The Pathos of the American Psyche

"A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them." – P. J. O'Rourke


On a recent afternoon, Lucy Johnston, 37, an accountant from Tulsa, Oklahoma, could be found at the Fashion Show mall on the Strip in Las Vegas. She’s cutting back on shopping and eating out because of the recession.

“It’s really tough right now,” Johnston says. “I don’t do many full-on spa days anymore.”

Yet there she was, shopping and vacationing in Vegas with her husband.

“We’ve pulled out all the stops. We’re staying at the Bellagio,” she says.

Schizophrenic Consumers

The new abnormal has given rise to a nation of schizophrenic consumers. They splurge on high-end discretionary items and cut back on brand-name toothpaste and shampoo. Companies such as Cupertino, California-based Apple, whose net income jumped 94 percent in its last quarter, and Starbucks Corp., which saw a 61 percent increase in operating income over the same time frame, are thriving.

Mercedes-Benz is having a record sales year; deliveries of new vehicles in the U.S. rose 25 percent in the first six months of 2010. Lexus and BMW were also up. Though luxury-goods manufacturers such as Hermes International SCA and Burberry Group Plc are looking primarily to Asia for growth, their recent earnings reports suggest stabilization and even modest improvement in the U.S.

How did we get here? In a word: Television. Of course, I truly mean all of the Media's effort to manipulate you but T.V. is such an easy target. Even if you don't watch it, everybody else in your community does.

I want to share with you some really, really politically incorrect observations. I can get away with this because I am not running for office and I am not looking for a job, and don't expect to be anytime soon.

I live half of the year in rural Tennessee in a small, blue collar and farming community about an hour outside of Nashville on a small organic farm which I run for the profit motive (as well as self-sufficiency). The people here were more than likely born and raised here with family living here going back several generations... They are, for the most part, extremely pleasant folks, and polite to a fault. If I were driving and the light in front of me turned green, no one (NO ONE!) behind me would honk their horn... not even if the light turned red and green and then red again... in fact, the folks behind me would rush up to my window and see if I was OK. For the most part they are overweight, and many are out right fat, many smoke, and many middle aged and older folks seem to have kept irregular dental appointments... and the VAST majority of the folks I have dealt with wouldn't cheat you out of $50 million, let alone $50 bucks. Outside of drug related possession and property crime flowing out of the public housing projects, there is just very little crime. Even the rich folks, and there are a few, drive pick up trucks, and my experience with my neighbors is the stuff right out of Mayberry RFD.

The other half of the year I live in Boca Raton, Florida running a hedge fund for the profit motive (until late last year I also operated a stock brokerage in Boca), and while I like to consider myself a keen observer of the human condition, these are only MY observations... And, really... this could be ANY well to do place that the "Real Housewives of Jerkville" might head over to catch the wacko's in action - Palm Beach, Orange County, New York City... This is hardly your average small town America type place. Many of the people here are rich. Some people are REALLY rich, while others are only middle-class millionaires, but still, in the grand scheme of history these people are freaking rich. For the most part this is "New Money". Don't get me wrong, many of these folks will likely endure poverty later in their lives because ANY fortune can be squandered, and many of them are hell bent on doing just that, but right now... they are living pretty well.

Most "New Money" is made by men (I said most, not all). I know that that is really political incorrect to say... but these are my observations, right? These are the guys that started hedge funds, built office complexes, started businesses, and made real money before the age of 40... and who does new money marry? Well, they ain't Wall Flowers. The women here are drop dead beautiful, and not just because of plastic surgery (although the number of psych-therapists and cosmetic surgeons within the city limits should give one a statistical hint, and; though I am sure that the figure enhancing procedures don't hurt) and I figure that that is not a coincidence. Men are driven to make money for a reason - and it ain't to play golf. It takes 2 to tango, as they say, this is not a societal fault. Men and women have been trading food for sex or status and wealth for youth & beauty for millenia and a better study of this cannot be found than here in Boca Raton.

White collar crime used to be Boca's largest employer, at one time it was referred to as the "Maggot Mile", with all of support business for such an economic structure - divorce lawyers, criminal defense lawyers, rehab centers, cosmetic surgeons, psychotherapists, etc... One of the 2 elite local private schools had a hard time keeping guys on the Board of Directors because the Directors kept getting indicted (not kidding). The pick up and drop off lines at these schools are littered with Bentleys and Mercedes and such; the medicine cabinets are littered with anti-depressants, pain killers, and treatments for mood disorders - sorry, but all that medication is not for the most productive, hard working and successful... for some reason and for the most part it is for their spouse. Borderline Personality Disorder dominates.

This is a town where a man can rip off a children's charity and his wife will stand by him... but if he runs a couple of laps with his female personal trainer his wife would be all too willing to take a knife to his manhood and his wallet. (Bernie Madoff did not fear that his wife would "leave" him for stealing billions and destroying thousands of lives... but he did fear her departure when it came public that he had had a long term mistress... somehow this is beyond ass-backwards... for myself, I could forgive a philandering spouse but not if she ripped off a children's charity.)

Know what the shortest time measurable by man? The time between when Boca traffic light turns green and the time when the guy behinds you blasts his horn and flips you "the Bird".


A compelling example comes from Greg Jeffer’s farm blog, in which he rants about the culture of femininity and divorce that keeps farm-wantin’ men in Boca in line. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the compliment, even if I don’t agree with a good portion of his commentary:

"So why’d I say “good luck”? I live half the year in Boca Raton, FL, where the poor people have a million dollar net worth, and the rich quite a bit more than that, and I should know – I manage their money! I hear their concerns like a priest in the confessional. Any of those guys even TRYS to move his family to a small holding homestead or ditch the landscaping for a productive garden, or try’s to downsize the familY’y consumption… and it is off to divorce court for his troubles (I truly wish the “Real” American Housewife were more like Sharon Astyk but that that just ain’t the case – America is fascinated by the Reality Show “The Real Housewives of Wherever” precisely because it is, in fact, REALITY). Sorry, but “family law” has left the successful “king of his castle” nothing more than a neutered figurehead, a laboring eunich that, if he so much as steps out of line, will lose his home and life’s savings in addition to the family jewels he lost to the marriage/divorce industrial complex by marrying without a prenup agreement. What is the point of marriage in a society that promotes divorce?" - Greg Jeffers, from his Blog: The American Energy Crisis

Now my comment would be that maybe Boca isn’t the best place to hunt for the sort of women who dream of farmwifing. But then again, maybe that’s not fair – if the world of even the rich is filled with men panting to get a small homestead and give up their affluent ways, with only wives holding them back with the threat of divorce, maybe there’s hope yet?
So I thought I’d ask the question – are women really more reluctant than men to take on a new way of life? Are women more attracted to creature comforts and more afraid of the future? Is this a gender thing at all? I should note that among me email collection on this subject, I have at least two emails from lesbians, complaining that other lesbians talk about sustainability but don’t really want to live it, and one from a gay man complaining that gay men are all mostly concerned with status and affluence, and don’t want to live sustainably.

Dear Sharon:

Somehow I think you missed the point. I never suggested that the Nouveau Riche men of Boca wanted to take up organic farming or sustainable living - these guys get manicures and Botox injections for pity's sake. What I DID say was that these guys had lost all power over their own destiny to the marriage/divorce industrial complex and I was hinting that something in our society was bringing out material competitiveness in our women folk to the point where "The Real Housewives of Wealthy Miserableville" are considered normal and Borderline and Narcissistic Personality Disorder dominate. The point was consumerism is destroying the fabric of our society... and just what is the demographic of the folks walking through the mall clutching a mocha frapapoofychino with status shopping bags and the gaudy jewelry with the cell phone stuck in their ear? These are the consumers. These are the folks leaving the family budget for retirement in tatters. So... Dearest Sharon... as usually happens when a male member of the majority questions ANYTHING about the women or minority's priorities or powers I am rubuked with lines like "farm-wantin men in Boca in line". Let us remain germane to the conversation at hand, spare me the eye rolling BS, and give an ear to what thinking men like myself and Dmitri Orlov (also mentioned in Sharon's article) both seem to have noticed.

We, as thinking people really must be able to talk about the things that are harming all of us regardless of how uncomfortable it makes us feel or politically incorrect it is.



More to follow...