The Invisible Depression
The Boston Globe’s Drake Bennett has a must-read column about what a potential depression would look like in 2009. Rather than the historical vision of bread lines and people in rags that we remember from 70 years ago, this time may find people hunkered down in huge, empty dwellings, watching TV because they can’t afford to do anything else:
With the diminishing price of televisions and the proliferation of channels, it’s getting easier and easier to kill time alone, and free time is one thing a 21st-century depression would create in abundance. Instead of dusty farm families, the icon of a modern-day depression might be something as subtle as the flickering glow of millions of televisions glimpsed through living room windows, as the nation’s unemployed sit at home filling their days with the cheapest form of distraction available.
Bennett draws similar conclusions that I and others have made in the last few years–that as exurban homes become too expensive to maintain due to high utility costs, and home values sink further underwater, people will abandon McMansions and start moving back towards urban cores. Even the continuing drop in gas prices, welcome though that is, won’t really mitigate this trend, because everything else is getting too pricey, and wages simply aren’t keeping up. Not to mention that the financial industry is putting an ever-tighter squeeze on family budgets due to increasing interest rates and cutting credit lines, right at the time when people are relying on credit cards more than ever. As Bennett notes, the potential of a depression could lead to even more burdens for our already overtaxed health care system, which fails American patients at an alarming rate due to overcrowding, medical errors, and lack of access to care.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Some of the trends Bennett notes–growing your own food, buying consignment or hand-me-down–have been in place for months, as the recession has quietly wound its serpentine self around the heart of the country. The people who live on the margins–and you’d be surprised how many of those are people you know–have been silently downgrading and scaling back their lives for YEARS now. It’s only now, with the recession unavoidable and finally threatening the livelihoods of the upper classes, do we see it for what it truly is. You don’t need two straight quarters of negative economic growth to know that we’ve been fucked for a long time.
We can fix it. It will not be easy, quick, or simple, but we can do it. Obama’s commitment to public infrastructure investment will bring new jobs at a time when they are desperately needed. But investing in infrastructure doesn’t just mean the physical aspect, but the social aspect as well. Now, more than ever, we need to pull together as a nation, and not hunker down alone in our isolated, unfurnished, unheated castles, watching television and raging at our impotency in the face of a cruel, pitiless fate. I’m all for appreciating simple joys and little things, but we also need to hold on to our gift of vision, of believing that all things are possible.
We need to reach out to those in need and remind them that they are not invisible. We need to restoke the fire of community spirit, of working together and providing for each other. Or else the depression that envelops us will be so profound on every level–mental, physical, spiritual, and financial–that we may never get out of it.
November 17th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I still hope to own my own home someday, and am actually hoping that prices will far farther. And when I finally get my home, it’ll be a small one- 1500 SF or less. Little homes are cheaper to heat and cool, and you don’t have to spend so much in furnishing them.
Unfortunately, the furniture available is made for the giant McMansions, as I found out when shopping for an entertainment center. Couches, dining sets, and other furniture are built for the giant rooms of giant houses, not for more modest homes.
I wish I had more sunshine in my back yard- I’d grow a larger garden if I could.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Sunfell,
I feel the same way. I don’t need much in the way of space–a condo or townhouse about the size of my place in D.C. would suit me fine.
If/when I get married, I’d want to make sure that the lucky woman isn’t someone who desires some huge castle in the ‘burbs. I don’t plan on having kids (unless we adopt–too many unloved babies in the world), so that’ll make it easier.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:39 am
The people who live on the margins–and you’d be surprised how many of those are people you know–have been silently downgrading and scaling back their lives for YEARS now.
This describes the last four years of my husband’s and my life. Our scaling back became a focus when Dave’s student loans kicked in, and it’s been something we address every month: what other utility can we save on, where else can we cut costs. We’ve done some impressive reductions – $40/month garbage bill replaced by a $22 trip to the local METRO depot every 3 months and a great deal of attention to recycling and composting… We’ve ditched cable TV, we’ve ditched our landline in exchange for cheap, pay-as-you go cell phones and Skype… we buy our clothes at thrift stores…
It starts to feel as if we’ve nowhere left to go, no other places to cut back, but we keep searching, just in case there’s some additional way to save money and make our scraping by a wee bit easier. It’s tough though when the resources aren’t quite there to begin with: I’d love to save more gas by using my bike, but I can’t afford to get my bike fixed. It would be great to get those rain barrels installed and build a cold frame in the yard… if we can save up for the parts.
In all of this, community is key. While I love having an online presence that connects with people around the globe, right now it feels far more important to me to connect with people just a short drive/bus ride away. I’m doing whatever I can to connect up with local bloggers/techies/small business owners of all types, not just for business networking, but in the hopes that amongst this diverse group there will be many opportunities for bartering, sharing, lending a helping hand. Many of the people I’ve met in the local tech community already see the need for this, so on that front at least, I’m optimistic.
December 9th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
[...] But it also means there’ll be many more people surfing the Web, viewing videos on YouTube, and maybe finding communities to contribute to. At a time when people are cutting back more and more of their communications tools (cable, Internet, landlines) to save money, cellphones may be their only means of staying connected to the wider world and not succumbing to the isolation of an “invisible depression.” [...]