll always have an underclass. Even if they're all at the doctorate level. The pie gets divided and the lower rungs get the crumbs. It's an immutable law. Now where you set your floor is the distinction. As you can see by the depictions, the floor is being allowed to sink.
Quote:
I pray that we move past this economic slump quickly
I pray that we do not. It's the patch job "keep the trains on time" methods that have profited few and cost many in our daily distractions that allowed this matter to evolve right under our noses. We've been buy big fancy houses and big fancy cars and Xbox's on credit ..flat screens ..all in some assumed "standard" of living that was not sustainable. When the house of cards tumbles, some are packing away LARGE ..and most are counting change.
Recessions of the neo-past were our saviors. They realigned the global trade flows/costs. Since they were inconvenient for our icons of commerce, they were artificially avoided with false vapor economics. Since we didn't have our much needed recessions ..and the relatively short pain that they brought ..and the healthier economy following them, we now appear to DESERVE a major meltdown to set things straight.
Most of our depression era folks are dead. They had the advantage of "needed people" when there was potential growth. Now technology and other evolutions have made a good chunk of our population unneeded ...or if needed, not at a viable wage. Service economies can have that contradiction.
There will be dark times ahead.
I hate to admit it, but Gary is spot-on with this assessment. Seems like everything is coming full circle. My grandmother has been hoarding food she does not need for years, as the Great Depression left an indelible mark on her. She still talks of that era with a heavy heart and told me just how bad it was then. Maybe she isn't so far off with her fears she retains to this day.
At one point I was an X-Box on credit, trade a car in upside down guy, and I am glad I outgrew that about 10 years ago. I would have been embarassed back then to fess up to owning the two vehicles listed in my signature as it wouldn't make me look "cool" enough to others in society.
Quote:
but these people aren't the scourge of the earth by any means.
Many are not. We'll always have an underclass. Even if they're all at the doctorate level. The pie gets divided and the lower rungs get the crumbs. It's an immutable law. Now where you set your floor is the distinction. As you can see by the depictions, the floor is being allowed to sink.
Quote:
I pray that we move past this economic slump quickly
I pray that we do not. It's the patch job "keep the trains on time" methods that have profited few and cost many in our daily distractions that allowed this matter to evolve right under our noses. We've been buy big fancy houses and big fancy cars and Xbox's on credit ..flat screens ..all in some assumed "standard" of living that was not sustainable. When the house of cards tumbles, some are packing away LARGE ..and most are counting change.
Recessions of the neo-past were our saviors. They realigned the global trade flows/costs. Since they were inconvenient for our icons of commerce, they were artificially avoided with false vapor economics. Since we didn't have our much needed recessions ..and the relatively short pain that they brought ..and the healthier economy following them, we now appear to DESERVE a major meltdown to set things straight.
Most of our depression era folks are dead. They had the advantage of "needed people" when there was potential growth. Now technology and other evolutions have made a good chunk of our population unneeded ...or if needed, not at a viable wage. Service economies can have that contradiction.
There will be dark times ahead.
I hate to admit it, but Gary is spot-on with this assessment. Seems like everything is coming full circle. My grandmother has been hoarding food she does not need for years, as the Great Depression left an indelible mark on her. She still talks of that era with a heavy heart and told me just how bad it was then. Maybe she isn't so far off with her fears she retains to this day.
At one point I was an X-Box on credit, trade a car in upside down guy, and I am glad I outgrew that about 10 years ago. I would have been embarassed back then to fess up to owning the two vehicles listed in my signature as it wouldn't make me look "cool" enough to others in society.
