MA & PhD in Critical Thinking Blog

August 29, 2009

Curb Your Enthusiasm IV – No More “Conspicuous Consumption” ???

Filed under: Minerva School — Tags: , , , , , — Dr David Caploe @ 2:27 pm

One of the most offensive characteristics of my baby-boomer generation has been its love affair — at least heretofore — with conspicuous consumption,

the syndrome identified by Thorstein Veblen in early 20th century America –  showing off to everyone how well you were doing financially …

In typical “theory as question” [ see Part II ] fashion, this annoying cultural dynamic had definite economic effects, the so-called “wealth effect”, as this article in the New York Times outlines:

Economists subscribe to a so-called wealth effect: as households amass wealth, they tend to expand their spending over the following year, typically by 3 to 5 percent of the increase.

Between 2003 and 2007 — prime years of the housing boom — the net worth of an American household expanded to about $540,000, from about $400,000, according to an analysis of federal data by Moody’s Economy.com …

[Consequently] Americans have tapped stock portfolios and borrowed against homes to fill wardrobes with clothes, garages with cars and living rooms with furniture and electronics …

Millions of Americans spent years tapping credit cards, stock portfolios and once-rising home values to spend in excess of their incomes …

Now, however, it seems the boomer love affair with showing off their money is finally beginning to diminish …

However much that might make daily life in the US more pleasant, the economic effect of this cultural change may not be so positive …

Now, the wealth effect is working in reverse: by the first three months of this year, household net worth had dropped to $421,000.

“Not only have people lost money, but they don’t expect as much appreciation in the money they have, and that should affect consumption,” said Andrew Tilton, an economist at Goldman Sachs. “This is a cultural shift going on. People will save more.”

As recently as the middle of 2007, Americans saved less than 2 percent of their income, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In recent months, the rate has exceeded 4 percent …

… the recession has endured so long and spread pain so broadly that it has seeped into the culture, downgrading expectations, clouding assumptions about the future and eroding the impulse to buy …
“We’re at an inflection point with respect to the American consumer,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy .com, who correctly forecast a dip in spending heading into the recession, and who provided data supporting sustained weakness.

“Lower-income households can’t borrow, and higher-income households no longer feel wealthy,” Mr. Zandi added. “There’s still a lot of debt out there. It throws a pall over the potential for a strong recovery. The economy is going to struggle.”

… Home values are sharply lower. Banks remain reluctant to lend in the aftermath of a global financial crisis.Households must increasingly depend upon paychecks to finance spending, a reality that seems likely to curb consumption:

Unemployment stands at 9.4 percent and is expected to climb higher. Working hours have been slashed even for those with jobs.

As happens so often in life, you have to take the bad with the good … ;-) …

And in this case, a more pleasant daily experience from the annoyance point of view is, unfortunately, going to result in the continuation of a difficult economic dynamic …

August 28, 2009

Curb Your Enthusiasm III – No Jobs for New Lawyers ???

Filed under: Minerva School — Tags: , , , , , — Dr David Caploe @ 5:29 am

Despite all the alleged good news about the stock market — which clearly does NOT equal the real economy ;-) — more and more sectors continue to report bad news about hiring and new jobs …

The latest is the fact that even top graduates of high prestige law schools — Harvard / Yale / Stanford / Berkeley / Columbia etc etc etc — are having real problems finding post-graduate employment in the lucrative private sector …

Of course, few people aside from their immediate dependents and loved ones are going to have much personal sympathy for them, as the American legal profession has been a tremendous source of unproductive economic activity for decades … ;-) …

and I say this as someone who counts among his best friends many professors at those same law schools … ;-) … altho even they will admit this macro-economic conclusion in their unguarded moments … ;-) …

Regardless of that, however, the key point is that if the recession is hitting even top income brackets like high-level corporate litigation firms, then it shows the recession really ISN’T at an end, but indeed, seems likely to continue into the indefinite future …

From a recent New York Times article …

This fall, law students are competing for half as many openings at big firms as they were last year in what is shaping up to be the most wrenching job search season in over 50 years …

The frenzy has even pushed the nation’s top firms, a tradition-bound coterie, into discussing how to reform the recruitment process with an earnestness that would have been unthinkable just years ago.

Even if the economy is beginning to pick up, the legal profession has been pummeled over the last year, with some firms closing and survivors often asking associates to take leaves of absence.

How bad is it?

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the juggernaut of New York, has slashed its hiring by more than half.

For the first time in 136 years, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a respected Philadelphia firm, has canceled its recruiting entirely.

Global firms like DLA Piper and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe have postponed recruiting for several months to see if the market improves.

At Yale, students accustomed to being wooed by Big Law’s glittering names — like Baker & McKenzie; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, & McCloy; and White & Case — were stunned when those firms canceled interviews in New Haven this month.

New York University, Georgetown, Northwestern and other top universities confirm that interviews are down by a third to a half compared with a year ago, while lower-ranked schools are suffering more.

What is more, when interviews finish in a few weeks, even fewer offers will be extended, said Howard L. Ellin, the chairman of global hiring at Skadden, Arps, because many firms are interviewing students for slots they may not fill …

With the cost of law school skyrocketing over the years, the implicit arrangement between students and the most expensive and prestigious schools has only strengthened:

the student takes on hefty debt to pay tuition, and the school issues the golden ticket to a job at a high-paying firm — if that’s what the student wants.

Ay, there’s the rub, as Shakespeare would say … ;-) …

“Students came in with a certain sense of what the compact was going to be,” said Irene Dorzback, the assistant dean for career services at the New York University School of Law.

But with the system crumbling in recent months, Ms. Dorzback said, “people are now accepting this notion of a lost year.”

The timing is worst for the class of 2011, the second-years now looking to get into firms, because of a unique logjam created last year.

After the September financial crisis, firms chose to defer their new hires at the price of steeply cutting recruiting this year.

But students who miss the brief window of opportunity to land an offer this fall may struggle to break into firms once next year’s class rises …

It has been a bizarre new reality, especially for elite schools.

At Harvard, officials have had to hawk résumés or tell students, quite simply, to buck up.

(“Now is not the time for avoidance, denial or panic,” Mark Weber, the assistant dean of career services, wrote in a March memo to Harvard Law’s graduating class.)

With the system’s frailties exposed by the recession, said Mr. Ellin from Skadden, Arps, the time could be ripe for “massive overhaul.”

We’ll see … ;-) …

So no reason to shed tears for any of the individuals or firms involved, but plenty of reason to be concerned about what their difficult situations tell us about the state of the economy as a whole …

Curb Your Enthusiasm II – FDIC Almost Bankrupt ???

Filed under: Minerva School — Tags: , , , , — Dr David Caploe @ 4:48 am

Americans are familiar with the initials FDIC — the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation — the New Deal-era government body that insures bank deposits up to a certain amount, usually ~ $100,000.

It was precisely the FDIC and other such institutions from the Franklin Roosevelt administration that made the American banking industry such a safe and reliable component of the US economy –

at least until the tide of de-regulation begun by Ronald Reagan, continued by his successors George Bush and Bill Clinton, who towards the end of his second term started a literal orgy of “unleashing hell” on the US and global financial sectors that, of course, reached its grisly crescendo under the Cheney / Bush / Rove regime.

But throughout this madness, the average depositor in an “ordinary” commercial bank –

protected through the late 90s by the also New Deal era Glass-Steagall Act, which separated them from the more speculative and unstable investment banks,

until the Robert Rubin-led coterie, including current Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and THEN-Treasury Secretary, now National Economic Council head, Larry Summers, blew that wall away,

around the same time they made sure to eliminate all regulation and transparency from the insanely complex derivatives that have so badly shaken the world finance system and economy –

could feel that her own money was safe, protected by, above all the FDIC, whose logo adorns the entrance to almost all commercial banks and credit unions in the US.

Unfortunately, however, now that “Rock of Gibraltar”, the FDIC itself, is starting to find its own resources severely strained by the still unfolding financial / economic disaster in which we find ourselves, as this article from the New York Times makes all too plain …

The agency reported that the banking industry lost $3.7 billion in the second quarter amid a surge in bad loans made to home builders, commercial real estate developers and small and midsize businesses.

Its deposit insurance fund dropped 20 percent, to $10.4 billion, its lowest level in nearly 16 years. And the number of “problem banks” increased to 416, from 305 in the first quarter, and is expected to remain high …

“These credit problems will at least outlast the recession by a couple of quarters,” said Sheila C. Bair, the F.D.I.C. chairwoman. “Cleaning up balance sheets is a painful process that does take time, but it is absolutely necessary to the industry’s sustained profitability.”

The dismal report shows how the industry’s problems have spread …

…  most of the nation’s 8,195 banks primarily make their money from lending to consumers and businesses. They are now facing increased pressure from soaring loan losses and higher deposit insurance costs as the F.D.I.C. seeks to shore up the industry fund.So far, 81 banks have failed this year, including 45 in the second quarter. That, in turn, has put enormous stress on the government’s deposit insurance fund, which is supported by fees charged to the banks regulated by the F.D.I.C.

Its second-quarter reserve of $10.4 billion compares with $45.2 billion a year earlier.

Most of the decline comes from money that the agency has set aside to cover the cost of bank failures, and Ms. Bair said the fund had ample resources to cover all insured depositors.

But the levels are so low that F.D.I.C. officials said Thursday that they would consider imposing a special assessment on the banks, on top of elevated insurance fees, toward the end of the third quarter …

Federal banking regulators are bracing for hundreds of small and medium-size banks to collapse in the coming months.

Banks are burdened with billions of dollars of bad loans made over the last few years and are continuing to set aside more money to cover losses. In fact, credit loss rates reached a record high in the second quarter.

Over all, banks charged off $48.9 billion, or 2.55 percent of assets, nearly twice the levels the industry reported last year.

So before you start celebrating the end of the recession, and the crisis in the banking industry, it might be good to take another look at the “small print” that tells a slightly different story … ;-) …

Curb Your Enthusiasm I – US Housing Recovery?

Filed under: Minerva School — Tags: , , , — Dr David Caploe @ 4:01 am

Despite all the cheer-leading from the Fed and SOME sectors of Wall Street proclaiming that the worst is over, and we’re all on an upturn, it makes sense, as Larry David might say, to curb your enthusiasm … ;-) …

This piece from the New York Times makes clear that, at least as far as the critical housing sector goes, things are a little more complicated than the cheerleaders would have you believe … ;-) …

The issue here is the re-emergence of adjustable-rate mortgages — aka ARMs – that are throwing an “unexpected” kink in the alleged upswing in the US housing market …

… what many economists say is a looming threat to a housing recovery: more than a half-million option ARMs scheduled to reset in the next four years, at rates many homeowners cannot afford …

Since February, default and foreclosure rates on option ARMs have passed those of subprime mortgages, according to the research firm First American CoreLogic, in part because so many subprime mortgages have already failed …

As the housing market seeks a bottom, option ARMs, which accounted for $750 billion in mortgages made from 2004 to 2007, according to the industry newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance, remain a risk, especially because many are not eligible for refinancing. About a third are already in default, according to analysts.

Compared with subprime loans, option ARMs are fewer but tend to have larger balances. Resets on option ARMs in recent years have often doubled the payments.

“Everyone’s been focused on subprime, but we’re more concerned about this,” said Todd Jadlos, managing director of LPS Applied Analytics, which analyzes data for the financial industry. “By the time subprime defaults had increased 200 percent, in June and July of 2007, option ARMs had gone up 400 percent. People just didn’t notice because the overall numbers weren’t as high.”

First American CoreLogic anticipates 600,000 option ARMS will reset within four years.

Option ARMs, which lenders stopped offering last year, gave borrowers four payment options: less than the interest, which increases the balance every month; just the interest; the equivalent of a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage; and the equivalent of a 15-year fixed.

Three-quarters of borrowers take the minimum option, which usually expires after five years or when the balance reaches a cap, generally 110 percent to 125 percent of the original loan, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Once the cap is reached, borrowers have to pay down a higher balance at a higher rate in a shorter period of time.

“This was a loan meant for sophisticated investors, or people who expected their cash flow to increase over time,” said Elena Warshawsky, a residential credit analyst with Barclays Capital, which expects 81 percent of the option ARMs originated in 2007 to default, with many ending in foreclosure.

“But then they were extended to all sorts of buyers. Now it wasn’t people hoping their income would grow. It was people hoping their house price would increase” so they could refinance or sell, Ms. Warshawsky said.

The firm projects that banks will lose $112 billion on option ARMs written from 2005 to 2007.

… the loans have had extraordinarily high rates of failure even before reaching their reset dates.

Ron Dzurinko, 62, who lives on a fixed income in Sacramento, took out an option ARM five years ago without understanding it, knowing only that he could afford the initial payments of $900 a month. “The mortgage person said, ‘It could adjust, but we don’t foresee any major bumps,’ ” Mr. Dzurinko said. “It sounded good to me.”

When his payments shot up to $1,400 last fall, he said, he defaulted on credit cards, took in a tenant and started a vegetable garden, but still could not make the payments.

Meanwhile, his home’s value fell below his $260,000 balance.

Finally, through a lawyer at Legal Services of Northern California, he was able to get the loan modified to $800 a month — but only after months of calls and rejections.

August 26, 2009

Make Marcia Angell Teddy’s “Temporary” Replacement

Filed under: Minerva School — Tags: , , , , , — Dr David Caploe @ 5:01 pm

In the aftermath of the predictable, but still nevertheless shocking and deeply sad death by brain cancer of Senator Ted Kennedy, perhaps the greatest pure legislator of post-Lyndon Johnson American history,

considerable attention has been  paid to the bizarre conditions re filling an open US Senate seat set by Mass Dems in 2004, when they were hoping John Kerry might ascend to the Presidency, and wanted to deny then-Gov, RPB Mitt Romney the chance to install a fellow Bush supporter in Kerry’s place.

While it remains unclear exactly how this uniquely Massachusetts drama is going to play out, the most substantive comments about Teddy’s passing is how his absence over these past months could well be a factor in the revoltingly low level of public discourse over the Obama health care “reform”.

The key condition seems to be that whoever is appointed make a personal oath NOT to run in the Constitutionally-mandated “special election” that will eventually be called to determine Kennedy’s successor at the ballot box.

The sad thing is to see how, once again, the names of Kennedy’s “political” relatives, like his wife — who intelligently seems un-interested ;-) — and his nephew Joe Jr, son of Teddy’s charismatic brother Bobby, keep appearing as potential successors in either the short or long term.

But I’ve got a different idea …

Instead of mourning the short period of time allotted to a “special appointee”, Governor Deval Patrick — who, whatever his own Obama like disappointing qualities — nevertheless seems to have a bit of the back bone and ingenuity President Barry seems to so conspicuously lack …

Therfore he should, to use the language of New England’s summer obsession, the Boston Red Sox, get up there and swing for the fences by choosing someone REALLY different who, at the same time, is CLEARLY committed to helping America — somehow — rise out of the muck of the current health care “debate”, and can make a real statement during even a short, self-limited time in office.

And, frankly, who better to do so than the former Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, and current Senior Lecturer at Harvard Medical School, Dr Marcia Angell, MD … ;-) …

Without doubt, this brilliant articulate woman could make a MAJOR impact on the heretofore gutter-level discourse — on ALL sides — about the health “care” industry, and fight strongly for what President Baruch SHOULD have put forward in the first place: single-payer.

With things as they are, it’s unlikely ANYTHING like “reform” is going to pass, so things really need to be shaken up.

And Dr Angell is EXACTLY the person to do it — her qualifications as a spokesman for truly democratic medical rights are impeccable, and she would bring a much-needed informed vision and passionate energy to even a short-time in the clearly corrupt and sclerotic Senate, out of which real hope is ebbing by the day.

Because she wouldn’t be in there forever — and would have no desire TO be there forever — she could speak out freely and openly, as she has in the past — not dependent on the soul-deadening / humiliating scramble for campaign funds, which has destroyed the integrity of US politics by giving special interests an obscene amount of power in determining the health and well-being of Americans — and become the moral beacon so pathetically lacking heretofore  in the dreary same-old same-old the Democrats have put forward til now — and failed miserably even at that.

It would be a major game-changer at a time when the usual DC bullshit so CLEARLY needs to be transcended, and would give Patrick some well-deserved and -needed kudos himself to continue the struggle to transform the deeply flawed Massachusetts plan into something that, like single-payer, can succeed politically, and put the national discourse back on a productive MEANINGFUL track …

Teddy’s death SHOULD mean something … but it will require a radical move of boldness and vision … and by putting Marcia Angell in the Senate, Patrick would not only honor Kennedy’s own commitment and vision, but would serve the nation as a whole by giving it a chance to redeem itself from the sleazy morass the health care “debate” has become.

Marcia Angell MD for TEMPORARY  Senator from Massachusetts — what could be a more fitting tribute to a great man and family, which finally does seem to be passing from the Bay State AND national scenes at the worst possible moment.

August 20, 2009

Continuing Education Section in NYTimes

Filed under: Minerva School — Tags: , , , , , — Dr David Caploe @ 5:48 pm

Haven’t had a chance to read much, or indeed any, of this, given that I discovered it just as I was closing down ;-) ,

but there appear to be some interesting articles here on some generally significant aspects of adult education — career development, how to pay tuition while unemployed :-O , etc –

as well as some specific pieces about sustainability, which is a subject matter area the Minerva School intends to get into at some point in the not-too-distant future … ;-) …

Please feel free to give us your feedback / comments on anything you may find of interest here …

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2009/08/20/national/nationalspecial2/index.html

August 19, 2009

And Now, Privatized Property Tax Collection

Filed under: Politics — Tags: , , , — Dr David Caploe @ 4:04 pm

Just when you think the US can’t get any more revolting, we now find out from the New York Times that the very best of pre-Revolutionary France ;-) has now been resurrected in the US — the odious practice of “tax farming” …

In its current incarnation, the specialty is property taxes — hitting, yes, the very same sector that has been so brutalized already by the predations of the banks …

And, surprise surprise, somehow, these farmed-out property taxes are all of a sudden acquiring credit-card-like interest charges and other lovely little extras hidden in the small type … ;-) …

While it seems unlikely — as of yet — to provoke the sort of anti-royal / anti-noble sentiment that was a significant proximate impetus of the sustained uprising of 1789 – 1815, the re-appearance of this latest “privatization” indicates the depths into which the US has fallen … ;-) …

Read ‘em and weep, as they used to say in Vegas … now it’s more like, shuffle up and deal …

Hard times are causing more homeowners to fall behind on their property taxes. But in thousands of cases, they are not responsible to their local governments, but to private companies that charge double-digit interest and thousands of dollars in service fees.

This is because in recent years struggling cities and counties have sold their delinquent tax bills to the highest bidder. It seemed a painless way to turn old debts into cash to finance schools or public services.

But housing advocates say the private companies may be exacerbating the foreclosure crisis, pushing out homeowners faster than would governments, which are increasingly concerned about neighborhoods becoming wastelands of abandoned properties.

“In the beginning, you’re getting this immediate windfall of cash,” said Anita Lopez, the auditor of Lucas County, Ohio, which sold off more than 3,000 tax liens for $14.7 million. The county includes Toledo. “But when you think about abandoned properties, foreclosed properties — the cost to the community is far more expensive than the short-term benefits.”

With the economy faltering and property values plunging, homeowners and landlords are falling behind on their bills or abandoning their property, just as governments are facing huge budget shortfalls.

Private investors step in and buy tax liens, paying governments upfront all or part of the value of the taxes.

The investors then get the right to foreclose on the properties, taking priority over mortgage lenders, and to charge interest rates as high as 18 percent on the unpaid taxes.

“It beats the heck out of any certificate of deposit,” said Howard Liggett, executive director of the National Tax Lien Association.

You bet, Howard … ;-) …

… housing advocates in Lucas County said homeowners were overwhelmed by the fees and interest rates. Debts of $3,300 grew to $6,800. And while Plymouth Park [a leading tax lien investor] offered a payment plan, lawyers said that many homeowners did not have enough money to make upfront payments of a $1,000 or more.Danyell Copeland, 36, is in court over a tax bill of less than $2,000, her lawyer said. Ms. Copeland, who works as a cook at the University of Toledo, said she had been fallen behind on her bills after her hours and overtime were cut.

August 16, 2009

Political Troubles Hitting China Economy

Filed under: Minerva School — Tags: , , , , — Dr David Caploe @ 5:41 pm

One of the great advantages of living in Singapore is you begin to get at least some sense of the multi-dimensional / hard to understand reality of China, about whom Americans seem to have even more than their usual number of self-imposed delusions re other countries … ;-) …

One thing you do realize is the Chinese economic machine that seems to frighten so many Americans is a lot more dynamic and conflicted than the usual media portrayals of a Communist workers’ hell … ;-) …

Not that there aren’t serious elements of that, but the situation there is much more fluid than usually perceived, as this recent NYTimes article about the Chinese steel industry indicates …

A Chinese provincial government on Sunday halted the privatization of a state-owned steel mill where thousands of workers protested last week and took an official hostage, in the latest sign of increasing labor activism in the country’s steel industry.

The apparent capitulation of the government of Henan province in central China came three weeks after rioting workers beat to death the executive overseeing the sale to a private business of another state-owned steel company, Tonghua Iron & Steel Works, in the northeastern province of Jilin.

Local, provincial and national government agencies have been reluctant to use overwhelming force against protesting workers. China Daily newspaper reported Saturday that police had tried to break through the ranks of workers Friday in the latest incident, at Linzhou Iron & Steel in Anyang City, in Henan.

China Daily did not say if the police had been successful. The official Xinhua news agency said that the workers decided Saturday to halt their protests, which had attracted up to 3,000 participants at a time, after a government mediation team agreed to reconsider the takeover. Xinhua did not mention what became of the official who had been held hostage.

The success of steel workers in blocking privatization could embolden workers in other industries, experts on Chinese labor issues said Sunday …

The Chinese steel industry, the world’s largest and a cornerstone of the country’s construction-dependent economy, is in turmoil this year, which may have fed labor unrest.

The global economic downturn has severely hurt the sector, with Chinese steel exports down 15.4 percent in the first half of this year …

Faced with a glut of steelmaking capacity and many small steel companies vying to buy iron ore, Beijing officials on Thursday ordered a three-year moratorium on the construction of any new steel mills or the expansion of existing ones.

But the government has had less success in its efforts to force a consolidation of existing mills, which might strengthen their bargaining power with the handful of multinationals that dominate the global iron ore business.

Local and provincial government agencies have been wary of losing control of businesses that are often vital to their economies, and many workers are opposed to consolidation.

MAD MEN Season 3 Premiere

Filed under: Minerva School — Dr David Caploe @ 3:14 am

As my tv-intimate pals know, the headline is something of a MAD MEN – style cross feint — living in Singapore, we still haven’t seen Season TWO yet, even as FX Asia continues to repeat Season ONE … …

But I have been watching those at least with great pleasure, as well as the media hubbub surrounding the opening of the third season, and find myself a little surprised — and slightly bothered — by what some reviewers, at least, don’t seem to understand about why the show is so spectacular … …

The NYTimes’ tv critic Alessandra Stanley — on whom I will readily admit I had a mild crush decades ago during my few years of teaching in [ what I still find hellish, despite loving the people there ] New York — seems to appreciate the certainly stylish, but nevertheless superficial aspects of the show:

“Mad Men” mocks and celebrates forbidden vices, the drinking, smoking and promiscuity that in the advertising business of the 1960s flowed heedlessly, without health warnings or the sour taint of political incorrectness. From the start, the show has mined hindsight for wicked humor: a child playing dangerously with a dry-cleaning bag is chided only for messing up the clothes inside; a pastoral family picnic ends with the mom tossing the entire basket of trash onto lush, pristine park grounds; the presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon is marketed as a young, handsome Navy hero.

All of which is true, but really beside the point — the show is NOT about humor, even though there certainly are many witty moments of the type Alessandra correctly limns.

Even more than in the first two years, this new season, which begins on Sunday on AMC, stresses the less amusing side of that innocence, leading viewers to look back, aghast at, and enthralled by, a world so familiar and so primitive. Characters on “Mad Men” struggle in shame and secrecy with the very things that today are openly, incessantly boasted and blogged about: humble roots, broken homes, homosexuality, unwed motherhood, caring for senile parents.

Uhhh, sorry, dude, but that’s been at least part of MAD MEN’s point, at least on the individual level, from the very beginning : the absolute misery, and consequent ruthless acting out, unconscious AND conscious, experienced by ALL the characters — albeit in their own particular ways, as they struggle with their individual demons.

But that’s really not what makes the show so interesting, as compelling as it is on that level.

The overriding idea — in the Hegelian sense — of MAD MEN is to make the 60s / Cultural Revolution [ see Lectures 24 & 25 in the Applied Critical Thinking / Cultural History course ] UNDERSTANDABLE … especially to the now-majority of the US — and global — media audience who grew up AFTER the 60s … …

Put somewhat differently, the point is to show what the US was like BEFORE the 60s — the cultural soil, if you will, out of which the 60s grew, and against which it was, at least in my view , an all too understandable & legitimate reaction.

As I once put it to my friend Jacob, who was bothered by the nasty way people in the show treat each other, the whole idea of MAD MEN is to make clear to POST-60s generations the emotional claustrophobia and interpersonal viciousness that WAS pre-60s America — not to mention the open racism / sexism / casual anti-Semitism in which it was embedded.

That the driving force behind MAD MEN is Matthew Weiner, a major creative in THE SOPRANOS, is hardly surprising: after all, that brilliant show was about the impact on the Mob / criminal underworld OF the 60s Cultural Revolution .

THE SOPRANOS picks up after the point at which the ultimate Mob saga, Godfather II, ends: with Michael Corleone, sitting alone — physically AND, even more, emotionally — unable to comprehend how he has lost the one value he always thought was his guiding star, namely THE FAMILY … a timeless moment of classic existential angst.

In MAD MEN, then, Weiner and many of the SOPRANOS “gang” he brought with him, are re-exploring the Godfather time era from a totally different theoretical and time perspective — remember, Godfathers I & II were themselves products of the very same late 60s / early 70s Cultural Revolution: above all, the specific cultural matrix from which sprang the overwhelming symbolic tsunami (C) — the ceaselessly pounding surf of word and image that comes at us every day from “screens” of all sorts — of today’s global media society (C).

And understanding that the way we live today –

culturally / technologically / politically / economically / socially / psychologically / interpersonally etc etc etc –

began in the 60s is what MAD MEN is trying to make clear to the, literally, millions of people in both the US and elsewhere who, understandably, can’t grok how all this madness came to be

August 15, 2009

Marcia Angell on Health-Care Debacle

Filed under: Minerva School — Dr David Caploe @ 2:45 pm

Via my good friend Lenore Norrgard of Portland, Oregon, whom I told about Marcia Angell, and who then went out and found this fabulous interview of a couple of days ago …

Actually, I had thought about looking at the series the Times was running, but was just so sick and tired of all the “inside the Beltway” stuff that I skipped it … ;-) …

So I appreciate Lenore’s checking it out all the more … ;-) …

An easy one for me, because, as usual, Marcia Angell is both right on the substance AND able to express it in clear language that anyone can understand … ;-) …

Some QUICK excerpts … definitely read the whole thing …

Q. President Obama hopes to increase the number of Americans with insurance and to rein in costs. Do you believe any of the plans under consideration by Congress will accomplish those goals?

A. They won’t, and that’s the essential problem. If you keep health care in the hands of for-profit companies, you can do one or the other — increase coverage by putting more money into the system, or control costs by decreasing coverage. But you cannot do both unless you change the basic structure of the system.
Q. Segments of the health care industry — pharmaceutical companies, for instance — are promising to cut costs.

A. It’s not going to happen. These are investor-owned companies. Their fiduciary responsibility is to maximize profits. If they behaved like charities, heads would roll in the executive suites.
Q. But what about market mechanisms for reducing costs? Wouldn’t the public option, for instance, provide competition for the insurance companies?

A. Theoretically it would, but I doubt the public plan will pass. Industry is lobbying against it, and the president has not said this is a “must.” Even if it does pass, I’m afraid the private insurance industry will use their clout in Congress — and they have enormous clout in Congress — to hobble the public option and use it as a dumping ground for the sickest while they cream off the young and healthy for themselves.
Etc etc etc … DO check out the whole thing … she’s great … ;-) …
And apologies for the weird spacing … :-( … can’t seem to get it right –
so all the MORE reason to read the whole thing via the link … ;-) …
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