This first story from the Times ran today, and this second one was in the Saturday edition.
You can connect the dots.
The first (in case you don't want to read it all) is about the Mall of America. In what I read as a two-part message, it's exploring the idea that a) malls may be on the way out and b) this particular shopping and entertainment center could be a barometer for the country's economy. Though various shopkeepers say business is bad, the mall manager says business is up 2 percent over last year.
Second story. The census at high-end psychiatric hospitals in and around New York is up. Many of the patients have enjoyed high-powered jobs in the city's financial sector (or are family members) but have either lost said jobs or can't sell their multi-million-dollar homes, etc. Some are having real flashbacks to 9/11. Though not exactly the same tragedy, I could see how the emotions could be similar.
Now. My point. On one hand, we have the Mall of America which pretty much encapsulates this country's love affair with consumption and celebrating the Almighty Dollar. (If shopping doesn't do it for you, there's a roller coaster inside. For real.)
A thousand or so miles away, we have God knows how many Wall Streeters out of work or working themselves to death, out of anxiety of losing their jobs, homes, etc. One person says it's not so much the loss of the STUFF that bothers him but the loss of prestige and all that goes with it.
At the same time you have to honor someone and have real compassion for where they are emotionally, you do have to wonder: Will shopping save us? Has it ever?
1 comment:
Shopping won't save us, but I have real difficulty having sympathy for too many Wall Streeters. I do understand that it is difficult to lose so much, but I also think they need to understand that the prestige they felt could have been as false as the money they thought they made.
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