Stratus World

Must-drive SUV - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
SHUT-DOWN REDUX

Ex-senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was asked this week what she thought about the government shut-down and threat of default we just experienced. She praised the Senate for giving adult guidance in a situation fraught with childish impulses. Hutchison didn’t mention Ted Cruz by name but his name was fairly implied. I think Mr. Cruz did an act of economic vandalism on the American people by his bullying, hot-headed, ego-driven behavior. Am hoping that he is duly chastised by the GOP and I hope that the Tea Party learns to act more with dignity and restraint. Their ideas may not go away, but their strategies could stand a huge overhaul.

SPOTLIGHT ON TEXAS

This week’s TIME cover story gives praise to Texas -- it has a vibrant economy, low taxes, low unemployment and something like 5 of the 10 fastest growing cities in the nation. The author is a self-admitted Libertarian and he showered mostly praise on the free-wheeling aspects of the Lone Star state. He didn’t mention that Texas just closed all but a handful of abortion clinics, disallows gay marriage, turned down Medicaid and elected Ted Cruz as one of its senators. The author’s economic analysis was pretty accurate and credit should be given where it’s due even if a wild band of GOP wingnuts oversees it.

One interesting fact of the Texas economy is that we’re adding jobs -- at the upper and lower ends of the salary spectrum. We’re adding lots of jobs in service, construction, retail and other hourly-wage areas. We’re also adding to the list of millionaires and billionaires. What seems to be suffering are the middle class white-collar jobs that are supposed to be the backbone of a healthy, unified society. Texas is not unique here -- the middle class evaporation is everywhere; it’s more noticeable here because of our job volume.

NEW WORLD

We’re entering into a strange “Stratus” world where a large group of blue collar tradesmen bolster a small cadre of rich people. Globalization, automation and the Internet have all made it so. When I was in high school, it would’ve been unthinkable for me to turn down college. I was an honor student and tuitions were low. Nowadays there’s nearly a reversal -- young adults may opt to stay home, serve yogurt or walk dogs. And their parents hardly argue the point; they don’t want to hollow out their savings for exorbitant tuition. Even a Dean’s List graduate may face a long slog finding a job so what’s the point?

Stirring the pot even more is that we’ve fallen back into the “gotta have it” materialism of the 1950’s -- where we long for high style condos, Range Rovers, designer clothes and 5 star hotels. Our craving for material bling has oddly peaked in a period of lesser financial fitness. How might young people making $10/hour pimp and prostrate themselves to drive an Audi or wear Prada shoes? I don’t have a ready answer for that, although I see such incongruities around me. With lower interest rates, there might be a lot of credit card debt to explain it. I don't think we've fallen so far into the chasm that we sell our bodies but I wouldn't rule it out in a dystopian future.

“In my day” to sound like an old granddad, we bought our clothes at JCPenney or Beall’s. We drove Chevy Impalas and wore Timex watches. Our kitchens had formica - not granite counters. Somehow we survived and even managed to have self-esteem. I wish that the world would return to simpler objectives and less pretentious ways. It would probably smooth things a bit for our coming Stratus World where middle class values could help the newly enlarged service class -- that “swirling mass of gray and black and white” to keep their heads above water financially.

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