#post-pandemic

it's just gotten to the point that nothing can be enjoyed anymore because it feels like a gross indulgence. it doesn't feel like treating yourself, it feels like a sacrifice. of course no treat is worth it when it feels like a sacrifice or like getting hustled. which it inevitably feels like (and is) when they charge you $4.50 for fries they made out of half a potato, if that.

and don't get me wrong - when people feel this way even when they make decent money (i.e. can at least afford all the basic necessities and are not in debt) then you can only imagine how fucking far the rich have gone with the latest and most massive transfer of wealth in centuries.

this is only going to accentuate everything else that's fucked about our current society. nobody has the money to even go out to eat fast food anymore, and so they stay home. they grow even more isolated. more disenchanted with life and living. their mental health deteriorates. the newest generations are already experiencing the worst of the mental health crisis, more than any previous generations.

and I just feel like I'm going a little insane here. reasonably, I know I'm not making stuff up or being unreasonable. many people are talking about this and even analyzing it in depth. but there is no universal acknowledgement in the media or the government. nobody is protesting this outright theft. nobody is enacting policy. I just don't know where this will lead if nothing happens. And I don't know what to do in the meantime to feel sane.

are we just so exhausted from the pandemic that we've simply stopped ackowledging that "unprecedented times" are still happening? we don't want to admit that everything is still kinda batshit insane right now? it just feels like we are collectively, with few exceptions, trying to pretend like it is what it is and there's nothing that can be done about the state and cost of living. everyone is resigned to it.

and the job market ohmygod-

“The Urgency To Slow Down” 

1. Only select people can stand near me. Close talkers be warned. 12 feet. 🤣🤣🤣

2. Less activities have benefited my life.

"It names-without-naming the problem if we 'go back to normal', which means returning to the underlying economic framework we’ve been following since 1980: The Washington Consensus. That’s the playbook for late 20th century capitalist economic growth and it had a zero tolerance policy for veering away from the principles of lower taxation, freer and more global trade, fewer rules and regulations for business, and more privatization of public assets. In short, more market, less government. The only measure of success was making more money, not the impact on people’s lives."

"The eight recommendations of the Cornwall Consensus basically reverse the thrusts of the Washington Consensus. You’ve probably already heard about the 15% corporate minimum tax idea. There’s also a growing focus on what we can do at home, for each other. That includes addressing cyber-security and privacy issues, improving health care strategies (population and public health for the win!), and puts global supply chains and trade on the table. But perhaps most strikingly, the Cornwall Consensus wraps with a focus on the people who do the work!"

"This recommendation is also breathtakingly clear that the goal is not just how to get more people into the labour market, but how they could thrive, not just in the G7, but in the supply chains that feed the G7 economies and citizens. Increasing access to decent work opportunities, enforcing labour standards that are on the books and improving those standards, empowering and protecting collective rights, and measuring success with metrics that go beyond GDP, trade, investment, profits and inflation: this is how we know if we are creating economic resilience, for individuals and for societies. Promoting economic growth, and tracking how much money got made, just isn’t enough anymore."

Future of Workers, June 11, 2021: "The audacity of consensus," by Armine Yalnizyan

YouTube, June 11, 2021: "The audacity of consensus," by Atkinson Foundation, (2:02, Video)

G7, May 31, 2021: G7 Panel on Economic Resilience, (9 pages, PDF)