On a daily basis, it seems that the media wants everyone to believe that the American way of life has ended. There are even comparisons, frequently so, about the state of the U.S. today and the state it was in during the Great Depression. There are even some who are convinced that we’re in a depression, and not a simple recession. Meanwhile, even grasping that the economy has turned down of late, we still wonder what the majority of the fuss is about. There are no bread-lines, people, and we are not living in a dust bowl!

Fortunately, more eloquent sense comes from Trent at The Simple Dollar, who agrees that the media is not the best source for information about the financial crisis they keep shouting about. When one breaks down the numbers, things certainly seem less scary:

…the actual unemployment rate changed from 4.9% to 7.2% from December 2006 to December 2007 – a difference of 2.3%. In other words, out of every 100 people I know, two more should be unemployed right now than a year ago – and that’s pretty accurate.

What about consumer spending? Most accounts have consumer spending dropping about 4% during 2008, which makes it appear to be a truly terrible year. However, what’s being left out of that picture is that 2008 had virtually no inflation – almost every other year has at least 3% inflation, which artificially boosts that consumer spending number. In a year with normal inflation, the consumer spending would have appeared unchanged and thus there would be little or no panic about it.

Our experiences are similar to Trent’s: those we know who, during the period of this purported financialpocalypse, lost their jobs, managed to find new ones rather quickly. At present, only a couple people we know haven’t found gainful employment, but that’s not necessarily because jobs don’t exist. Rather, jobs they want don’t exist, but that can be true even when the economy is doing well. (For example, one friend quit her job because she wanted to find a better one on the opposite coast. One friend who lost his job found a better paying one within a couple weeks. And another friend who remains unemployed has turned down a number of admittedly shitty jobs, but has still received job offers.

That’s not to say that very fundamental lifestyle changes shouldn’t take effect in the U.S. To the contrary, Americans are consumers of the worst degree, with absolutely no comprehension of sustainability or future impact. That’s in great part because for the last hundred years, Americans have managed to piss away money on consumer goods, and live a disposable lifestyle that simply cannot exist long-term. This goes hand-in-hand with financial sustainability, and why we urge the new Presidential administration to pimp, quite severely, a green infrastructure. While such an initiative is certainly no magical bullet, it would certainly steer the U.S. in the right direction, and with firm lifestyle education beside it, will ensure we don’t succumb to our man-made cancers.

In the meantime, stop comparing today with the Great Depression. It’s just… depressing.

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After Wired hosted a video tutorial on how to install OS X on an MSI Wind notebook, they received a cease-and-desist letter from Apple. The step-by-step instructions were apparently too explicit for Apple, who felt threatened enough to take legal action. Ultimately, Wired took the video down, though would-be hackers can still find the video hosted at Gizmodo.

We’re not sure what legal ground Apple has to demand that a tutorial video be taken offline, since the act of hacking a netbook isn’t illegal. While the receipt of a pirated, modified copy of OS X is questionable in the legal arena, it’s doubtful that Apple can enforce the distribution of a video tutorial. They’re not, after all, going after Pirate Bay here, which is a more genuine source for the warez required. Instead, Apple is going after knowledge, and for that, they should be ashamed.

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The New York Assembly is considering legislation that would prevent underage gamers from buying video games that perpetuate racial stereotypes, reports Kotaku. Talk about unfairly targeting video games. We wonder if the NY Assembly is considering the same type of ban on music videos, rap songs, television shows, movies, et al. Or, how about setting up a task force to hit the streets and prevent people themselves from perpetuating stereotypes? Ticket bad Asian drivers, baggy-pants-wearing black teens, beer-drinking Germans, Camaro-driving southerners, vegan Californians, etc.

The very idea of restricting media based on its portrayal of certain characters is painfully ignoring the reality that individual groups perpetuate stereotypes on themselves every single day.

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According to Indymedia, four activists have been banned for life from the Parliament House of New South Wales for making out in the gallery.

On the 14th and 15th of November, the World Trade Organization met in Sydney, Australia. As usual, the WTO can’t meet anywhere in the free world without drawing throngs of protestors.

Heavy handed police reaction to these events is perennially justified by the dangers posed by the protesters. For example, in Sydney, some protesters planned “militant spin the bottle.” The New South Wales Police Minister, the Honorable Michael Costa, was furious about this mysterious and dangerous activity. He even lambasted local Green Party legislators for not joining him in publicly condemning the “spin the bottle” strategy.

Despite the Minister’s paranoia, the “spin the bottle” consisted of little more than you’d expect. Upset about the confiscation of their six foot chickenwire bottle, the defiant protesters vowed to kiss each other again in the face of “unaustralian” police opposition. That “action” is what brought about the permanent explusion from the Parliament House.

While claiming their latest spin the bottle activities as a sucess, the protesters have said some unkind things about Minister Costa. But, honestly, who wouldn’t want to make out with this guy?I hope things don’t get out of hand when the WTO meets next in Cancun, Mexico.Similar Posts:

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