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Le freak, c'est chic. (Not!)
Jan. 28th, 2009 09:27 pmIn explanation of the current crap economy, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mcfnord wrote in response to a post in badrobot68's journal:
What has happened is people here and around the world freaked out and cut their spending way back. Furthermore, banks have freaked out. These are the two freakouts that need to end as part of our recovery.
I'd add that we're now in the phase where general employers are freaking out, which only makes matters that much worse, because employers freaking out and announcing layoffs gives their employees that much more reason to freak out themselves.
Now in times like these people act in their own self-interest by saving money under the reasonable assumption that one never knows when one's employer is going to freak out like everybody else. The basic problem is that leads to the Paradox of Thrift in which the individual self-interest in saving is actually in conflict with the wider economy's interest in spending.
These are but two parts of the vicious circle that makes economic downturns feel like they will spiral on until the world comes to an untimely end. But that cannot happen indefinitely on the grand and global scale. Simply put, while individuals may decide that life in these new and strange circumstances isn't worth living, for most people, survival instincts will kick in. Plus there will be a core of positions that will always need to be filled -- and some need even more people the worse the economy gets.
So there is a limit to how low the economy will go. And while it will certainly suck -- and not in a nice way -- for large numbers of people, it won't be "the death of America" or "the death of capitalism" or even "the death of American capitalism". The nation has been through this before. It will be ugly and inconvenient and will probably hang around a lot longer than one would wish, but anyone who can keep one's head while all around are losing theirs will be better off in the long term.
Oh, and as for the title tune, Le Freak was written because of the band's rejection from Studio 54 one fabulous New Years' Eve, and the famous "aaahhh... freak out!" was originally "aaahhh... fuck off!"
mcfnord wrote in response to a post in badrobot68's journal: What has happened is people here and around the world freaked out and cut their spending way back. Furthermore, banks have freaked out. These are the two freakouts that need to end as part of our recovery.
I'd add that we're now in the phase where general employers are freaking out, which only makes matters that much worse, because employers freaking out and announcing layoffs gives their employees that much more reason to freak out themselves.
Now in times like these people act in their own self-interest by saving money under the reasonable assumption that one never knows when one's employer is going to freak out like everybody else. The basic problem is that leads to the Paradox of Thrift in which the individual self-interest in saving is actually in conflict with the wider economy's interest in spending.
These are but two parts of the vicious circle that makes economic downturns feel like they will spiral on until the world comes to an untimely end. But that cannot happen indefinitely on the grand and global scale. Simply put, while individuals may decide that life in these new and strange circumstances isn't worth living, for most people, survival instincts will kick in. Plus there will be a core of positions that will always need to be filled -- and some need even more people the worse the economy gets.
So there is a limit to how low the economy will go. And while it will certainly suck -- and not in a nice way -- for large numbers of people, it won't be "the death of America" or "the death of capitalism" or even "the death of American capitalism". The nation has been through this before. It will be ugly and inconvenient and will probably hang around a lot longer than one would wish, but anyone who can keep one's head while all around are losing theirs will be better off in the long term.
Oh, and as for the title tune, Le Freak was written because of the band's rejection from Studio 54 one fabulous New Years' Eve, and the famous "aaahhh... freak out!" was originally "aaahhh... fuck off!"
