Director’s notes on THE NOTEFLIX soon to be released binge-watch, Action Thriller: “Troubles In The Garden”. (Act 1, Scene1, Take #7) Our Hero, the Multicolored Blue Bird of Happiness and his side-kick Googie, returning from their battles – and almost at their ‘Garden’ home – come across a stranger…This is all they need, for they are broke, they have creditor problems, they need jobs – and they have no idea what has been going on at home since they left long ago…and now this rodent is in their way…
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Sometimes I wonder if “things” are getting worse, or if I just know more about what is going on than I knew before, and if things were actually worse then, and whether or not I would be better off not knowing about what is going on – or went on. Do you follow?
- I read there are more debt collectors in this country than there are bartenders, or construction workers. Can this possibly be? There is a figure of over $600 billion in late payments to creditors, as we write. I read there are more Payday lender type businesses than there are McDonalds units. Can this be? Even if these statements are off by half, are these good trends? Me? I’m not big on bars or fast food hamburger joints; but I’m less big on debt collectors and high-rate lenders. My guess is the lenders create the need for collectors – a job generating perpetual motion economic device.
- Speaking of debt collectors: Debt, worldwide, public and private, has doubled since 2002. Can the whole world go bankrupt and go into “Re-Org” and start over?” I wonder.
- A study shows only 17% of working Americans think they will be able to stop working – someday.
- The number of Uber and Lyft drivers has doubled every six months for the past 2 years. At this rate, I calculate everybody on earth will be an Uber or Lyft driver by 2055…when the flood comes.
- The lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. is in Ames, Iowa: 1.5% – but wages are so low nobody can afford to work there.
- I have been reading a good deal lately about us. It might be the weather, and I might be in a mood because of the heat and humidity; but here is what I come up with today: Americans like (not necessarily in order): Taking pills, Football games & Beer, Meat, Thinking they are Great and Good, Discounts & I-phones. A good deal of our local economic health depends upon: Lotteries, Alcohol & Pot taxes. We have a lot of jobs going wanting, and not enough workers, and not enough pay to not enough workers and not enough young people to work for us for later in our lives, and we are ‘closing the barn door’ on other people to come and help us do our gardening. And I wonder how this is all going to work out.
- In Medieval days if a man came onto your property and wanted a job, you could teach him (for free) what to do in five hours – and he would be functional – good for go. If a man came into our places of business today, how long would it take to bring him up to speed (and at what cost?) to do the job?
A Few Words and Phrases for the Communicative:
- HOSTILE ARCHITECTURE: Referring to structures put in certain places, the purpose of which is to drive the Homeless away. Here are some examples: Putting boulders under bridges, having armrests placed in an interspersed fashion on benches – to prevent the possibility of people laying down on them. Planting thorny bushes in the parks. Surrounding public buildings with loose dirt – to discourage settling in the area.
- BIG DATA: I have been informed that BIG DATA is for Prediction; not for Understanding. Then BIG DATA is worthless – for no one, no group of any kind, has any idea as to what is going to happen next. So the only way to go is for: BIG UNDERSTANDING – but the algorithms are not crunching that yet – you will have to seek elsewhere.
A few words from the wits:
- “Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on long enough” -Ogden Nash
- “Not being able to govern events, I govern myself. -M. de Montaigne
- “I do not consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel completely soaked to the skin. -Leonard Cohen
Be careful out there…
