President Obama has gotten his first bill through, an $825B package of tax breaks, local government aid, and unemployment extensions. They call it an “Economic Recovery” bill because the term “Stimulus” is a bit passé now. What’s clear about it, however, is that this bill is designed to do little more than avoid Depression and turn it into an ordinary Recession, no matter what they call it.
What’s in a name? A little, and a lot.
In the city of Saint Paul, there are 2200 plus vacant homes, and the inspection staff at the city agree that they are probably counting about half of the total. That means about 4% of the units are vacant in the City overall, and a lot more expected to hit foreclosure. As bad as this is, I’m quite sure that Saint Paul has a better handle on this than most cities across the nation, and is far ahead of any suburb.
What does this mean for the future?
Globalism, as a concept, has many strange facets that can each dazzle and blind in their own way. The basic principle is that the people of the world are somehow coming together and forming a single marketplace. Since the start of this thing called “civilization”, however, a marketplace has been the center of social life and the two have not been easily distinguished. Culture and commerce are ultimately, the same thing right down to the bare bones like contract law and the principles of incorporation.
During the many lulls in inaugural coverage, CNN knew what would dazzle ‘em. They had their satellite image of everyone standing around in the cold waiting for The Moment – the time when Obama would formally be worn in. Huddled around giant screens you could see the black specs, which the CNN crew dutifully told us “look just like ants!” Yes, from a distance, we are small, but doesn’t that miss the point just a little? It seems to me that when the great Wheel of History appears to be turning, we have one day where we should not be focusing on where we are on the rim, but on the progress of the great Wheel itself.
That’s why I started rummaging though all the ancient texts in my library.
The Capitol statuary hall was filled with the leaders of the land, some seated and awaiting lunch, other standing larger than life in marble. A gentle wash of language drifted up to the gilded and painted ceilings as they all bided their time, waiting for the moment. Then, on cue, the doorman barked, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States!” A door made small by the moment opened, and Barack Obama marched out. The Marine Band struck up “Hail to the Chief”, the President’s own song. It was Obama’s moment, it was his song, and all those leaders were now his.
That was when the day became real for me. Up until then every moment was somehow its own, every word suited to the occasion. But here, with all the trappings of the ages, he still commanded. It really did happen. It wasn’t just a fairy tale.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 