Thursday, October 23, 2003
i should totally leave for school, but i feel like procrastinating. i need to go to the computer lab to print out the questions on tonights reading, then i have to go to the library to look through the ny times and find some articles on "the suburban good life." then i must get my traditional thursday evening calzone, and eat it in class. oh and i'm only on page 30 of 273 for the reading, so i guess i'll read on the train and maybe in the library. i'm thinking i might actually be too lazy to go over to the place that has calzones today. it's not on my path, since i have to go to the library. i kind of like this class. its on the post war era, specifically the growth of the american suburb. looking at the 50's is so bizarre, the conformity and stuff that was so emphasized and the retarded midsets of people that pretty much continue to this day...
you know i usually just babble in here, but today im going to say something smart haha. because i am in school mode, and its day time and i dont know. suburbs are only possible because of government aid. pre-WWII, people lived in cities for the most part, because they couldn't afford to buy houses, and there really wasn't a market to build them, plus there wasnt a lot of transportation, so they had to live by their jobs, so there were no suburbs. well there were, but they didnt happen until there was some availabilty of transportation, and they were largely for rich people only, because regular folk couldn't afford to buy a house. so anyway, WWII happens, and the economy goes wartime. industry is converted to accomodate all out war, and general production is halted to allow this. when the war ends, peacetime economy must be revived, but the government still has the ghost of the great depression haunting them. so two things happen: the cold war, and a consumer economy are born. by remaining in a constant state of war, industry must be producing weapons and military machinery, thereby giving people jobs. and by creating a need for products that people don't *really* need, a consumer economy emerged to produce these consumer goods. and then there are private homes, which are also consumer goods, and there arises this huge housing market. but not without the help of Uncle Sam. it was only possible for people to stop renting and start buying because the US government began insuring loan companies, enabling the loan companies and banks to take a risk on people, and loan them the money needed to purchase a home. today (as then), you only need a 30% down payment on a house, which was unthinkable before the war. so basically, the government gave subsidies without the appearance of a subsidy. the growth of so many suburbs was also encouraged by the building of industry in suburbs, rather than cities. and a lot of that industry was military, like southern california. the government put so much money into these military industrial complexes, thereby helping people with jobs and all that jazz. and now you have all these people whining about government aid, and how welfare should stop and how bad a planned economy would be, when in fact, the only reason people can be "middle-class" (and in America, *everyone* is middle class.. that was sarcastic) is because the government gave them all this help. the mortgage on their home is insured by the government. if you default on yr loan, the bank forecloses, you lose yr home and yr credit goes to shit. but the government has to finish paying yr loan, bc they insured it. sucks for you for like seven years or however long that shit stays on yr credit rating, but it doesn't become outstanding debt, and its not like the bank loses.. they get all the payments you made, plus yr home, which they can resell. yr really the one who loses. have i told you lately that i think capitalism is the devil?
anyway. thats my diatribe. nothing else is really going on. i havent heard from my enigma boy, which is good i guess, because i'm healing and i don't have the urge to send him messages every day or really at all anymore. i know i won't see him for a long time, because i am busy and it seems like he's always busy, so.. plus i am distracted by having a crush on the other boy.. but yah, i don't even know. the whole emotional celibacy thing is where it's at. yesterday i was talking to steve, and he told me that he's decided that people aren't meant to have relationships. because even the most stable and perfect relationships can fall apart at the drop of a hat, when you least expect it. and then when people stay together, it's usually because of money or comfort, and one person is usually not as happy as they could be.. like they have a house and kids, or something like that, and they cant afford to risk it by separating.. and then candace said that people hold on to the fact that they loved each other once, and they struggle to rekindle what had felt so good in the past, but it's gone.. so i told him about my policy of emotional celibacy, and he said that was the best course of action. then we went to the coffee shop and read and watched cnn and made fun of it. i used to have the worst crush on him, and sometimes i'm still like "this kid is so smart and astute and amazing," but its more like .. whats the word im looking for .. admiration, rather than adoration. oh, and the punk cover of "total eclipse of the heart" has been modified to steve and i's duet, and it's not gonna be punk, bc he doesn't do yelling. maybe we'll play the punk version on the dates he can't be there. he was like "you can bill it 'with ex-penfold!'" ahaha, that would be cool. penfold was fucking fabulous. i was on punk lyrics the other day looking up songs that meant something to me so i could print the lyrics and put them in my paper journal, as i do, and i saw that they are on there. and i was like "awww, they came so far and now they are gone." last semester, our duet was "i'll stand by you" by the pretenders, and then we were supposed to.. ok, i was supposed to learn the words to "i got you babe," bc it was on his pretenders cd, a duet of chrissie hines (sp?) and the guy from ub40, but then i stopped going to study group, and we lost our car duet times.
ok now i have procrastinated waaay too much and i need to go to school and be an outstanding scholar.. ugh.
you know i usually just babble in here, but today im going to say something smart haha. because i am in school mode, and its day time and i dont know. suburbs are only possible because of government aid. pre-WWII, people lived in cities for the most part, because they couldn't afford to buy houses, and there really wasn't a market to build them, plus there wasnt a lot of transportation, so they had to live by their jobs, so there were no suburbs. well there were, but they didnt happen until there was some availabilty of transportation, and they were largely for rich people only, because regular folk couldn't afford to buy a house. so anyway, WWII happens, and the economy goes wartime. industry is converted to accomodate all out war, and general production is halted to allow this. when the war ends, peacetime economy must be revived, but the government still has the ghost of the great depression haunting them. so two things happen: the cold war, and a consumer economy are born. by remaining in a constant state of war, industry must be producing weapons and military machinery, thereby giving people jobs. and by creating a need for products that people don't *really* need, a consumer economy emerged to produce these consumer goods. and then there are private homes, which are also consumer goods, and there arises this huge housing market. but not without the help of Uncle Sam. it was only possible for people to stop renting and start buying because the US government began insuring loan companies, enabling the loan companies and banks to take a risk on people, and loan them the money needed to purchase a home. today (as then), you only need a 30% down payment on a house, which was unthinkable before the war. so basically, the government gave subsidies without the appearance of a subsidy. the growth of so many suburbs was also encouraged by the building of industry in suburbs, rather than cities. and a lot of that industry was military, like southern california. the government put so much money into these military industrial complexes, thereby helping people with jobs and all that jazz. and now you have all these people whining about government aid, and how welfare should stop and how bad a planned economy would be, when in fact, the only reason people can be "middle-class" (and in America, *everyone* is middle class.. that was sarcastic) is because the government gave them all this help. the mortgage on their home is insured by the government. if you default on yr loan, the bank forecloses, you lose yr home and yr credit goes to shit. but the government has to finish paying yr loan, bc they insured it. sucks for you for like seven years or however long that shit stays on yr credit rating, but it doesn't become outstanding debt, and its not like the bank loses.. they get all the payments you made, plus yr home, which they can resell. yr really the one who loses. have i told you lately that i think capitalism is the devil?
anyway. thats my diatribe. nothing else is really going on. i havent heard from my enigma boy, which is good i guess, because i'm healing and i don't have the urge to send him messages every day or really at all anymore. i know i won't see him for a long time, because i am busy and it seems like he's always busy, so.. plus i am distracted by having a crush on the other boy.. but yah, i don't even know. the whole emotional celibacy thing is where it's at. yesterday i was talking to steve, and he told me that he's decided that people aren't meant to have relationships. because even the most stable and perfect relationships can fall apart at the drop of a hat, when you least expect it. and then when people stay together, it's usually because of money or comfort, and one person is usually not as happy as they could be.. like they have a house and kids, or something like that, and they cant afford to risk it by separating.. and then candace said that people hold on to the fact that they loved each other once, and they struggle to rekindle what had felt so good in the past, but it's gone.. so i told him about my policy of emotional celibacy, and he said that was the best course of action. then we went to the coffee shop and read and watched cnn and made fun of it. i used to have the worst crush on him, and sometimes i'm still like "this kid is so smart and astute and amazing," but its more like .. whats the word im looking for .. admiration, rather than adoration. oh, and the punk cover of "total eclipse of the heart" has been modified to steve and i's duet, and it's not gonna be punk, bc he doesn't do yelling. maybe we'll play the punk version on the dates he can't be there. he was like "you can bill it 'with ex-penfold!'" ahaha, that would be cool. penfold was fucking fabulous. i was on punk lyrics the other day looking up songs that meant something to me so i could print the lyrics and put them in my paper journal, as i do, and i saw that they are on there. and i was like "awww, they came so far and now they are gone." last semester, our duet was "i'll stand by you" by the pretenders, and then we were supposed to.. ok, i was supposed to learn the words to "i got you babe," bc it was on his pretenders cd, a duet of chrissie hines (sp?) and the guy from ub40, but then i stopped going to study group, and we lost our car duet times.
ok now i have procrastinated waaay too much and i need to go to school and be an outstanding scholar.. ugh.
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