Chicago
Progressives and conservatives do agree on something! The bailout has done nothing but anoint and embolden fat cat financiers to do it again. (How much does AIG's new CEO, Robert H. Benmosche, make? $7 million a year.)
Sure Americans are buying new cars, homes and furniture again. (deciding not to wait for jobs or health care).
But if the "mark to market" SIVs, CDOs and CDSs the money guys retained for a "better valuation" have sprung to life--explaining the "recovery"--isn't it still a bubble?
Or am I missing something?
Our "healthy" economy is still predicated on buying things we don't need with money we don't have. Just listen to EZ mortgage ads which are back on the radio next to the Mercedes ads.
Remember the Recession of 2007-2008 (Sept-Aug)? We went weeks without $5.95 lattes and our gym membership almost lapsed. Whew. (see: Siege of Leningrad.)
Still, you gotta wear something so we decided to go back-to-school shopping with a $300 budget--about equal to our unemployment check.
Before we knew it we'd blown a quarter of our budget on jeans which were $75 at Urban Outfitters, the Gap and the Levis Store! After we spent $39 for a translucent hot pink "burn" top we had a new problem. (Besides the fact that we'd blown a third of our budget.)
Because the "burnout process varies from piece to piece," says the tag on our new top, some garments are "sheerer than others and have variations in shading within the same T-shirt. Expect fraying at the collar, and possibly small snags or runs. Fabric is very delicate. Handle with care."
Oops. Not only can you can see our bra through the burn shirt, you can see our suntan lines and holes from our last acupuncture session in 2007.
This also means the top is what? Not Warm since it is 58 degrees in Chicago and we will need a dual T shirt--that isn't "burned"--or better yet, a forest green, loose weave "boyfriend" cardigan for $54. We are too broke to make boyfriend jokes.
Second problem--handle with care. Why? So the "fraying at the collar, and possibly small snags or runs," won't get worse and we won't sue because the defective garment we bought became more so?
The last thing we hand washed was our Ziploc travel pouch because it had sunblock congealing on the inside.
Another problem is the textile workers no one wants to talk about. If the burnout process does this to cloth what does it do their streams, factories and lungs? What do rag wearing workers think of industrially degrading perfectly good cloth so that Westerners will wear it?
But back to high class problems. We love our new jeans and top but now need what? New underwear to go with our new low-cut, see-thru profile. Eureka! We find a "ta ta tamer" at Lululemon, the Yoga store, for $58 and a Lacey Luluthong for $12.
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