I haven’t posted here in awhile. Not because there’s been any lack of subject matter to post about (Dimitri’s adjustment to school, Jack barfing all over Erin and I in Fairway yesterday, etc.) but because the financial crisis and the election have completely diverted my attention away from this blog. I reopened my old blog and started posting on the Patriot again. I just couldn’t help it. I think the world is in for a real wake-up call and I’m consumed with worry about what kind of world Jack and Dimitri will be faced with when they head off to college. The cynical/realist side of me expects society 15 years hence to resemble the Times Square of the 1970s and 80s-filthy streets full of pimps and hustlers trying to separate you from your money. I remember what that was like, and while I had a great time wandering around the sordid back alleys of mid-town before it was turned into a Euro-Disney theme park, I could always get on the LIRR and escape back to the suburbs if a situation got a little tight. My worry is that the boys will not have the same margin of safety as I did.
In economic downturns, jobs disappear; Wall Street doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Competition for the remaining jobs will be fierce. Any self-respecting sociologist will tell you that the Horatio Alger myth in America is just that-a myth. Where you get in life is determined more by where you came from and who you know than by the fruits of your labors. Generations of West Virginia coal miners would agree with me. So the boys are going to have to muddle through the best they can. Hopefully we can help them along the way.
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