Don't mind me, I'll just be drifting along over here

[flexagon]

Have I really not posted for over a week? I've been in a really strange and dreamy state lately... some of that is literal dreaming, as I have a cold (it got me eight days ago, Monday) and have been sleeping a lot. I'm way underexercised and undercaffeinated, generally not feeling like myself.

Which is not to say that I'm feeling awful. I've been sitting in sleepy amazement as great things happen on the world stage: President Obama is our president (and he can dance! and he fought to keep his Blackberry!), Guantanamo has been ordered closed, the FDA has approved the first human stem-cell experiments and the American ban on funding abortion abroad has been lifted.

Also with dramatic influence on my life, Zillian has decided to haul everyone's underwater stock options to the surface, which for the first time gives me a financial reason to stay there longer than this spring. (My strike price is 675, the current stock price is 327... so my options have been worthless since the beginning.) It's amazing. And this is why I can't seem to stick to a career plan -- Zillian changes things all the time, and not just little things, but big things too. Two months ago I wanted to take time off; now this job is going well and there's a really cool opportunity to work with friends in a building I was once very happy in. I'll have to keep my eye on that one and keep my mind open.



On the downside, raise your hand if you can believe 71,400 people lost their jobs yesterday. And these were manufacturing & services people -- average folks who just don't save much, or earn much unless they're in a quite high earning percentile. I read a number I didn't believe, the other night in Newsweek, about what percentile heisenbug and I are in... I guess I should have believed it. (And part of me wonders why that is and how long it can last.)

From wikipedia:


I am part of the economy's problem now, for the retail sector anyway. It's one more thing that makes me feel cut off from the world -- I've made the transition and am just not buying things right now. I was thinking lately about a daydream/daymare scenario I used to have when I was a kid (doubtless fueled by all that SF reading), the one in which I'm in a bunker or spacecraft, sometimes all alone, and surrounded by all the supplies I could need for the next X years but with no way to get anything else. Well, I looked around my house yesterday and realized I'm nearly in that situation. Not with respect to food and cold medicine, of course... but I have clothes, dishes, a stack of books I haven't read and hundreds more I wuld enjoy re-reading, yarn enough to knit for maybe a year or so before running out, video games I haven't played or have barely played that could keep me entertained for many hours apiece, exercise equipment (minimal, but I could stay fit at home if I had to), a computer that alone offers hundreds of possibilities. Huh. I practically have my bunker. Though they may be exciting, I don't need new physical objects. Sorry, retailers, I'll be more interactive after April.

Comments

[figmint.livejournal.com]

There is no way I am almost in the top 5%. I'm barely scraping by.

[flexagon]

Barely scraping by... at your preferred lifestyle level.

I think there are levels and levels of "barely scraping by".

[figmint.livejournal.com]

My lifestyle is pretty meager.

What that table is not taking into account is where you live and whether you live alone. I alone pay the mortgage on a 2 br, 1ba condo in Chicago. It's nothing fancy, just a basic old building. But that alone wipes out much of my income.

If I were making my income in Topeka, or sharing my current place, I'd be very comfortable.

I know that just measures raw income, nothing else. But you can't tell anything about relative income from that distribution.

[flexagon]

Yes, niralth just made a really similar point in a comment below, saying that we both live in expensive urban areas (and you do too, right?) Housing alone is huge and provides a lot of the levels I'm talking about. So, for instance, there's scraping by in Chicago in your condo, scraping by in Chicago with renting out one of those bedrooms, scraping by and renting, and then scraping by somewhere else. So you're scraping by, but that's because you're clinging to living in a great place with lots of of privacy and square feet, on the grand scale of things.

(We are doing the same, except splitting that 2br, 1ba condo, which does make a huge difference.)

[figmint.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know the Boston area is extremely expensive. Chicago is too, although maybe not quite as high. It depends on the neighborhood, of course. Mine isn't the most expensive, but it's pretty pricy because my neighborhood is mostly graceful old 3 story single family homes with kids and dogs running around and in the summer the trees make a canopy over the street. It's like living in Mayberry, but one block from one of the city's main arteries!

chicago is definitely a lot less expensive than Berkeley (where I used to live), and can't even be compared to San Francisco.

Sometimes for giggles I look at houses for sale in my home town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and imagine the life I could have if I were making a $400 mortgage payment every month!

[niralth.livejournal.com]

I read a number I didn't believe, the other night in Newsweek, about what percentile heisenbug and I are in... I guess I should have believed it.

I have problems with this sometimes too, and we have similar stories. Lower-half-of-the-economic-spectrum upbringing, Upper-x% adult reality. However, we also both live in expensive urban areas, so while we aren't hurting for money by a long shot, and can basically do whatever we want, there seem to be plenty more folks around with a lot more money. If we were to be suddenly transplanted to, say, the town you grew up in, I'm sure our salaries would feel like the Upper-x% that they are.

I am part of the economy's problem now, for the retail sector anyway

I'm of the opinion that you (and I, and everyone else that doesn't/isn't buying much) aren't part of the problem, but part of the painful solution. As a culture we have to (in my opinion) reset what "normal" consumption levels are. We can't bounce back to where things were, it was unsustainable. As a society we need to have those blue collar and service folks save some part of their earnings, not spend it all to maintain some ideal lifestyle of consumption. States, companies, people don't have rainy day funds, and they all need them.

[flexagon]

If we were to be suddenly transplanted to, say, the town you grew up in, I'm sure our salaries would feel like the Upper-x% that they are.

This is a really good point, and well taken.

I'm of the opinion that you aren't part of the problem, but part of the painful solution. As a culture we have to (in my opinion) reset what "normal" consumption levels are.

I agree 100%. I was being a bit facetious about myself. My current attempt to buy NO new objects is pretty unsustainable too (I'm gonna need new shoes), but my more usual habits are definitely part of the painful solution. In the meantime, what I'm really doing at the mo' is buying stocks at a tremendous rate, so I'm doing my bit for the markets if not the retailers. (And oh yes, for my retirement.)

It sucks that the average person is not only not earning a lot, but is in debt and has a hole to climb out of. :-/

[figmint.livejournal.com]

I can relate to this completely. I grew up quite poor -- I mean, living in a trailer, getting food stamps and supplementing it with government cheese -- and now I'm supposedly so well off.

On the other hand, I think a lot of American's don't eat out (except bad fast food or Olive Garden or that ilk) and like all my friends I go out to nice places at the drop of a hat, and have a couple of expensive drinks while I'm at it. So of course it's all relative.

Re: the solution--there was a terrific article in last weeks New Yorker about dystopian thinkers, and while I don't agree with all they have to say, I do agree that a seismic shift is coming. AND, that painful change can be a very good thing for renewing society. We can't continue the way we are--nor should we want to.

[sparklyfabulous]

hey, i just wanted to drop you a note and say i've friended you -- i keep seeing you on my friendsfriends page (i think by way of nevers and i always enjoy your posts!

[flexagon]

Cool, thanks! Yes, I've seen you around on nevers and, hmm, possibly contorti0n?

Added you back because I want 2009 to be sparkly & fabulous, and also you are very awesome for doing the maker's meme.

[sparklyfabulous]

i hope that 2009 is sparkly and fabulous for everyone!

i did the meme because my first reaction to it was "gosh, that sounds neat; too bad i don't make things!" -- and besides sparkles and fabulousness, my other goal for 09 is to not let myself get away with statements like that. i have NO IDEA what i'll be making, but i'll surely make SOMETHING.