It's official, this is my 4th recession

Shockingly, it is my 4th recession. Not something to celebrate but at least I now know that it is not the end of the world as we know it.

The first one in the early '80s affected those of us who graduated from university arts programs with essentially no 'job skills' (as we were told time and time again). Yes, we were the first unemployeable, educated and hapless generation who picked our way through crappy jobs until things picked up in the late 80's. Then just as you established a degree of compentency, bam, the real estate/high interest rate crash of the late '80s early '90s sucked the life out of jobs and, more positively, the real estate market. Time to buy that first fixer-upper. That one was a doozy with fear lasting for many years. So, that recession was followed by the prosperity of the late 90's until, yep, the tech crash of 1999/2000. Happily, that didn't affect so many of us and at that stage, those of us just entering 'l'age' were experienced and able to skirt around the problem, surviving the blip with careers roughly intact. (Although I believe it changed work forever and heralded in an age where self-employment and contract work may be a safer bet than throwing your lot in with a single employer.) And here we are again, the 4th recession with everyone comparing it to either the Great Depression or at least the prolonged and wide-ranging recession of the early '80s.

So, that's roughly one per decade although this decade is showing two. The first one was relatively minor affecting one over-inflated sector and the 2nd is longish and structural like the biggies of the two previous decades.

This one seems to be based on debt, debt and more debt. Unfortunately, those of us who were trying to save a pittance for our old, non-pensioned age have been caught as well. It begs the question, is there any point in saving for old age when the earnings gained over the growth periods are wiped out by the inevitable recession? Is there any chance that we all won't be working in one way or another anyway? The one I really wonder about is if we should be bothering to save for our children's post secondary education when the economy will probably be so desperate for an increased tax base to pay for all the services needed by a non-pensioned cohort that they'll be throwing jobs at high school graduates just to get them working and paying taxes. Now it's all about graduate school and multiple degrees that incur huge debt (for either parents or kids), prolong adolescence and staves off the activities that are normally associated with adulthood including big ticket spending on homes and family stuff. I suspect education will be free or cheap because it will be mostly online and geared to getting kids in and out.


What really pisses me off about recession culture is the role the media plays in creating an environment in which fear overrides good sense and reasonable living. With all that is newsworthy and under-reported waiting to find a voice, all we hear about is how the recession may affect jobs, shopping and food banks. Is it a self-fulfilling prophecy? What is the media's role in feeding deflation? In this the 4th time around, it seems to me that the culture of recession mostly robs us of any sense that we have some control over our lives. Markets spin out of control (financial or real estate) and then the snowball begins to roll. It's always better to talk to folks who don't pay attention to the news, they continue to live their lives, christmas shop, have people over for dinner and give to food banks.

Should we, as the economic braniac, George W. advised after 9/11, just go out and shop?

Diana!

Cool Britannia arrives in America

When Tony Blair was elected Prime Minister in Britain after years of Thatcherism it was as though a pall had lifted from the U.K. All of a sudden, Britain was cool. Cool Britannia ruled.

With Tuesday's election of the ultra-cool Barack Obama, 'cool' has crossed the Atlantic. The U.S. is about to become very cool. More cool than it has been since JFK and Jackie were doing the twist on the 2nd floor of the White House. Fundamental Christianity, hawkishness and old white guys are so yesterday.

My predictions on the new cool:


1. Casual fridays are finally over. Men, even young men (under 30) will don suits with crisp shirts (white) and ties. The bar has been raised even for casual attire. When walking the kids to a Halloween party or speaking at an outdoor rally in the rain, Barack's has a classic casual uniform, black pants, a white shirt (open collar) and a black windbreaker. That's as casual as he gets. Cargo pants or worse, shorts, XL t-shirts and baseball caps are not clothes for grown men. RIP.

2. The waist is back: For women and men. The days of the baggy-ass pants are coming to an end, and not a moment too soon. It would be nice to see some young, shapely butts again. Lord knows, we women have had to squeeze our hips into ever smaller versions of everything during this miserable era. The thwarting of female power continues unabated ... that's a topic for another time.

For women, dresses are in. Michelle likes them and she looks pretty Jackie O. And they're pretty comfortable, versatile and, like the man suit, can hide lots of flaws. Plus you just have to throw one thing on instead of three (pants/skirt, jacket, shirt) Hilary's pantsuit can take a rest.

3. Public service is in. (O.K. the Wall Street Journal predicted it, but it is a nice shift from financial services)

4. Chili. Barack whips up chili for the family. cute.

5. Cool is not about age. Stephen Harper is about the same age as Barack and look what an old fart he is!


Amidst the financial crisis, the mortgage fiasco, young men and women being killed or maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least the misery can be balanced with a little cool.