Tethered Swimming

“Mr. Burns, in light of your unbelievable contempt for human life this court fines you three million dollars.” – Judge Snyder

“Smithers, my wallet’s in my right, front pocket.” – C.M.  Burns

The cover story in the March issue of The Atlantic Monthly had an interesting premise.  Though we may have avoided a repeat of the Great Depression the general economic consensus is that high unemployment isn’t going to recede any time soon.  If that be true, then what does that mean for America?  What effects will unemployment in the 10% range mean for a country accustomed to unemployment in the 5% vicinity?

The article itself is quite interesting; it goes through a dizzying repertory of academics from a variety of fields as it tries to explain what kinds of social and cultural changes we may see.  One of its more depressing conclusions is that the inner cities, though they’ve never really prospered are for the most part a lot better than they were in the 70s and 80s, may slide back.  Other conclusions include the base failure of American manufacturing and the futility of mass education.  Long article short: it’s bleak.

What this particular article has a harder time with, however, is trying to put all that despair into a context that a relatively affluent and well educated readership cares about. That fundamental conundrum leads to quotes like this one from near the end of the article:

The research of Till Von Wachter, the economist at Columbia University, suggests that not all people graduating into a recession see their life chances dimmed: those with degrees from elite universities catch up fairly quickly to where they otherwise would have been if they’d graduated in better times; it’s the masses beneath them that are left behind.

Ah ha!  That Americans armored with even a bachelor’s degree from a name school will do just fine isn’t news in the least.  Though it may come as a surprise to the distinctly Ivy looking young man who graced the full page photo that opens the article.  I assure you that he, and more importantly those he represents, will not have any trouble in this brave new world of 10% unemployment.

Whoever dreamed up this image certainly earned their pay: a preppie with a hobo bindle!  That’s non-verbal brilliance!  But look at that kid: his shoes are polished to a mirror shine, his trousers have sharp creases, his tie is properly knotted, and there’s nary a scuff mark to be seen on his satchel/laptop case.  (I’d be curious to know why they went with the sweater instead of the suit coat, maybe it helps him look younger or something.)  This eminently employable stereotype, for whom all the doors of our world will automatically open, is the opposite of a poster boy for a thoroughly researched story about the horrors of unemployment.  An educated white male, young and sexy, is the definitional opposite of what this article describes.

There’s nothing really wrong with that.  Marketing is a fucker and pitching things directly to your affluent audience is a good way to stay employed.  But the more interesting thing here isn’t the content, it’s the presentation.  The concept that underlies everything about this is the same horrifying problem that makes gritty movies about “hardship” seem so topical: economic apocalypse.  There ought to be klaxons sounding all over the land to reduce the unemployment level, but there aren’t.  It takes a clever visual gimmick, an improbable picture postcard of upper middle class failure, to put a dire spin on things for people who will weather this crisis just fine, thank you very much.

It’s fun to talk about how we ought pay for medical care.  It’s fun to talk about the grinding horror that is the current economy.  But the people who do the prominent talking are the least justified to do so.  Educated and affluent Caucasians are not troubled, nor will they be.  It’s just telling that literary backflips are considered necessary to interest them in the reality of everyone else.