America the Great...Consumer

Is it possible to avoid the excitement of Black Friday this year? Yesterday was either the beginning of a recovery for retail, or the beginning of the end of American consumerism as we know it. Someone ended up giving their life to satisfy the buy-crazy consumers of the state of New York. And yet, I find the blow-hard criticism of sites like Treehugger and others to be quite frankly self-righteous in their die-hard commitment to buy-nothing day. I know that the underpinnings of the failure of the US economy go much deeper than a few bad loans and people who are trying to live beyond their means, but for a site that publishes as many blog posts about neat new products as they do about environmental issues it seems a little hypocritical to be touting the benefits of reduced consumerism.
As sad as it is, America is a consumer machine. We are a country that upholds a standard of living that is impossible nearly anywhere else in the world, and the American dream is to strive towards that ideal. People who can't afford to live this way are looked down upon as failures within a system that offers infinite possibilities for upward mobility and so for those people that lined up outside of Walmart yesterday morning in New York they were simply trying to stay within the status quo and provide their families with as much of that American dream as they can.
I agree that our value system needs to be re-evaluated, but doing so from an elitist standpoint will fail to make the right transition. I don't honestly know what needs to be done, but it's worth a shot to look at things from other points of view instead of simply categorizing those people in New York as consumeristic animals who have no respect for human life. It's easy to blame others and contain it to a single incident, but this is representative of a much larger cultural phenomena and it would be relevant to take note that the Walmart incident could have happened anywhere, and how much different would it have appeared if it had taken place at a Nordstrom's instead. This story has so many racist and classist undertones that are not being acknowledged - we look down on those who cannot afford the things that are considered staples of American society, but when they take their opportunity to get those things we are appalled at the measures that they go to in order to fit into the mold. I don't know what else to say.

What recession?

I have a hard time believing that we're in the midst of an economic recession. I see the figures and read the articles filled with statistics about poverty and jobs being cut and the stock market going to shit and yet real life continues to go on. I went to the mall yesterday to do research for a client that I'm working with and could not find a parking spot to save my life. Rows and rows of Range Rovers and BMWs and Mercedes and Audis, and it's not even Christmas time. Inside the mall it wasn't much better; girls in UGG boots with iPhones and Coach purses and $200 jeans. It's hard for me to comprehend how we can be in the most dire economic circumstances of many of our lifetimes and yet people continue to consume as if nothing has changed.
Talking with a hairstylist at the salon I go to, I found out that business at the salon has slowed since the election. She actually cited several clients who had actually canceled all of their appointments for the rest of the year since Obama got elected. They were worried about being placed in a higher tax bracket and upset when the election didn't go their way. This is such a brash move to make considering the fact that the president elect won't even be in the offfice for another two months and the real problem with the economy has less to do with the incoming administration and more to do with the ineptitude of the previous order.
The economy is a complicated beast. It's cyclical and self determined. I can't even pretend to know what makes it work, but there seem to be so many contradictions.

Breaking the Speed of Gossip

Only in this world of incessant technology is it possible for news to travel 600 miles faster than it travels just down the street. My niece Lily Simone Danielson was born November 7, 2008 at 8:50pm (mountain time). My brother, the proud daddy sent out an e-mail to his personal contacts list at 11:37pm and I woke up the next morning at 5am to read my e-mail. There was the message, informing me of the new addition. I read the e-mail, replied and went about my day until my parents called three hours later to let me know the news. They had found out the night before when they were asked to take care of their other grandchild, but honestly thought that they would be the ones to break the news to me. In the world of endless technological communication platforms it is impossible to keep news a secret. News travels fast, and it travels even faster with modern technology. Distance literally shrinks as the ease of communication increases. By the time little Lily is a teenager who knows what technology will enable her to stay connected with her family and friends.