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All about the standing-upright chimps that really love to talk about themselves.

Wealth is How You Feel

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With Brazil hosting the World Cup and clearly looking for more from their economy and society, this is a good piece to re-run from last year.

Around the world, two stories have been consistent since 2008 – the developed world is struggling with a depression while the developing world largely charges ahead.  The two worlds have never been so far apart as the careen towards similarity.  But in this hemisphere, three stories have come to show where it all comes together – how “wealthy” is what a nation feels more than how it is.

Forget how Japan and Europe are wallowing in desperation for a while – on this side of the big ponds things are happening.  It may be slower than anyone wants, but change is happening.  The reactions to that change show that my favorite saying is still true – that while people are people, cultures are cultures.  Wealth, or at least the feeling of wealth, is a state of mind.

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Commencement

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Dear Class of 2014:

I am writing this to you because they never ask parents to give a commencement address. We’re too much in shock to say anything beautiful or poignant enough to mark the occasion.

My daughter Thryn, known to the family as Kate, graduates from High School today. I couldn’t be prouder, happier, sadder, or more in awe than I am today. She and all of you, every last one, are the coolest and most intelligent people I know. Today we hand over to you more than a slip of paper, we give you the keys to the sputtering and dangerous vehicle we call adulthood. It’s gonna be one Hell of a ride.

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Brazil Comes of Age

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When Brazil scored the 2014 World Cup, due to start next week, it seemed like a perfect plan. The nation, famous for its futbol fever and great parties was due for a coming out festival to celebrate its arrival as the developing nation of the moment – newly booming and ready to show the world that the future had finally arrived. The decision in 2010 was a an easy one.

Sadly, it’s still Brazil after all. Promises have gone unrealized and the people have turned sour on it in a way that no one could have ever predicted. But even this is a major milestone for the nation as it lurches ahead to developed nation status. What exactly will come of it won’t be realized until after the crowds have gone home, but we can say that Brazil, while not as wealthy as it would like to be, has a new-found purpose that can’t be quenched with just another big show.

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Yes, All Women

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“I get it now. I don’t get it. I’ve been trying to say that I understand how you feel, but, I’ll never understand.”
Stan, South Park Episode 1101 “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson”

In many ways, it was inevitable. The shooting spree of Eliot Rodger was bound to happen some day to a young man surrounded by wealth and a sense of entitlement. The rambling screed he left behind made it clear that this was a flip-side to the ridiculous standards of beauty foisted onto women. Misogyny is a poison that affects everyone.

But the reaction to the shooting was not as inevitable – yet long overdue. The first wave of social media comments included some horrific cheers for the shooter, later met with cries that “Not all men” are like this. No, we aren’t, but that doesn’t matter. Somewhere, deep inside millions of women, a rage bubbled out because the point was being missed. All women have to deal with misogyny and fear that any man, any time, any where they are vulnerable might be a threat. Yes, all women.

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Changing Attitudes About Work

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As discussed here previously, the distribution of income has changed in the US since 1970, or about the time that income inequality started to grow. In that year about half of all income was earned from wages, the other half from income came from investments (routed through corporate profits). Since then it has fallen steadily by year to 42.6% overall by wages, a difference of about $11k per household per year.

That suggests that the basic social agreement about what “work” is has changed. In the postwar period, through the 1960s, a fair day’s labor was supposed to be rewarded by a fair day’s pay. How does that work now? It turns out that Gallup has been polling people about this since 2001, and the trend shows that there is little faith in this basic arrangement of our economic “golden era”. The social agreement has, in fact, broken down.

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