tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post3800306286758398747..comments2023-10-19T08:49:35.405-05:00Comments on Aún Estamos Vivos: "I Got Mine, You Get Yours"Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-20189230282897461542007-05-29T16:49:00.000-05:002007-05-29T16:49:00.000-05:00HI Denny,Fascinating post. I'd like to read somed...HI Denny,<BR/><BR/>Fascinating post. I'd like to read someday about how you raised children while working at a Catholic Worker house. Did I read that right?<BR/><BR/>Young people sure are up against it when they try to get started these days. Student loans to pay off and the high cost of housing. Kids who live in the interior head for the coasts because of the lack of opportunities at home, but the coasts are so expensive too. I'm not sure what the answer is.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-21373212719809180172007-05-28T23:35:00.000-05:002007-05-28T23:35:00.000-05:00Jeff --Excellent post! I also enjoyed the comment...Jeff --<BR/><BR/>Excellent post! I also enjoyed the comments, most of which were really well written. <BR/><BR/>I share the feelings. Joan and I lived a life of voluntary poverty for a while, having the first three of four children and living in the Seattle Catholic Worker house for five years. I never really thought that we could wind up owning our own home, but we have, somehow. But now? Our youngest graduates from college this year... and I don't see how any of these four will be able to buy a home. <BR/><BR/>That's just one symptom. The national debt seems to be completely out of control. Most young people I talk with say that they don't believe that Social Security will be around when they retire. In Seattle the traffic and road infrastructure is getting so bad that there are large proposals for spending huge sums of money for roads, viaducts, and bridges ... and yet, in 25 years, will there be very many private automobiles on the roads? <BR/><BR/>I would like to see what happens in the next 50 years, because it will be so different, and probably surprisingly different. But a good part of me isn't so sure I'd like to see it.Deacon Dennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01045073538406901064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-47871926993039454352007-05-19T21:05:00.000-05:002007-05-19T21:05:00.000-05:00Winnipeg B,RomeOminous parallels, do you think?Winnipeg B,<BR/><BR/><I>Rome</I><BR/><BR/>Ominous parallels, do you think?Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-62648966024386325432007-05-19T11:00:00.000-05:002007-05-19T11:00:00.000-05:00Hi Paula.Wow! Whittle it down to 3 books? That's...Hi Paula.<BR/><BR/>Wow! Whittle it down to 3 books? That's a tall order... I'm going to have to think very hard about this one. :-)Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-49630003825314172612007-05-19T10:59:00.000-05:002007-05-19T10:59:00.000-05:00Liam,I couldn't agree more with your observations....Liam,<BR/><BR/>I couldn't agree more with your observations. I think you have your finger on it pretty well, and I felt the same way in putting together that <A HREF="http://estamos-vivo.blogspot.com/2006/09/fdrs-first-100-days-and-saving-of.html" REL="nofollow">FDR thread</A>.<BR/><BR/>Checks and balances are always a good thing. I'm a big believer in them. Power can be abused just as easily from the left or the right. It just seems to me right now that EVERYTHING is weighted too heavily in the interests of business and corporations, which should not have the same "rights" as individuals. I'm no socialist, but I do believe in a safety net and in collective bargaining. The labor movement in this country, and throughout the world, needs a desperate shot in the arm.<BR/><BR/>I read an interesting quote the other day, something about Republicans wanting to go back to the mores of the 1950s, and of the Democrats wanting to work there.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-48323520743536036272007-05-19T10:52:00.000-05:002007-05-19T10:52:00.000-05:00William,Very true in what you point out in your ob...William,<BR/><BR/>Very true in what you point out in your observations about New York, and I suppose that is a "large scale microcosm", if you will, of the resilience of the human spirit and of humankind. Funny, when you start getting to be my age, that you see well-absorbed lessons forgotten that have to be relearned all over again(such as Viet Nam and Iraq), and that you see the cyclical nature of things, right down to the children of your friends staring to look and act like your friends all over again.<BR/><BR/>I think you're right, we do have this knack for rejuvenation and survival, but I think it is also true that for the first time, we really have the demographic and technical means to destroy the environment if not the whole planet and life on earth if we don't find a new way to start doing things. We no longer have the luxury of falling into the same kinds of mistakes that we made before and rebuilding.<BR/><BR/><I>Instant Karma!</I> :-) Just heard that song the other day. Listened to the lyrics a little closer than I used to.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-69427020863948506862007-05-19T04:36:00.000-05:002007-05-19T04:36:00.000-05:00Off topic: Jeff, I tagged you with a three books m...Off topic: Jeff, I tagged you with a three books meme. If you have time, of course.:-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-50510958997788017762007-05-18T17:41:00.000-05:002007-05-18T17:41:00.000-05:00RomeRomeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-74256615098307003812007-05-17T07:45:00.000-05:002007-05-17T07:45:00.000-05:00One thing about the dichotomy between competition ...One thing about the dichotomy between competition and egaltarianism: I think they can exist side by side, it's just a question of what the rules are for the competition. A safety net does not equal socialism, and right now our society is unfairly tilted towards the financially powerful -- the ultra-wealthy as a class and the most powerful of corporations. <BR/><BR/>I agree with many of the points Peggy Noonan made, but I find it ironic that she's making them. As one of the principal architects of the rhetoric of the "Reagan revolution," she's one of the people responsible for two damaging ideas that have led in some ways to the dissolution of the cohesiveness of our society. One is "the market is always right," and the other is "government is the problem, not the solution." While a respect for the market and a concern about bureaucracy can be good things, Americans in general have become convinced that the extreme position stated in those two phrases is teh basic truth, and they believe in it religiously.<BR/><BR/>The result is that our apparent "market economy" is biased towards the powerful who do not always create real wealth for the society. That's why despite rising profits and CEO salaries, real wages for most Americans have not kept up with inflation. Worship of what we believe is "the market" has wrecked havoc with our health care system, and if we don't fix that, it will tank our economy.<BR/><BR/>People seem not to remember that periods of amazing growth in the last century accompanied massive government projects and high taxes on the wealthy. The New Deal, WWII, and the GI bill created a society that had much more of a level playing field (in some ways -- at least for white people) than we have now, and it did not stiffle creativity. Quite the opposite. It also created real wealth for the majority of the population.<BR/><BR/>I don't want to imply that our society or policies were perfect at that time, but in some ways we have gone downhill.<BR/><BR/>If the trolley manages to run over a couple of sacred cows, it might not come off the tracks.Liamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17265036866243982434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-17707676270343687512007-05-17T00:04:00.000-05:002007-05-17T00:04:00.000-05:00Another great post Jeff. So much to comment on.Yo...Another great post Jeff. So much to comment on.<BR/><BR/>You know, I grew up in a household where the Apocalypse was ever-present. It's taken most of my adult life to get out from under that heavy, heavy cloud. Each day is a struggle for me to be positive. But I'm trying.<BR/><BR/>Is the trolley coming off the tracks? Well, I know two good antidotes when one is feeling that way. One is to live in New York City. There's absolutely no good reason why New York hasn't crumbled into the harbor. You get the feeling that at any moment someone's going to see a loose brick somewhere, pull it out, and the whole city's just going to collapse. The infrastructure - outside of the nice parts of Manhattan - is horrible. People seem ready to blow at any moment. The speed and stress are amazing. Walking through Penn Station at rush hour, I feel like a gazillion molecules are bouncing off of each other. It seems like everything is spinning faster and faster and getting ready to disintegrate. ["She's breaking up, she's breaking up!"] Yet, somehow, the city keeps on going. There was a two-week pause after 9/11, but even that didn't last long. In other words, even when you think it's all going to fall apart, it can keep on going for a long time out of some mysterious momentum.<BR/><BR/>Second, reading history makes me realize what a bunch of wimps we are. So many people in so many places at so many periods in human history have gone through (and are going through) things that are infinitely worse that what we experience in the U.S. But the world kept turning. Think about the Civil War in our own country. The amount of devastation, death and destruction was incredible. But here we are. Our problems are nothing compared to so much of history. Imagine trying to live in Baghdad right now. The trolley may be coming off the tracks there. But here? <BR/><BR/>On the other hand, I do believe you reap what you sow. We've done certain things to get where we are as a country. Getting and keeping power is always closer to the Godfather than it is to being Christlike. There are repercussions. As St. John of Liverpool said: "Instant Karma's gonna get you."<BR/><BR/>I also think we've underestimated the spiritual consequences of the war we've unleashed on Iraq. It's not surprising that we're feeling uneasy. War is not something to take lightly. It's become background noise in many ways, but there's a tremendous amount of spiritual stress involved.<BR/><BR/>And, if you ask me, the current administration exudes a sense of failure, incompetence and corruption. No matter how they and the Right spin it. When the head is rotten . . . <BR/><BR/>But I don't think it means everything is going to hell in a handbasket. <BR/><BR/>Let's just say that adjustments are going to have to be made. We probably won't like all of them.cowboyangelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13452987299073540171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-50045384541080547112007-05-16T20:01:00.000-05:002007-05-16T20:01:00.000-05:00Hi Jeff,I haven't really had time to comment, but ...Hi Jeff,<BR/>I haven't really had time to comment, but I enjoyed this and the last post very much.Liamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17265036866243982434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-10105516899388390982007-05-16T15:38:00.000-05:002007-05-16T15:38:00.000-05:00Hi Guys,Thanks for the remarks.Steve, Botton's ser...Hi Guys,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the remarks.<BR/><BR/>Steve, Botton's series was excellent! I posted about it and quoted him on it at some length back <A HREF="http://estamos-vivo.blogspot.com/2006/12/status-anxiety-and-its-discontents.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>.<BR/><BR/>Well, this is the vexing age-old problem mankind has faced, isn't it? How to have egalitariansim and equality without freeloaders? I heard an interesting program on NPR the other day about the privatization of some Kibbutzim that were on the verge of going under. <BR/><BR/>We can either decide as a society (or as humankind) to cooperate or to compete. If we choose competition as the basis, there will be excellence and creativity as well as great inequality, upheaval, and deprivation. If we cooperate (in the socialist sense) there will be more equality, more levelling, but also more sloth, mediocrity, and stifling of creativity. How to find the right mix?Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-91062941752630907612007-05-16T12:02:00.000-05:002007-05-16T12:02:00.000-05:00Thanks, Steve. Great stuff! Here is what particula...Thanks, Steve. Great stuff! Here is what particularly caught my eye:<BR/><BR/>"A sharp decline in actual deprivation may – paradoxically – have been accompanied by a continuing and even increased sense of deprivation and a fear of it. Populations blessed with riches and possibilities far outstripping those imaginable by their ancestors tilling the unpredictable soil of medieval Europe have shown a remarkable capacity to feel that both who they are and what they have are not enough."<BR/><BR/>Not to belabor or to pile on re: an issue (too?) much in the news, but this is why the whole saga of the Edwards' 28,000 square foot home is so very tragic. Here is the only presidential contender *really* willing to address the momentous issue of poverty in America...and yet he obviously doesn't 'get' the "relative deprivation" component of American poverty or he wouldn't be flaunting his wealth. <BR/><BR/>There was a phrase in Into Great Silence that really got to me: "What do we have that we were not given?" We aren't 'entitled' to stuff; it should be there for the sharing.<BR/><BR/>Peace, Mike McG...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-13768144063401278322007-05-16T11:17:00.000-05:002007-05-16T11:17:00.000-05:00My neighbor just listed his house for $989,000 - a...My neighbor just listed his house for $989,000 - and there are scores being built around the area at that same price, or close to it. That's a lot of money; yet just down the road there are folks living in beat up old trailer homes. <BR/><BR/>A couple nights ago I watched one part of a series on PBS called 'Status Anxiety'. It was hosted by Alain de Botton, who wrote a book of the same name. www.alaindebotton.com/status.asp if you care to read more about it. The kernel of his point, I think, is that personal freedom & democracy encourage this sort of competition to have more than the other guy - more status, bigger house, more bling, etc; and that your worth is measured by your worldly success. It's a side-effect of an egalitarian society. So perhaps the elites you speak of are driven to inaction by that nagging anxiety? <BR/><BR/>We're worried too much about our own station in life and not enough in the general welfare of society and those who are 'the least' in society. There's too much self-analysis, too much focus on taking care of number 1 at the expense of others & other things. And, I think that it's driven by the turning away from 'traditional values' (ugh, can't believe I said that but I have no other good term for it) and towards self-gratification, self-interest, self-promotion, self-spirituality and so on. The worship of 'self' - I could go on... but better stop before I get too wound up ;)Steve Bognerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11372621294204774480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-79085953831371974322007-05-15T17:17:00.000-05:002007-05-15T17:17:00.000-05:00Crystal,My understanding is that the Frisco area h...Crystal,<BR/><BR/>My understanding is that the Frisco area has the highest home prices in the country.<BR/><BR/>Just a side note... I've never been much of an Al Gore fan, but I did see <I>An Inconvenient Truth</I> recently, and did find it compelling. Houses built up to 4,000 square feet and more might be one of the first things we need to look at.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26437387.post-36460011924779412022007-05-15T12:30:00.000-05:002007-05-15T12:30:00.000-05:00My sister told me she heard on the news that the t...My sister told me she heard on the news that the three most over-priced places to live were San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento (I'm in Sacramento). New houses are being built near me for sale at almost a million dollars each. It's insane.crystalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05681674503952991492noreply@blogger.com