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NEW ORLEANS - 19 April, 2005: Let's begin this journal entry with some words on "the dismal science," Economics, from this publication's favorite public economist and columnist, Paul Krugman.
This is what he said, in part, in his New York Times column of 18 April, 2005:
... What few seem to have noticed, however, is that a mild form of stagflation - rising inflation in an economy still well short of full employment - has already arrived.He goes on to say that the real estate bubble we are now experiencing is just that, a bubble. Bubbles have this inconvenient tendency to burst. You can bet your bottom dollar this one will, too.True, measured unemployment isn't bad by historical standards, and inflation is in the low single digits. But inflation is creeping up, and it's doing so despite a labor market that is in worse shape than the official unemployment rate suggests.
Let's start with the jobs picture. The official unemployment rate is 5.2 percent - roughly equal to the average for the Clinton years.
But unemployment statistics only count those who are actively looking for jobs. Every other indicator shows a situation much less favorable to workers than that of the 1990's. A lower fraction of the adult population is employed; the average duration of unemployment - a rough indicator of how long it takes laid-off workers to find new jobs - is much higher than it was in the 1990's.
Above all, the weak job market leaves workers with no bargaining power, so they aren't getting ahead: wage increases have been minimal, and haven't kept up with inflation.
Underlying these disappointing numbers is sluggish job creation. Private-sector employment is still lower than it was before the 2001 recession.
Things could be, and have been, worse. But those whose standard of living depends on wages, not capital gains - in other words, the vast majority of Americans - aren't feeling particularly prosperous. By two to one, people tell pollsters that the economy is "only fair" or "poor," not "good" or "excellent."
Why, then, has the Fed been raising interest rates? Because it is worried about inflation, which has risen to the top end of the 2 to 3 percent range the Fed prefers ...
My good friend, Matt Stowell, has been very keen to buy a house here in New Orleans for the past year. He is actively searching for a suitable property. I have tried to advise him, understanding economic cycles as I do, that he should make haste.
Because he has worked for a real estate brokerage for a number of years now, inculcated by their sales hype, and because he has bought into the sunny optimism of the untutored that has prevailed in our nation since Ronald Reagan invented patriotism, I sense that he pooh-poohs my warnings.
The problem with realism, after all, is that it doesn't always fit into our bright scenarios of what the future holds. Real estate will always be a good investment --- just as stocks were a decade ago. Ahem!
I bring Mr. Krugman's analysis to your attention, my darlings, because as goes the U.S. economy so goes the world's economy. America's spending and borrowing binge must come to a halt when the chits come due and then, I'm afraid, we're all in for a rather rude awakening.
The signs of the coming economic crisis are already written in Mesopotamian on the castle walls. We ignore them at our peril. The saga you have been reading these many weeks of my own hand-to-mouth existence will become a reflection of the common, rather than the marginal and unusual, experience.
While the fat cats continue to order steak tartar, you and I shall be grateful for our daily rice bowl. Mark my words.
Let's see. When Maggie Thatcher, Britain's "Iron Lady," suggested that their retirement system be turned into a private investment system, more old people than ever ended up eating kibble. IT WAS AN UTTER FAILURE and ushered her out of office.Now, the American people are being told by the Bush Administration that it can work here.
I'm led to assume that crossing an ocean changes a sow's ear into a ... Well, you know.
Bankruptcy is harder to file now. The multinationals can just put a lien on your bank account, your house, your car? The American President signed that into law last week with grinning, fat, red-faced, country club Republicans patting him on the back?In a free country, people would have begun sharpening their pitchforks by now.
Sorry.
I keeping forgetting I don't live in a free country. I am just another serf in the Empire ...
ON THE DRUMBEAT NETWORK, I am constantly being warned that the Pentagon has plans for a military assault on Iran in June of this year. I try to ignore these warnings but it is difficult when such eminences as former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, among others, weigh in with such certainty.The Mouthpiece Media is utterly silent on the facts of the Pentagon plan, ordered last year and hectored by U.N. Ambassador-designate John Bolton. As far as I can suss out from the drums, America will invade Iran within the next year on one pretense or another. The stumbling block, again, is the United Nations. (Where the Bush Leaguers want to send Bolton. Coincidence? I think not.
Condi Rice certainly did her soldierly bit this past weekend.)
I want to believe, and pray, that a war with Iran is not the next imperial adventure of the neocons. But I also dream about a grand meal at a swanky restaurant ....
More on this as the story develops, Luv.
INSIDE YOUR WORLD'S MAGAZINE
I CHOSE THE THEME "Mortuary Notes" for this edition because it seemed that every other piece I looked at during my preparation period was mentioning the death or funeral services of Pope John Paul II. I exaggerate. There was enough about or relating to the late prelate to almost make me want to call this the Pope issue.
It is also noteworthy that I have been publishing a minimum of two of BRAD BALFOUR's great newsmaker interviews in each edition of this year. I have to, in order to keep up with his output. Our hobbled production schedule is such -- let's face it, we've become a semi-monthly in 2005 -- that he has interviews sandbagged. Upcoming is one that should have made the World's Women edition two weeks ago, Sigourney Weaver. Sadly, it arrived as I was putting the edition to bed. Ms Weaver is one of Yours Unruly's personal favorites, so I look forward to editing that one.
In other news about your World's Magazine, I'm pleased to announce that our columnist, AAMENA JIWAJI, who splits her time between Kenya and South Africa these days, has agreed to be the next editorialist for our "Day One" column. I've long lamented the fact that other demands caused Kevin Carey to leave that seat. Upon reflection, as Ami's writing has evolved over the years and because of our long-standing commitment to promote more women writers, I felt that she was a good choice.
With Ami doing the column, it shall of course move away from the political/foreign policy focus it had under Mr. Carey. I think this is a positive evolution. I also think that because, being in her mid-twenties and of Indian descent, she will bring the kind of fresh, young and international perspective that a spotlight column like that one and your World's Magazine need to deliver the kind of perspectives you expect when you come to these Web pages. I trust you'll agree. Join me in congratulating Ms. Jiwaji.
Again, I'm taking the liberty of asking all Loyal Readers, rather than simply the Mailing List Members to take part in our latest Readership Poll.
A small, independent and outspoken magazine like this one can't reach you every week without the support and patronage of its readership. As our way of thanking those who have committed to keep your World's Magazine here on your desktop through their generous donations, we feature their names and cities here in our Roll of Honor.
SUSTAINING PATRONS
DARHL STULTZ,
Largo, FL, USATIMOTHY MEADOWS,
Anaheim, CA, USACHERYL HILL NATION,
West Fairlee, VT, USADRAGAN & DRAGANA VICANOVIC,
Belgrade, SERBIALESZEK MICHAELWICZ,
New Orleans, LA, USATERRY TERRIAN,
Sebastopol, CA, USAMATT STOWELL,
New Orleans, LA, USA
Supporting PatronsBARBARA ATWELL,
Berkeley, CA, USA
BECKY ALTEMUS,
Houston, TX, USA
IAN CRYSTAL, Ph. D,
New Orleans, LA, USA
LARS KEFFERSTAN,
New York, NY, USA
MEREDITH TUPPER,
Tampa, FL, USA
NICK ALLEN,
New Orleans, LA, USA
RIC WILLIAMS,
Austin, TX, USA
STEVE VIVIAN,
New York, NY, USA
STUART ALTMAN, ESQ.,
New York, NY, USAWe encourage you to add your name to this Roll of Honor. GENERATOR 21 cannot continue and thrive without your support. Thanks in advance.
To support G21, please send checks or money orders to:
G21: The World's Magazine
Attn: Rod Amis
c/o Matt Stowell
1310 Barracks
New Orleans, LA 70116
USATo donate by credit or debit card, please go to the Western Union website by following the highlighted link. Should you donate via Western Union, please notify us via e-mail.
Please make all remittances payable to Rod Amis. Again, thanks.
Here's the skinny:
There's a certain Guilty Pleasure -- for both our readers and our writers, we've noticed -- about being able to "dish" as the trendy phrase used to go. So this poll gives you the chance to "go negative" once again.But to add to your level of difficulty, your List can only have five (5) items, rather than the usual ten (10).
THE POLL QUESTION: What five trends, clichés, people in the news would you like to see disappear from the culture radar IMMEDIATELY?
DEADLINE: 30 April, 2005. The responses and results will appear in our "Summer Reading" edition at the end of May. Thanks in advance!
I'VE MADE IT A STATED POLICY never to comment on submissions by the writers at your World's Magazine. Nonetheless, I've come damned close on more than one occasion. It's been my privilege here to publish articles whose theses I took great exception with, whose assertions I found highly questionable and -- if I weren't the publisher -- it was all that I could do not to fire off a rebuttal.That would be wrong. Because I sit in the Big Chair, I can reject pieces out of hand, send them back for rewrites and revisions, or suggest ways they might be stronger. That's been the policy.
Thus, when I received a piece for this edition that veritably cried out for some type of response on my part, all I could do was laugh. It was spiced with reasons why I make a decent helmsman here, or band leader, depending on the metaphor of the moment, while also challenging the way the candy store is run. (Three separate metaphors in one passage, a new low.)
One thing did bother me, though; the suggestion is made that I sent back a piece because it challenged a supposed orthodoxy of my own. Nothing could be further from the truth. If that had ever been the case, thirty percent of what you've read here in the last year would not have seen the light of day.
LIFE OF ROD
13 April, 2005: This shall be my last night in the house on Poland Street. I succeeded in finding Nick a tenant. He was so grateful that he managed to find more work for me to do. But not enough to get me into even a rooming house. I had to come up with that on my own. < p> The fact that I was getting him everything he wanted, while having only bread and salt in my coffer and seven cents, didn't seem to phase him at all.Those are the breaks.
This situation could, of course, be described as "bad to worse."
Agreed. But it would have been unfair to continue on at Nick's place knowing that my prospects for making the kind of money he needed, even in our trade-out arrangement, would materialize any time soon. Fact is, the trade-out only allowed for covering my debt and getting a pack of cigarettes and a couple beers now and again. Food continued to be a dicey proposition. As the fast food chain here, Rally's, says: "You gottah eat."
So yesterday was a day of deep depression. I slept for about 24 hours. I needed to check out of the world for a bit, shut down entirely, so that I could refresh and recharge and figure out what the next Survival Plan might be.
I'm not convinced this is the Place Plan but, at the very least, it is a plan. The Vietnamese couple who own the rooming house claim it is safe and clean. I'll learn the truth in the morning, when I'm scheduled to see the rooms.
Then I rendezvous with a friend who says he's willing to help keep me off the streets for a while.
First thing in the a.m., though, its more helping Nick to get this apartment ready. It seems that he has a different idea of when an apartment is ready for occupancy than either I or his new tenant. I tried to tell him that most people don't think they should be living at a construction site. She said, " So when is this place actually going to be ready?"
I think he got the message this time. [Sigh.] So tomorrow, we'll finally make this place real, I believe.
I think Nick's gotten so used to using this place to store tools and bric-a-brac that he's lost touch with how that might seem offensive to someone paying good money for their own space. He certainly never took it into account in the two and half months that I've lived here.
My last meal here? Creole style red bean sandwiches. It's a lump in the stomach, as I used to say ...
16 April, 2005: THE WAIT & SEE APPROACH worked out for me this time. I managed to wrangle a few more hours of work, for money this time, out of Nick and beg and borrow more from other sources. That was enough to put me in food, cigarettes, beer, one night at a discount (think cheap) hotel. During my desperate rounds I also ran into my pal Shawn and we cut a decent deal for me to stay at his place for until the end of the month.I'm back on the reservation.
So I''ve gotten to sleep on actual beds for two nights running as I type this to you, my love. Wow! I'd forgotten that there's more to life than a cold floor every night!
Beds are good things.
NOW I just have to snag some new job, somewhere, post haste. Scott told me about a casual labor place on Magazine Street; you know, the kind of place where guys just line up and wait for some guy to drive up looking for people willing to do any kind of crappy work for money? I'm checking that out right away. I'm also putting the word out with all of my friends here to talk to all of their friends. Painter? Laborer? Dishwasher? "This guy will do anything that pays."
Remember that song, "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"? Yours Unruly is at that stage now. I've got to make something happen on the double quick ...
22 April, 2005: My friend Alyssa Wilcox, the Consumer Marketing Coordinator for Putumayo World Music in Manhattan, is in Nawlins for our famous Jazz Fest. (Officially known as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, kicks off today and runs through 1 May. Matt offered to buy me a ticket to Sunday's show, when Dr. John a.k.a. Mack Rebenac, is performing, but I demurred based on the dire situation my life is in right now.) She e-mailed me before flying out to ask if I'd pass around some record release info for her, as well as some comp(lementary) CDs to selected bar owners. I worked my network on the borders of the Marigny and Quarter ("the reservation"). She got wall-to-wall. That was my mitzvah for the week.
As I was out pounding the pavement for work anyway, it was no sweat.
A lot of people who hadn't seen me in a while (first Phoenix, then hiding out in the Bywater) asked when I'd gotten back in NOLA and where I was bartending now. "I'm not a bartender anymore."
"Well, you should be. You were the best."
"That's nice of you to say. Actually, I'm looking for work. If you hear about anything, let me know."
"Oh."
The famous and telling, "Oh." You gottah love it.
Thanks for coming back this week.
THINGS I PRAY FOR THIS WEEK
1 - At least one of my prayers from the past month has been answered. I HEARD FROM TERRY!With any luck, Matt will drop by at least once this weekend and I shall be able to telephone him and hear his precious voice. He is growing a garden and sounds like he is doing well. He is a grandfather for a second time, lucky man.
So I pray that we can talk.
2 - That some of my supporters respond to the "Beg" e-mail I had Matt send for me this week and I can have a place to live at the end of the month and pay back the debt that gave me this one.
3 - Vickie, my beloved Memory Machine, back to me for our last run.
"Work like you don't need the money,
"Love like you've never been hurt,
"Dance like no one is watching ... "
Love,
Rod
Rod was a columnist for the Andover News Network, where he wrote over two hundred articles on web design and development issues. He was principal writer and Editor for IT Manager's Journal, where he reviewed technology issues weekly, producing 383 editorials. He became the Managing Editor for Electronic Mail/Newsletter Publications at Andover.net at the end of February, 2000, and left in September of the same year. He was a contributing writer for ACCESS Internet magazine, which appeared both on- and offline for 10 million readers in 100 newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Post, Boston Herald, Austin American-Statesman, Denver Post and Orlando Sentinel, among others. Rod was the US reporter for Silicon.com, a division of Network Multimedia Television in London, UK, reaching 3.5 million European readers, until May, 2001.
In 2002, he worked as Assistant to the General Manager of a Big Easy company that does restaurants and nightclubs. He did stints as the Resident Philosopher at three separate gin mills in that city in the French Quarter and the Marigny, earning his stripes during two successive Mardi Gras seasons. Oh yeah, Rod's had Day Jobs working construction. Mostly renovations of old New Orleans structures, houses and a bar. Sometimes he designs Web sites for other people so that he can get his creative juices flowing the way he can't at a staid publication like this one. And he's been the instructor in Editing for In ternet Publications at the Novi Sad School of Journalism in Yugoslavia.
Our Resident Philosopher is now resuming his hejira. Having completed his training as a Community Organizer for ACORN, where he worked to make positive change for other poor people like himself, he left the staff as a union organizer, disillusioned and disgusted by the scam they've run for years. He went back to "honest" work -- meaning manual labor.
Now he needs to find an angel to hire him to do this magazine ...
In his spare time, he chases women in the manner that a fly pursues a spider. 
He continues to be committed to integrity, chastity and a dose of humility.
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