Home

Advertisement

Raining, pouring, and snoring

  • Sep. 26th, 2008 at 12:18 AM
When it rains it pours, right? This week in the news has been something else! And with our own little dramas on top of it all (fridge delivery delayed by two weeks, hubby's session finals, and the beginning of flu season, etc) are making life pretty interesting right now. As far as the snoring, that would be my husband, currently sawing logs. Since I can't sleep through that, I'm blogging.

I've obviously been paying a lot more attention to the news than usual. I'm still no genius on the financial or political fronts, but I can't help but wonder what a depression would be like in our digital age? Bill Gates and other tech-types say that the tech industry will not have any problems from the financial situation. How can that be, if no one can afford to buy software or hardware? Would the flow of information stop in a depression? I can't imagine how it would.

My folks (being older than most of my friends' parents) grew up in the depression and its aftermath. I didn't hear a whole lot of stories from that time, but heard more stories about the rationing during WWII. But what I recall of my history lessons, the country basically came to a standstill during the depression. I just cannot wrap my head around the concept of that happening again. I imagine our society as being so fast-paced, our own momentum will keep us moving, even if we are broke while doing it. That could just be ignorance talking, I don't know. I already said I was no whiz at this sort of thing.

So just to be clear, I'm not saying a depression is going to happen. But what would it be like in our day and age? I doubt the Cohen brothers are going to do a hyped-up futuristic remake of "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" to give us an idea. (Although the soundtrack has been in my head a lot lately since watching the news). Levar Burton, in his sci-fi novel "Aftermath", does set his story during a contemporary depression, where there is a huge divide between the haves and have-nots, including some incredible social commentary. It's a good read. I also keep thinking of old sci-fi movies like "Johnny Mnemonic" and "Freejack" that also exhibited huge financial divides. See why my financial futuristic imaginings are so bizarre?

That ramble must mean that it's time to try to sleep.