THE STORY SO FAR: PART 332: WEDNESDAY

“80 PERCENT OF U.S. ADULTS FACE NEAR POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT”

GIVEN THAT SO MANY OTHER COUNTRIES OPERATE SOCIAL SAFETY NETS—WITH CONSIDERABLE SUCCESS--WHY DOES THE U.S. REFUSE TO?

The lack of outrage about the structural flaws in the U.S. economy continues to amaze me—though I really shouldn’t be surprised. Stories of real economic significance have a disconcerting habit of dying fast. It is almost as if our corporate media were more interested in distracting us than keeping us informed. The Royal birth served this time around. The Wiener situation helped. A penis is more fun to write about than poverty. In fact, now I contemplate the matter, it is more fun overall.

The media mindset is another fundamental problem. The structural flaws in this economy are not a hot new story that you can summarize in a sound bite.  Instead this issue represents an existential threat to our national wellbeing, and requires a much more measured approach backed up by a deep knowledge of the subject matter. Journalists with such credentials are in short supply and rarely have the freedom to say what they really think.

The story—dated July 28 2013--that really got my personal attention was an AP report, summarized in the Huffington Post, which stated that:

Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.

The gauge defines "economic insecurity" as a year or more of periodic joblessness, reliance on government aid such as food stamps or income below 150 percent of the poverty line. Measured across all races, the risk of economic insecurity rises to 79 percent.

While racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty, race disparities in the poverty rate have narrowed substantially since the 1970s, census data show. Economic insecurity among whites also is more pervasive than is shown in the government's poverty data, engulfing more than 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60, according to a new economic gauge being published next year by the Oxford University Press.

"Poverty is no longer an issue of `them', it's an issue of `us'," says Mark Rank, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis who calculated the numbers. "Only when poverty is thought of as a mainstream event, rather than a fringe experience that just affects blacks and Hispanics, can we really begin to build broader support for programs that lift people in need."

The fact that the richest country in the world allows this situation to continue is an absolute disgrace—and now the Republicans are trying to cut Food Stamps (which are already too low).

This is mean-spirited, shabby behavior, morally wrong—and economically inefficient. Currently, corporate interests are working hard (and successfully) to create a low wage economy—and purchasing power is being reduced accordingly. For the time being, shale oil and the revival of the auto industry are giving the economy a boost, but the bulk of the economy is deeply troubled. Most of the jobs that are available are badly paid, part-time, or both.

The fact that 80% of the population is at risk is truly mind blowing—especially as this figure is projected to rise to 85% by 2030. This reflects an economic system that is not working in the interests of the population as a whole. Now this has been obvious for a considerable time; but, given that Congress is controlled by corporate money, nothing is being done about it.

Worse still, though economic insecurity is rampant in the U.S.—with all its attendant pressures—I see scant evidence that people understand the sheer scale of the forces they are up against—and that unless they fight back, continued decline is inevitable.

At one stage, the deficit was considered to the source of all our ills, but now that issue is fast being resolved, it can be seen that the real problems are much more widespread and deeply rooted. Here, I would add that Europe’s adoption of Austerity has proved to be a disaster—a case history in what not to do. Certainly, there are times to cut back—and government expenditure always needs to be tightly controlled—but cutting is ill advised when your economy is sluggish or in recession. Then you merely undermine growth and increase unemployment—which is exactly what has been happening. Our own extensive cutting of government jobs, mainly by Republican state governors, plus the sequester, has had exactly the same effect.

FINANCIALIZATION: Thanks to taxpayer money, and massive support by the Federal Reserve—which continues at the remarkably rate of $85 billion a month—the financial sector has now fully recovered and is more prosperous than ever. In fact, it is the largest business sector on Wall Street. Meanwhile, the well-being of the average American continues to decline. These two facts are directly related.

 

 

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 331: TUESDAY

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT ALL

I have been thinking a great deal about multimedia recently—partly prompted by my recent burst of screenplay writing; partly because I don’t have TV at present so am relying on my computer for entertainment; and partly because, as a writer, it’s my job to be aware of this particular world.

The growth of video is downright frightening to a traditional wordsmith like me—and sometimes I wonder whether the written word will survive in anything like its present form—or will it evolve into pictograms or something similar. However, I’m fairly confident that it will see me out, which is just fine by me. And if my difficult children do get me a headstone, I don’t want it to show a video at the press of a button—it’s the way things are going—but to be granite and inscribed with good old fashioned words saying something like:

WORDS, WOMEN & WINE

HE DIED OF EXHAUSTION

Actually, that just about says it all, now I think about it—and, no, I don’t mean to be sexist. Trust me, it covers a multitude. Inspired by reading when I was a kid, it was my ambition to have adventures when I grew up—and life has not let me down. What exactly constituted an adventure? I didn’t know—which is part of the point.

In fact, my current focus is not the survival of the written word, but lengths and formats. Supposedly, a movie’s length is based upon the endurance of the average bladder—and U.S. TV programs are based on the maximum number of ads that can be squeezed in before viewers shoot their sets—but today with Smart phones, tablets, endless recording devices and the internet, the possibilities are endless.

My preference is for a movie—if it’s any good—to be 120 t0 140 minutes, but am otherwise biased towards mini-series and part-works. I like the idea of being able to develop a story free of the merciless time constraints of a movie script.

Such thoughts apart, it is clear that there is going to be a growing demand for short programs—ten to twenty minutes long—to provide sustenance for the YouTube generation.

This is a tough one to crack well—my comfort zone is long form—but it’s a compelling challenge. Indeed, one might almost call it an adventure.

PEOPLE DON’T DIE ANYMORE: Americans seem to have a profound fear of death (yet we chose  lifestyles which kill us sooner than other developed countries). People don’t die, they “pass” or, as I read today, they “enter into rest.” This is rubbish, and is undermining that wonderful thing, the English language.

“Bring back death,” should be our cry—and personally, I intend to die. 

 

 

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 330: MONDAY

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE REALLY GOOD (ORDINARY) AMERICAN MOVIE?

I love the movies and have the sneaking suspicion that, on average, they have real life beaten hands down. I have put in “on average” to cover myself against some rather special people who may be tempted to chastise me for seeming to dismiss some wonderful moment or occasion (of which I am glad to say I have had many).

But though romance and great lovemaking are wonderful and memorable—as are one’s children (when small) and close friends, romance in particular can be exceptionally painful—whereas, where movies are concerned—the  pain, thankfully, is confined to the screen.

But enough of the preamble. What I really want to say is that there seems to be a decided shortage of the kind of intelligent, well written, well acted, tightly edited, and crisply directed movies—which an adult (and here I do not mean porn) can watch with enjoyment—and which Hollywood used to turn out in profusion; and which didn’t cost an arm and a leg to make.

My archetype is EXPERIMENT IN TERROR starring Glen Ford which admittedly had the advantage of also starring Lee Remick and Stephanie Powers and being directed by Blake Edwards—but otherwise was a routine movie. In fact, I originally saw it in black and white back in 1962 when I was at university in Dublin, Ireland. It was a compelling, and thoroughly entertaining, thriller.

I’m prompted to raise this thorny subject because I have just been reading about the apparent financial failure of no less than six enormously expensive blockbusters, and because I have been watching of the recent crop of thrillers via Netflix—for both professional reasons and just to chill out—and have been decidedly under-impressed. Mostly, the latter—even when starring well known names—are mediocre at best. And I’m being charitable.

All of this makes me wonder if Hollywood is not losing its production quality edge when it comes to movie making.

Watching a number of foreign movies and TV series—French, Swedish, British etc.—reinforces that viewpoint. The production quality of the British TV series, WAKING THE DEAD, for instance, way exceeds that of most U.S. made thrillers that I have seen over the last few years—and for sheer originality of plotting and characters, you would be hard to beat LUTHER.

I’m not against blockbusters, especially when they are of the quality of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA or A BRIDGE TOO FAR, but I’m far from sure the current trends are healthy for the U.S. movie industry.

Fortunately, Netflix’s outstanding HOUSE OF CARDS and HBO’s GAME OF THRONES (which I haven’t seen, but which is being widely praised) gives us hope. On the other hand, the programming of the mainstream networks could well induce one to find a high bridge, over a hard place, and jump.

ELECTRONS VERSUS PAPER: “Nielsen reports that they have it on good authority that fiction eBook sales will overtake print by 2014. According to their Understanding the eBook Consumer July Report, Nielsen estimates that for next year, eBook sales of fiction will amount to 47 million units, some 300,000 ahead of the paperback figure and 48% of total fiction sales.”

I’m reserving my opinion at this stage. We live in very strange times where the book business is concerned.