What’s it like to live through an economic crisis?
Here’s something Albertans have known little of for over ten years: What it’s like to be poor. I think few Albertans have empathy or sympathy for the poor because we all subscribe to the mythos that this is the hottest economy, and if you don’t have a job, you’re an NDP-voting Ontarian looking for a handout.
Albertans who lived in the province in the 80’s know what economic decimation is like. Albertans who lived in the province prior to the age of Black Gold know what poverty is like. But what is it like to go from affluence to poverty for reasons completely outside your control?
Economic doom is spreading around the globe, and while I think that Alberta’s going to be some sort of Horn O Plenty amidst the wildfires, I’m not so deluded as to think we’re completely immune here.
So what’s it like going through an Economic collapse? Here’s a few links:
Iceland Review on the current state of affairs
So is everything okay? No. In the coming weeks we are bound to see some more serious effects of this financial meltdown. Like what? Nobody knows. On the brighter side, I look forward to seeing Icelandic teenagers having to work blue-collar jobs like the rest of us did as teens (yours truly was a checkout boy at Whole Foods). I look forward to getting some of the country’s brightest minds out of the banking industry and into other parts of society. I look forward having a fully staffed playschool system. I look forward to seeing fewer Range Rovers and more SmartCars on the streets of Reykjavík. I look forward to tourists being able to afford life in Iceland.
Yesterday I read a story in a column someone wrote in Fréttablaðið, about a little three-year old girl who burned her hand. After crying for a while, she went off and started playing again like nothing had happened. Over the course of the afternoon her mother noticed that a big blister formed on her hand, but the little girl just kept on playing. When she asked her daughter if her hand didn’t hurt, the little girl responded, “Yes, but only if I think about it.”
That’s kind of how things are up here right now.
Dmitry Orlov, Author of Reinventing Collapse, as interviewed by C-Real Podcasts for Reality Sandwich:
In his book, Orlov proposes that the US is entering into a rapid decline similar to the one experienced by Russia after the breakup on the Soviet Union in 1989. He recommends stockpiling provisions and goods to sell on the black market, growing food, and connecting with your local community for security. He also proposes that we begin to imagine a life without money. Podcast 1, Podcast 2
John Dolan, writing for Alternet, on what it’s like to fall from material grace:
Antidepressants. Get on them right away, if you’re not already. If you are, up your dose. Because it’s going to hurt. It doesn’t matter how much Marxist theory you’ve absorbed; it doesn’t matter that you can put your fall into global context; it’s happening to you now, and it’s going to hurt like you wouldn’t believe. You’re an American, and you share that culture’s values whether you like it or not. So you define yourself by your job, car and house. When they go, you’re going to hate yourself.
It seems people deal with economic hardship differently, or perhaps the above examples describe different stages of the crisis. One commenter at the Iceland Weather Report made reference to the The Kübler-Ross grief cycle:
The stages are:
Denial:
Example – “I feel fine.”; “This can’t be happening.”‘Not to me!”
Anger:
Example – “Why me? It’s not fair!” “NO! NO! How can you accept this!”
Bargaining:
Example – “Just let me live to see my children graduate.”; “I’ll do anything, can’t you stretch it out? A few more years.”
Depression:
Example – “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”; “I’m going to die . . . What’s the point?”
Acceptance:
Example – “It’s going to be OK.”; “I can’t fight it, I may as well prepare for it.”
In a market sense, this graph applies:
Graph Source: Heavy Lifting
John Dolan’s experience is probably a little more advanced in the cycle than your average Icelander or America. Most of the US is in the denial phase, with anger being diverted to the election in progress. There’s no news yet of any protests in Iceland, but that’s the next phase of their evolution. Americans don’t know who to blame for the crisis, but when the election is over, they will have a sharper focal point for their anger.
