Shop 'til you stop

Lots of gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands in the media on the question of why people have stopped spending.

It's simple. We've got enough stuff.

I've spent the last decade staring at people in shopping malls. Every weekend I would see them. Droves. Carrying lots of bags. Just like the Christmas crowds used to be for the first three quarters of my life.

"What are they buying?", I'd wonder. I kept waiting for it to stop or slow down, thinking that it was a response to the cheap imports from China - a binge that would slow down to a trickle once people accumulated enough trinkets.

Then I started telling myself that it must be people who were moving into Sydney - the newspapers were full of stories about the people squashing into the city, driving up rents and house prices and so on.

But in the end it's even simpler than that. The shoppers were you and me and now we've got enough stuff.

My cupboards are full. I've got enough sheets, blankets, clothes, crockery, shoes, furniture, Xmas wrapping paper, socks, glasses and appliances to last me for many years.

At my local shopping mall the shops are almost exclusively full of clothes for young women. No supermarket. No food shops. Not much really. Just lots and lots and lot of clothes shops. And the clothes are crappily made. I wouldn't buy them, even allowing for my middle-aged cluelessness about what's fashionable at the moment. And yet, those shops are empty.

It had to happen sooner or later.

Image credit

Martin Place on a Tuesday in August

I walked through the city last night after attending a talk at Parliament House.

Walking through Martin Place on my way to Wynyard I noticed the St Vinnies van serving food to a large number of people. At first I thought there must be a festival event on or something. As I got closer I saw that it was homeless people lining up for sandwiches and coffee. Yet they didn't look "homeless" (I worked with homeless people many years ago - I'm not making a fatuous or naive statement). Most of them looked like anyone else you'd see walking down the street on a Tuesday night. Maybe not Martin Place per se given its demographic, but certainly the sort of people you'd see at a suburban mall.

I tried not to stare, but my shock was visceral. So many people. It reminded me of the tent cities I'd read about in the US following the GFC. Why isn't this covered in the papers? Why do we keep reading about how great we've got it here in Australia? Great for whom?

And who are these people? Where the hell will they be sleeping tonight?

Walking towards Wynyard I passed a number of bars and swanky restaurants where well dressed people were dining and drinking cocktails looking like extras in a Sex and the City shoot. The juxtaposition really troubled me. Walking behind a couple of young women in suits teetering from one bar to another on 6 inch heels I wondered whether they'd even seen the van, the hungry people, the scattered belongings on the ground. I didn't judge them though. What does one know really about homelessness when one is well insulated from the problem?

Today I notice the Mission Australia press release about a $2.7m project that will provide housing and support for 70 of the neediest people. Peanuts. Our New Years Eve fireworks usually cost twice that. The stupid Breakfast on the Bridge that inconveniences thousands of motorists and startles the poor cows (literal) - who are brought in as props - costs half that.

Today I'm still haunted by the image. So many people getting their nightly meal from a St Vinnies van on a cold Tuesday night. Yet as an issue it seems to be wallpaper. Like Patrick McGorrie's mental health issue prior to his prominence, it's not sexy. Intractable. A bit anxiety provoking - there but for the love of God and all that...

That's all. Not a great post. But I just had to write it down to try get the image out of my head. We'll see how that goes.

Photo: Sweet One

Hubris

I've been too busy to post a running commentary on the crocodile-teared billionaires who are trying to save the country from the resources tax that will destroy those eternally suffering "working families" that constantly seem on the brink of destitution but today's article with Twiggy Forrest announcing the end of the tax (without any evidence or announcement from the Government) takes the cake.

The fact that these billionaires have made it clear that they expect to be consulted on any significant announcement from the Government has shown me the degree to which the tail is already wagging the dog. That they are willing to spend multi-millions on advertising tells me alot about how much spare cash they seem to have lying around. And any Australian who continues to fall for this scare-mongering re superannuation and so on deserves the feudal system they're heading for.

I don't know what else to say. I'm just astonished.

Photo source

Evaluate this

Interesting to see teachourkids.com.au undertaking what seem to be genuine public consultations into draft curriculum in kindergarten - year 12 English, maths, science and history.

The television advertisement for the consultations has a bunch of kids on the bus dreaming of what they're going to be when they grow up including a couple of girls who want to "be a writer" and "help people" and boys who want to "invent things", "build bridges" and "save the world".

Here's my feedback/suggestion:

Get rid of the advertising agency who writes this sexist crap. What is this, the 1950s?

Porkers

I was gonna tell you something really important today, but my fat finger slipped and wiped out $10 billion worth of insights.

But don't worry - I'll send you an invoice.

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What the hell is a liberal education and where do I get one?

From the preface of A General Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education 1959:

What is a liberal education? It is easy to say what it is not. It is not specialized education, not vocational, avocational, professional or preprofessional. It is not an education that teaches a man to do any specific thing.

I am tempted to say that it is the education that no American gets in an educational institution nowadays. We are all specialists now. Even early in high school we are told that we must begin to think how we are going to earn a living, and the prerequisites that are supposed to prepare us for that activity become more and more the ingredients of our educational diet. I am afraid we shall have to admit that the educational process in America is either a rather pleasant way of passing the time until we are ready to go to work, or a way of getting ready for some occupation, or a combination of the two. What is missing is education to be human beings, education to make the most of our human powers, education for our responsibilities as members of a democratic society, education for freedom.

This is what liberal education is. It is the education that prepares us to be free men. You have to have this education if you are going to be happy; for happiness consists in making the most of yourself. You have to have this education if you are going to be a member of the community; for membership in the community implies the ability to communicate with others. You have to have this education if you are going to be an effective citizen of a democracy; for citizenship requires that you understand the world in which you live and that you do not leave your duties to be performed by others, living vicariously and vacuously on their virtue and intelligence. A free society is a society composed of free men. To be free you have to be educated for freedom. This means that you have to think; for the free man is one who thinks for himself. It means that you have to think, for example, about the aims of life and of organized society.

Fast forward 50 years or so:

Most colleges are organized to give an average education to average students.

And what are we doing in Australia at the moment? Reforming higher education, introducing compulsory testing in schools around the country, assembling expert panels to review schools funding - read the press releases - there's very little about education per se - it's all training, economics, countless committees and interest groups.

I'm quite fond of La Gillardine, especially after Heffernan gave her a hard time for being "deliberately barren". She's easily the smartest crayon in the (very clever) Labor box but I can't help feeling glum nonetheless. Mabye I'll be able to tell you why once I've done the 1959 DIY course.

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Peas be with you

Hear ye, hear ye.

I have seen the light.

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Break through the limitations, take control of the seven chakras, your hidden third eye and the divine energies that are only revealed to the chosen who will know wholeness.

Find joy, freedom, tantric ecstasy and a deep deep knowing of the minds of others. Be part of the inner sanctum. Health, wealth and happiness is guaranteed.

Just send this goddess your filthy earthly money immediately and all this and more will be yours.

Om.

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