what is wrong with society today, by the New York Times

[flea]

Two articles:

You Try To Live on 500K in This Town: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html?em

In Florida, Despair and Foreclosures: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/us/08lehigh.html?em

Comments

[serrana.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw those myself and thought, boy howdy.

[cofax7]

Not enough WTF in the world.

[nestra.livejournal.com]

It's at times like these that I wish I had a "BOO FUCKING HOO" icon. Like for that first article.

[zmayhem.livejournal.com]

That first article gave me a full-body rage headache. And then I got so depressed I couldn't bear to read the second article.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I have a solution!! Make all those boohoo Manhattanites live in crap modular homes in Nowheresville, Florida! Solve the housing crisis and punish the egomaniacal in one blow!

Where is President Obama? I have to tell him my clever plan.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

That first one was the best example ever of Articles I Didn't Bother Reading.

Scraping by

[(Anonymous)]

I can imagine being bummed at a decline in my standard of living (hey, I'm not selling all my possessions and following Jesus), but I was profoundly annoyed by the way the article, in running down a theoretical budget, made no distinction between things that would be hard to drop (mortgage payments) and difficult to drop (kids' tuition) and things that are really simple to shed (vacations, car and driver). No wonder the former masters of the universe are having a hard time making ends meet -- they can't distinguish between a need and a discretionary purchase.

Slim