Gloom is popular these days.... Not that there is not good reason for concern, more for some than others. It is when gloom and pessimism become a psychological condition and displace the natural abilities of a person or community to be proactive in resolving the reasons for concern that gloom-as-fad becomes dangerous, and perhaps fatal to the person or community.
I see such self-defeating levels of gloom in some people and some communities in the US and Europe, and, to refer to some of the messages posted here, to Canada as well. To an interesting extent, the nature of this gloom is ironic: wealthy societies and their members falling into gloom because their levels of wealth have fallen, while in poorer parts of the world optimism reigns as people experience and expect relative progress, though the level of progress they may achieve will still be far below that thought of as the norm in the wealthy societies. Is there some karmic justice in this? Have the wealthy merely become spoiled, and in their ensuing gloom they guarantee their further fall toward the global median? I've always credited Canada with better political discourse, cleaner and less-selfish motives than the US, and better (foreign) policies. It saddens me to see Canada seemingly sink into the political and psychological norms of the US. I so much hope that I am overstating the case. Cheers, Lawry > > > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick > Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2012 7:45 AM > To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'; > [email protected] > Subject: [Futurework] Gloomy America > > > > Worth reading, but brace yourselves, it's gloomy. > > > > Ed > > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/us/many-american-workers-are-underemployed-and-underpaid.html?_r=1&hp > > Sample: > > Now, with the economy shaping up as the central issue of the presidential > election, both President Obama and Mitt Romney have been relentlessly trying > to make the case that their policies would bring prosperity back. The unease > of voters is striking: in a New York Times/CBS News poll in April, half of > the respondents said they thought the next generation of Americans would be > worse off, while only about a quarter said it would have a better future. > > And household wealth is dropping. The Federal Reserve reported last week that > the economic crisis left the median American family in 2010 with no more > wealth than in the early 1990s, wiping away two decades of gains. With stocks > too risky for many small investors and savings accounts paying little > interest, building up a nest egg is a challenge even for those who can afford > to sock away some of their money. > > Expenses like putting a child through college — where tuition has been rising > faster than inflation or wages — can be a daunting task. When Morgan > Woodward, 21, began her freshman year at the University of California, > Berkeley, three years ago, her parents paid about $9,000 a year in tuition > and fees. Now they pay closer to $13,000, and they are bracing for the > possibility of another jump next year. With their incomes flat, though, they > recently borrowed money to pay for her final year, and to begin paying the > tuition of their son, who plans to start college this fall. > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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