Call to Action

Posted on 6 March 2009 by Erik Hare | 19 Comments

It’s just a word. That’s the main thrust of many of the comments on my last blog entry, several e-mails, and a lot of tweets. The other side of the same argument is that words can be very powerful, so what’s the point in using that power to scare people? If we call it a Depression, a Recession, or a Banana it doesn’t really make any difference except the potential for panic. Why do I want people to panic?

Just as the power of words leads many people to think we might as well avoid the incendiary word, taking away its power, the goal of using the word Depression for me is to actually avoid panic. I want to confront this thing head on.

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What’s in a Name?

Posted on 4 March 2009 by Erik Hare | 17 Comments

Words shape the way we see the world around us. We are a social animal that relies on discussion and interpretation to understand what we see, figuring things out in a kind of committee. Our thoughts are often in language, a Jungian dialogue between our outer and inner selves. There is a rich meaning beyond the simple names that make up our lives like “house” or “car” or “spaghettios”. When events overtake us we need words that describe them such as “Depression” – the alternative is anxiety. Yet choosing the right word with the right color is tricky.

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Want Ads

Posted on 25 February 2009 by Erik Hare | 15 Comments

Millions of people are finding themselves not only without a job, but without a career. As whole industries downsize at once the necessary restructuring in our economy means that many professions are going to be reduced to the point where they appear to have gone away. If their profession is a big part of their identity, many workers will feel that they have been disposed of. Dealing with this issue will, eventually, move from being a personal trauma to a social tragedy – and perhaps a new openness in the job market for the professional middle class. Continue reading →

Grandpa’s Job

Posted on 20 February 2009 by Erik Hare | 38 Comments

Understanding the changes that have taken place in our economy over the last two generations helps us to understand the nature of the Depression or near Depression we are in now. The most important reason for this is that the way out of a economic downturn is a restructuring – allocating energy and money to something that has a real value to the world. Think of it as a chance to go to our rooms and think about what we’ve done and what we’re going to do different in the future. The other reason is that as we look to the last Depression for guidance as to what we should be doing, there are obvious limitations caused by the simple fact that things have changed.

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The Long View

Posted on 11 February 2009 by Erik Hare | 14 Comments

I tend to take the long view on things. Granted, I like to eat every day and I have bad habits that make me act in the shockingly short term. When it comes time to explain things, however, all the pleasure and gratification seeking behaviors of people happen in response to some kind of social construction. We dare not act too far out of line for fear of losing everything we have in money, status, and all the other things that we use to get our kicks. Transformations take place generationally because we grow up with ideas about pleasure and guilt, wrong and right that are comfortable. Things don’t just change overnight because we don’t change that quickly.

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