The North American Lifestyle - And its Unsustainability

問候!
(Greetings!)

Today we will have a special little talk about a special little corner of our world. In Canada and the United States, a common lifestyle has emerged for millions of people. Some lament it, others see it as a dream to achieve. Although this talk overlaps somewhat with my upcoming discussion of THE HORRORS OF SUBURBIA, I will attempt to fulfill each topic as best I can.

Let us create an example of the life of a typical North American family. Let's meet Janet. She's 43, married, and has 4 kids. She lives in a lovely suburban home with 2 floors and a nice big yard. In her driveway sits a Nissan Pathfinder and a Ford Escape. Hubby Jim is 44 and works for a software company in the city and communtes every day. He makes $70000 US a year and a nice Christmas bonus. Janet loves Jim, but since she doesn't work (due to taking care of 4 kids), she resents Jim's freedom and feels stressed over taking care of so many youngens. She relieves her stress by gazing longingly at the pool boy in the summer, and in the winter she takes to her soap operas on television.

Every day, Jim leaves home at 6:00 am to get to work on time (which starts at 9:00) because for some reason there's always traffic on the highway to the city. When he finally arrives at 8:30, he has to find a parking spot in one of the numerous, ugly multi-stack parking lots. He goes to his building, ascends in the elevator, and goes to his cubicle where he sits at a desk and stares at the screen as the computer boots up. He then goes to the lunch room for his fourth coffee (the third he got at a drive-through doughnut shop), which he seems to be addicted to. He stares at the screen for the next 8 hours, often wondering when all his 'horrible' work will end and he can retire to a life of luxury with full company pension. At 5 Jim shuts down his computer, happy that he has achieved a whole 15 minutes of real work between trips to the coffee maker and talking with Phil and Sally at the water cooler. He gets in his Nissan Pathfinder and tries to manoevre it out of the parking lot. It's a very big vehicle, and he has trouble with its dimensions. He backs into another car, an Olds Alero, and dents the rear fender. Luckily, his SUV doesn't have a scratch. He drives on, with few cares. He gets home at 7:00 after refilling the empty gas tank in his vehicle for another day. He is angry that over the past year the price of fuel has gone up 10%. He decides to vote for who ever offers to bring down the price. At home, he kisses Janet and eats a dinner prepared by her. The kids are loud and obtrusive, but Jim ignores them and scratches his balding head, then his growing belly. Afterwards, he goes to the 50" television, watches Fox news, then finishes his night with a good old network television sitcom. He goes to bed and waits for Janet to put the kids to sleep, who are full of energy of course. Janet returns, the kids still screaming for attention, and shuts the door. Jim tries to get some from Janet, but she's become a fridgid, rancid cunt from raising 4 kids and Jim's flabby stomach, hairless head, and on and off impotentcy.

Janet has also had a hard day. She got up at 5 with Jim. The kids woke up at 7 and immediately proceeded to be loud and uncontrollable. Janet wonders if some drugs might set them straight, since she's tired of trying. She lets them run wild around the house, unwilling to discipline them because she fears they may not like her for it, and that if she did, she would have to do it all day. Around lunch time, Janet realizes there is no bologny for the kid's sandwiches (they won't eat anything else) and has to go get some. She piles the kids into the Ford Escape and drives it to Wal-Mart, which has the lowest price for prepackaged processed bologny. It is about four blocks north, but there are 6 lights between her driveway and the store. She has to wait about 3 minutes at each of them. The kids are screaming in the back, but Janet just takes som advil and ignores them. She flips up the internal DVD system, and they all begin singing and swaying to the musical delights of Disney's Aladdin (which, by the way, is their 13th viewing of the film). Why bother paying attention to her kids when TV does it for her? Just outside the mammoth store parking lot there is a traffic jam. It seems that Wal Mart is a busy place today, and everyone is trying to get in and find a parking spot. The other vehicles, mostly SUVs and minivans, are difficult to see over and Janet has a hard time finding a parking spot. About 15 minutes later, she finds one and quickly siezes it, almost running over a pair of teenagers getting out of their car. She unloads the kids and herds them into the store, where they immediately run past the smiley greeter guy who gets paid $5 an hour to the toys section. Janet has to catch up to them, and when she tries to get them moving towards the bologny, they start screaming and crying for this or that toy. In a bid to get them to shut up, she lets them each buy a toy. They are a little expensive, but what does it matter. It's not like she's working for the money. She then gives up on the bologny since the kids are all riled up from their new toys, and takes them to McDonalds (which is conveniently placed inside the store). They each want a happy meal, and demand a specific toy. Of course, they get it even though Janet has to bitch at the teenager working behind the counter about how the customer is always right. As Janet consumes her big extra, she contemplates where that ring of chub around her waist came from and whether she should go to the gym. Instead she concludes in favour of this Atkins diet she's heard so much about, and orders an extra side of McNuggets in hopes that the protein she thinks she is getting out of them will build muscle and replace the fat. When the kids are done their meals - they too look like they need the Atkins diet - Janet herds them back into the Escape, which turns out to be quite the hike, because the mass of SUVs and minivans moving and parked obscure her vehicle. She blames the other shoppers for being so inconsiderate, and for corporate America for building six bigbox stores with only one communal parking lot. After finding her SUV, she navigates it out of the parking lot. In the lane exiting the lot, several other cars and SUVs are backed up waiting for the light to change so they can get on the road. She honks at them for being too slow, and knocks over her drink which she brought from McDonalds. She leans over to pick up the waxpaper cup. The light changes and everyone behind her is honking. She opens the window and yells at the people behind her to shut up. She then pulls out of the lane and onto the road, where she speeds past other drivers and cuts one off so she can make the turn into her subdivision. After she gets ahead of the other driver (without signalling) she slows down and crawls around the corner into her subdivision. Up one, left, and then right. Her street, and she parks in her driveway. Out the kids come with their new toys, and into the house. It's 1:30 now and she wants to relax after a stressful day at Wal Mart, and turns on the TV. The kids scream that they want to play video games on it, and she tells them to go play in the basement on the smaller TV. They disappear, and immediately two of them fight over the controller. On the couch beside Janet are the new toys she just bought for them, already discarded. She picks up a plastic car, and reads "made in China". The toy then breaks. When its owner comes upstars, he begins crying in lament for the broken toy. He demands another one, so it's off to Wal Mart. Packed back into the SUV with a new Disney DVD, the kids wait while Janet tries to start the engine. No luck. Several more times. No luck. One more time, and success. The fuel tank is dangerously low, so she decides to take the vehicle into the repair shop. The mechanic finds the problem to be some obscure part, and has to order it. The cost is $500. In the meantime, Janet has to rent a vehicle. Of course, she picks the Dodge Durango. The kids are packed into it and they go home, leaving one child sadly unsatisfied. Janet goes onto the computer and orders the toy online. She then finds her way onto other sites, where she buys a few more things. She starts cooking dinner around 6:30 and Jim returns just in time to eat a nice hot sloppy joe. Janet spends the rest of the night subduing the kids and wondering why Jim doesn't buy her a diamond neclace to show his appreciation. Just before going to bed, Jim and Janet talk about their finances. They have very little in savings, no investments save their home, and are heavily reliant on state and company pensions and health coverage. They conclude that they will find a way to pay for all of the kids' college expenses and that Jim will just retire later. Janet rejects Jim's conjugal advances and tries to fall asleep so she can face another day.

Consider this situation with a twist. Jim now makes $50000 a year, Janet is forced to get a job to pay the bills, and the kids are a little older. Janet now works for a phone company which is unionized. She was lucky to be hired, and she works inside the company's office. She enjoys working with other women and the conversations they have. She misses a few deadlines because of her talking, and the quality of her work is less because she's always worried about her kids. She often takes off half an our early, thinking the company doesn't notice. When her supervisor, another woman, asks her about this, she just says she is having a hard time at home and says she is working her hardest. Secretly she wishes her supervisor would get off her back and that she works hard enough already. She knows that even if she is an unproductive worker, the union will protect her. Jim has to put more time in at the office in the city to make some extra money. Meanwhile, the kids, in their early teens, do the usual rebellious teen things. Two of them already have jobs to support their lifestyles; jobs at the local Wal Mart and McDonalds. They've been looking for better jobs, but there seems to be nothing in town for them. One of them is applying to college. He can't afford to pay for it, and neither can mommy or daddy. He needs some financial assistance. But mommy and daddy just voted Republican so they can get a tax break and hopefully lower gas prices for their SUVs, so this situation is not likely to change.

If you can see ANY of the problems with this situation, you are a wise person. If you think this is the essence of the good life, try to think a little harder about what I have just exposed to you. My friends and I have all faced the above situations, having grown up in the epitome of Canadian suburbia. SUVs, cookie-cutter homes on big lots, and dependance on fuel and a total lack of savings are totally unsustainable. Environmentally, socially, and financially, all the situations faced by Jim and Janet, and thier four kids, cannot continue to exist in perpetuity. A stock market crash, depleting oil stocks, or a rise in interest rates would destroy this family. Their future looks bleak. More than likely Jim's company will reneg on his pension and benefits or they will turn out to be not enough. Janet will probably likely lose her sanity and end up addicted to something or other. They will become reliant on the state for a variety of programs - oh wait, they won't because conservative governments tend to cut programs and benefits. One thing is for sure, Jim and Janet's kids are screwed. If they don't end up undisciplined criminals, they will be unable to get a job because all through school they never had the application to get good grades, nor the money for college since the only jobs within a student's range are at Wal Mart and McDonalds.

The environment cannot sustain more suburbs or SUVs. Families cannot afford a heap of kids while balancing a house, college, retirement, and other debts. Companies cannot sustain pensions and benefits for lots of workers in perpetuity, especially if their workers turn out to be unproductive and unappreciative. Children need attention and discipline, so all parents out there, know that your presence and a firm hand cannot be replaced by toys and television. Without discipline, kids grow up disrespectful, spoiled brats. Keep in mind, these kids will have to fund the pensions and health care of their parents through their jobs. If the family produces unproductive brats, they won't get good jobs. Companies will move to areas of higher intellectual capital and thus impoverish society. If the kids do turn out ok, they will need help financially for higher education. Not all of us can work at daddy's firm for $20 an hour. By demanding products and services from absolute-bottom wage places like Wal Mart and McDonalds, we are ensuring that higher wage payers are being squeezed out and jobs will be reduced to the above locations for our children.

I encourage the old, the middle aged, and the young alike to visit an old city. Take in the sights, use mass transit, buy a nice meal from a non-chain restaurant (which may cost a little more but ultimately will be more fulfilling), and top it off by going to your bank and depositing your remaining money in a savings account for a rainy day. Society is driven by market forces. The more you demand of one product or service, the less is demanded of other or traditional equivalents. Cars and roads have taken money away from busses, trolleys, and trains. Wal Mart has taken money away from local grocery stores and farmer's markets, as well as small quaint shops. McDonalds has taken money away from creative and unique restaurants and even home cooking.

Start buying local goods, using local venues, and spending your money on public transit. Vote accordingly. If you have a little extra money, SAVE IT! You don't have to buy that extra chocolate bar. You may thank me one day when you have a financial emergency and there is that savings account, ready to help you. Savings are preferable to debt, no?

Walk, exercise, and appreciate nature. It may not be around much longer.