The Real Cause of the collapse in the US is the dominance of the suburbs. Why? Because the suburbs do not create goods
that have high economic value, and generally have no skills other than social/service workers. The Suburbs are the true service
economy.
As the manufacturing sector continues to fade, or move to more favorable environments (overseas), Suburbia’s continued
existence becomes very questionable.
We need to understand just what Suburbia was created for to understand just how vulnerable it really is to the coming economic
adjustments.
Levittown NY is where this story starts:
http://www.historynet.com/levittown-the-archetype-for-suburban-development.htm
The primary economic activities needed by the Suburbs are teaching at the local schools, selling insurance, real estate,
beauty salons, and operating local child care centers. These are legitimate activities, but these functions are only sustainable
as viable businesses as long as they are providing services for the wealth producing sectors.
There must be goods created to generate wealth. Whether it be steel, glass, computer chips, or diesel engines is of no
consequence. Even if one catches fish, or harvests tomatoes, real wealth is created in the form of food that you must have.
These create valuable, exportable products. The classical trades are things such as steam fitters, stone masons, butchers,
bakers, machinists, tool and die makers, etc. All of the real trades create something that is required for production, or
the creation of something used for production.
The simple fact is that without these functions, nothing has happened other that money is being passed back and forth.
The only winner from this cash flow game is the government, as they are taxing every transaction.
Government taxes do not create wealth. A recent article about the decline of Boeing by
Eamonn Fingleton correctly explained the economic contribution of manufacturing.
"But since the United States has been in general retreat from advanced manufacturing for three decades, why should we care
what happens to what remains of America's manufacturing heritage?
Manufacturing matters for three key reasons:
1. Manufacturing jobs generally provide better wages than equivalent
service jobs because worker productivity is generally leveraged by more capital and more proprietary know-how.
2. Manufacturing provides an abundance of jobs for people of ordinary ability as opposed to the Ph.D. types who get
many of the jobs at, say, Microsoft. It thus closely matches the job-creation needs of society.
3. Manufacturing companies are big exporters.
In my book
In Praise of Hard Industries, I calculated that per unit of output American manufacturing businesses export about eleven times as much as
service businesses.
Few manufacturing businesses score better on these three criteria than the airliner industry. Even
if it were not so closely intertwined with America's national defense, the industry would still be of pivotal geopolitical
importance. The point is that it has long been America's biggest export earner. Unfortunately, America's imports of aircraft
and aircraft parts now equal 45 percent of its exports, up from just 5 percent in the 1960s."
Eamonn Fingleton revealed what is wrong with the economic model of the Suburban service worker. It fails to meet the
possibility of wealth creation that is provided by the manufacturing sector.
.
But the question that arises is this. If Suburbia does not create wealth for the society it exists in, why has Suburbia
been so praised, and subsidized?
We must accept that it was already "generally known" that Americans had a propensity to form groups. This was clearly documented
in 1864 by
Alexis de Toqueville.
"Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations...In
democratic countries knowledge of how to combine is the mother of all other forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that
of all the others." Alexis de Tocqueville
Why did our Rulers wait until 1950’s to begin the next level of socialization? Alexis de Tocqueville revealed that
the English Crown knew American’s had this trait in 1864.
We need look no further than William Whyte for the answer.
"This is the new suburbia, the packaged villages that have become the dormitory of the new generation of organization men.
They are not typical American communities, but because they provide such a cross section of young organization people we can
see in bolder relief than elsewhere the kind of world organization man wants and may in time bring about. Here I will go into
the tremendous effect transiency has had on the organization people and how their religious life, their politics and the way
they take to their neighbors reveal the new kind of rootedness they are looking for. And, finally, the moral of it all as
they explain it to their children--the next generation of organization people. "
THE ORGANIZATION MAN, by William H. Whyte
(New York: Doubleday, 1956)
"William Whyte's 1956 classic, The Organization Man, argued that American business life had abandoned the old virtues of
self-reliance and entrepreneurship in favor of a bureaucratic "social ethic" of loyalty, security and "belongingness." With
the rise of the postwar corporation, American individualism had disappeared from the mainstream of middle-class life.
The Organization Man, wrote Whyte, "must not only accept control, he must accept it as if he liked it."
"He must smile when he is transferred to a place or a job that isn't the job or place he happens to want," Whyte wrote.
"He must be less 'goal-centered,' more 'employee-centered.' It is not enough now that he work hard; he must be a damn good
fellow to boot."
This new ethic was in conflict with the values of the earlier America, that needed the creator/builder values. The only
question was how to create this new "American" vision in a large enough group to provide workers that would readily accept
their place."
Another event which helped create Suburbia as the model for a "new" America (The American Dream) occurred on
July 17 1955. This
was the opening of Disneyland.
Disneyland, combined with magnifying power of television, created the means of molding the young into a cohesive mass having
a common value system. The immediate acceptance by the mothers validated television as a good diversion/ baby sitter for their
children.
This solidified the structure that was to generate the "AMERICAN DREAM". After all, it was Mom-approved!
The other facet of this plan was to encourage the creation of a large group of people with a "high" Need For Acceptance.
"
How this need affects the workplace: People who have a need for Acceptance are a valuable addition to any group. They will often be a stabilizing
presence and help others tolerate each other a little better. They may "go along" to whatever proposals are made to avoid
any conflict in a group. It is very hard for them to express any different
opinion because of their fear
of being rejected."
The Suburbs had no history, or culture that might have given the youth some perspective about how the world really works.
This new Petrii dish was perfect for the creation of a large group whom would be subjected to the greatest propaganda device
ever created (television).
Emboldened by the Television’s ability to literally create the "picture" in your mind, the Government planners began
creating the most "ambitious"
population programming attempt in all history.
By 1964, Marshall McLuhan wrote the classic book
"Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in 1964. McLuhan understood the power of this new Meme/Myth generating mechanism.
Both the politicians, and the advertisers, immediately recognized the potential for influence/control that this mechanism
offered.
Edward Bernays had already proved that he could convince Americans to accept almost anything as a belief system. Edward
Bernays made no secret of his ability to control/influence group behavior.
http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/1999Q2/bernays.htm
http://www.jrbooksonline.com/PDF_Books/propaganda_bernays.pdf
The Government, and most major corporations were utilizing Bernays service for many tears prior to the cessation of hostilities
for WW2. All that was required for the completion of the complete control of the US was the creation of a large group that
would have political dominance. The insertion of a new belief system/meme was easy once the necessary conditions were met.
Edward Bernays had already perfected the techniques of reprogramming.
The final piece of the puzzle was created by the profession that
Edward Bernays uncle, Sigismund Schlomo Freud, help create. Psychiatry got together with "BIG PHARMA" sometime in 1969 with the specific intention of achieving
"total mind control". This was to be achieved by addicting the entire population to Mind Controlling Drugs.
The coming movie
"MAKING A KILLING", explains how well their little scheme has worked. And the Suburbs were the perfect environment for it’s
implementation.
The truth is that the Suburban model has now become an anachronism. Its usefulness was a function of the large and growing
army of administrators and bureaucrats necessary for the US Economic model that arose after W.W.II.
Due to the incredible destruction in Europe, The US was able to position itself to provide the goods that a recovering
Europe needed. The USA entered the post-WWII era with 6 percent of the world’s population, and 80 percent of the wealth.
But now the rest of the Western world is producing it’s own goods, and China and India are joining the new game of
production. Furthermore, the USA is now the
largest debtor in the world.
So the real problem becomes one of redesigning the US to fit into this reality. And the Suburbs no longer
contribute to the equation. Hence, they must be altered severely over time.
The Suburbs and their attendant services can’t possibly make a large enough economic contribution to the extremely
expensive social services that the US has become accustomed to.
The inexorable laws of economics demand the creation a model which contributes to the expenses of the demanded social services,
or drastically reduces it’s use of these social services, or some combination of both options.
Exactly what happens next will be decided "slowly" by the changing political concessus, as the Boomers lose their power.
Obama was the first winner in the history of skirmishes between the Boomers, and the new generation. The so-called GenXers
handed the Boomers their heads in the recent election! The significance of this event is still being downplayed by the Boomers,
but the Fault Line has cracked open.
Now it’s just a question of time before the economy redirects its attention to the ports, farms, and the manufacturing
sectors that support the cities.
They must now receive the highest priority, for they contribute the bulk of the resource production, and supplies.
This is a normal part of the capital cycle. The Age of Affluence came at the expense of ignoring the needs of the capital
sectors. The Partygoers (Boomers) ignored everything from roads and bridges, to the training of a new generation of skilled
workers.
That’s where your so-called "abundance" came from. You ate your "seed corn". And now you will pay dearly for your consumption orgies. And you did voluntarily elect the Pied Pipers of Politics that led you down the
steps to Economic Hell.
Peter Drucker did tell you that today’s profits are
tomorrow's expenses, but who was listening? You were too busy planning your new cars, your bigger houses, and the weekends
parties.
So now the Boomers have become the Busted. Suburbia was the command center of the Consumption Mantra. And now that Mantra
is over. The Temple of Consumption (The Shopping Mall) is now an endangered species.
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/quinn/2009/0120.html
http://dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/01/18/malls_econ.ART_ART_01-18-09_D1_0LCIHJU.html?sid=101
One of the main attraction of malls, and shopping centers is
STARBUCKS. Could Starbucks current problems be a leading indicator for the "Things To Come" in Suburbia?
We only need to look at Scripture for counsel at this time
.
A Time For All Things
6
a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
Ecclesiastes
3.
Wayne N. Krautkramer
https://onlypill.tripod.com/
wkrautkram@gmail.com