quiddities and agonies of the ruling class - a rolling new york times thread

After all, why rock the boat when things could be worse?

hm

crossedarms.gif

http://www.cccoe.k12.ca.us/bats/

ok actual lol

In terms of income, the gap between rich and middle class is growing, but in terms of happiness it is relatively low by broader historical standards.

These are those people who are poor because they make less than 2 million, right?

these days rich people are not even permitted to enslave poor people for instance

i hire a manservant to rock the boat, if you know what i mean

poor people are so happy now that it's not even that rewarding to enslave them, for instance as a way of feeling one's powerfulness

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lihkf1qRm91qgolc4.png

I know a libertarian who always responds to the decline in real wages and increasing wage gap with a line about 'technological advances render that moot' - so those stats are irrelevant because workers may work longer and struggle more, but they have Blu Ray players.

Libertarians really are the most disgusting savages...

It's true, it's moot to make more than a certain amount because you're drinking the same Coca-Cola and watching the same Blu-Ray discs so we might as well cap your income.

Libertarians really are the most disgusting savages...

OTM, but congrats to them on finding a political philosophy that neatly dignifies being a self-serving asshole.

feel like they should be encouraged to relocate to the libertarian paradise of somalia

A lot of wealth today hasn’t been earned fairly, but still a lot of it has been the result of hard work and creativity, even if mixed in with good luck. The United States is still a society of business and a lot of businessmen provide great value to our economy.

It's nice to know that Tyler Cowen, conservative econ professor at George Mason U, near DC, is comfortable with recent Wall Street behavior

got the lincoln e-mail for free access for the remainder of 2011 as well. scam??

is lincoln saying that they want me to be reading the new york times while I sit behind the wheel of a brand new 2011 lincoln MKZ navigator

http://twitter.com/freenyt

yeah it does seem like it should be a scam, right? if only other advertisers would contact me to offer free things that i want (and can ad-block). i would also like some free frito lay netflix and some free farrar straus and giroux bookforum.

it seems to have worked for me, although who knows what accepting the offer has unleashed in terms of spam. lol at the idea of my driving a lincoln. this is what is says on my account page.

Subscriber since
March 22, 2011
Subscription Account Number
4527247
Subscription Package
NYTimes: Web + Smartphone App
Payment Type
Free

The idea is that most people will forget about it in a year until they're automatically renewed at a crazy rate. The smart thing to do right now is go to your calendar, flip to some day in December, and write "cancel NYTimes online subscription."

they don't have my cc number, at
least they shouldn't

the ruling class has all our cc numbers

then why don't they send me a towncar and charge me for it

doing that now, thx

they don't have my credit card number either.

Somewhere there's a NYTimes angel watching over this thread, and he has given us this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/weekinreview/03cannell.html?_r=1

ha i am guilty of stanning for The Selby

From Hurting2's linked article:

"Historically, only a fraction of Americans hired architects or interior designers."

Well-researched, sir! As near as possible to a content-free sentence as I've seen this week.

First I've heard of modernism being a frugal response to the depression too. What, like they couldn't afford ornate details?

I suppose hand in hand with modernism as the form follows function ideal was the sense that the products were made for mass production, supposed to be cheap and easily accessible to everyone.

It was the ornate details on mass-produced crap that pissed off the modernists so much. Mass produced product should look it.

(I have shelves of Heller Vignelli tableware.)

scandiniavian modernism has its roots in late 19th century democratic ideals, "Vackrare Vardagsvara" and "design for all" & so forth

“There are people who are known bad guys, and then there’s him,” said Russell S. Novack, the Legal Aid lawyer who represents many of Midtown’s hustlers, prostitutes, shoplifters and public drunks. “He’s like the goodwill ambassador of Eighth Avenue. And when he comes into court, he says hello to everybody.”

Organized as a series of visits to the homes of writers, musicians and other creative types, the site shows rooms filled with artful clutter — taxidermy, thrift shop paintings, exquisitely peeling wallpaper.

so, is the article trying to say that the "kitsch as design aesthetic" is filtering into the general populace?

because this selby thing just seems like something someone did a zine about 20 years ago with the same decor.

"The only guiding principle is that there is no guiding principle."

http://www.daveandthomas.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/keanu-reeves-whoa.jpg

new keanu, same as the old keanu

Anything goes, as evidenced by a Chicago couple who parked an Airstream trailer in their loft.

Look here, if you can afford 1) a living space big enough to house an Airstream trailer; and 2) to pay someone to move that Airstream trailer into your large living space, your home decor choices are not suffering during a recession.

While modernism wagged a disapproving finger at those who dared breach its formal orthogonal lines and rigid color palette

http://www.poster.net/chagall-marc/chagall-marc-le-violiniste-bleu-7600118.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bbVTmWTlIF8/TQpCCHPNxXI/AAAAAAAAEKY/uSPUT8ZONVk/s1600/iiiinspired+_+venetian+red+_+dagobert+peche.jpg

http://image60.webshots.com/160/2/12/74/537121274KYbOjP_ph.jpg

http://kkaymarie.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/094.jpg

tbf theyre talking about modernist design!

the second image there is a wallpaper design

http://images.artnet.com/WebServices/picture.aspx?date=20071121&catalog=126605&gallery=424157700&lot=00627&filetype=2

http://image.architonic.com/imgObj/phillips1203_sat/3101_0050_1_lg_sq.jpg

http://www.ecscw09.org/images/tn450x_974471486.jpg

come one that is a ridiculous thing to say! it's only there to set up these "undecorators" as somehow original

peche is arguably pre-modernist/"arts & crafts" but even so i dont think "formal orthogonal lines and rigid color palette" is the WORST generalization as these things go

perhaps instead of "modernism" we should speak of "modernisms" but its the nyt style section

they're the same shabby-chic scavengers we've always had but with an extra layer of artistic pretension that this writer has decided to turn into another trend piece about "the recession"

xpost well yes

i guess i feel that if the style section has to exist the editors should stick to rich people's hobbies without attempting to yoke them to subjects they couldn't pay attention to in college, i.e. economics i.e. art history

but i guess none of it works unless there is a faint aroma of education wafting in

TBF, as the NYTimes has often reminded us, 'the effects of the recession' are not necessarily about what you actually can or can't afford as wanting to not look too rich and go with the spirit of the times.