What is normal?

Something I'm hearing a lot, in a socially distant sort of way, is about when this is over and we return to normal. It's making me think, what is normal, and why would we want to go back to it?

Normal for most people seems to mean going out on a whim to buy cheap shit made in China by slave labour. Or working lots of hours at a job they hate to earn the money to buy the things they think they need. Or taking plane trips or a cruise for what seemed like a good reason at the time. Or going to Mexico for vacation because it's cheap, and staying in a resort that is essentially an enclave of your own country, except it's warmer and you dare not eat the fruit.

Normal seems to mean the rich carry on their plundering and abuse of everyone that is not as rich as them. Even people with almost nothing get taken for every nickle and dime, and I mean the actual coins. The so called middle class gets plundered in less obvious ways, but it's happening. Many people that are (and when I say are, I mean were) middle class have essentially slid into working poverty.

How do we know this? Simple. Look at how many people have applied for government benefits in the last few weeks. The statistics over the last bunch of years have said that many people are only a paycheque or two away from serious financial problems, like being unable to pay their rent or mortgage. Read the headlines, here we are. Are some of them grifters or thieves? Almost certainly. But it's only a small percentage, and the system will catch at least some of them. Not an excuse to slow down on providing aid to those that need it.

So how did "normal" get us to this state? How did we let "normal" mean that most people have zero financial resilience? Why is acceptable that so many people live right on the edge of the financial chasm? Why isn't society working for everyone?

It should. Here in Canada, essentially all of my parent's lifetime have been the most prosperous times in human history. They were born at the tail end of some tough economic sledding, and there's been a few rough patches every now and then, but mostly it's been an economic rose garden. Never have so many people enjoyed such a good life. And yet, there were homeless, and people with substance abuse problems. Somehow it was never important to society to do anything beyond covering up the problem, or try pushing it to another area, preferably in another jurisdiction. (Remember Klein's bus ticket solution, sending people to BC, or his Eastern creeps and bums comment?)

Now we're being told to stay home, unless we're an essential worker. Have you thought through what it means to be told to stay home, when you are homeless? When you're told to wash your hands with soap and water, and you have neither? When you can't get away from vulnerable people, and you are vulnerable yourself?

In an aside, if you're at home with internet, WTF do you mean you're bored? This is a whole other rant, involving lots of swear words and some extremely politically incorrect opinions.

Have you thought about why the people who are being declared essential workers typically aren't paid all that well? Cleaners and grocery store staff come to mind. (Our local Co-op gave them a raise, and I hope it sticks after the crisis.) Or maybe paid well, but are under constant denigration and subject to abusive penny-pinching by our provincial government? Medical staff come to mind here.

Billionaires have managed to capture an out-sized portion of the societal cake, and use it to capture even more of it. They say they are important and that the pay reflects that. Yet they aren't being mentioned as essential. They've organized society so their supply of cake can keep on coming and everyone thinks that is normal.

Well, now the rules have changed. People are beginning to get a clearer picture of what is actually important. A safe home. A supply chain that delivers groceries that are safe to eat. Sufficient financial resilience to weather the storm, or having the resources to work from home and keep the money supply going.

In spite of the cheeky video clips of people choosing option B rather than get locked in a house with their families, I suspect that people are rediscovering who their family really is. For better or worse, and I'm pretty sure some people are in the worse side of that. But some people, and I hope it's many people, will come out of this with a better appreciation of what a work life balance might actually mean.

Part of going into retirement is understanding how much money you really need. I've talked in previous blogs about the spending side of the money equation. Times like this are when people find out what is really essential in their lives. Maybe they will re-evaluate some of their previous choices. How much of that spending was force of habit, putting on a prosperous show for family or the neighbours? How much was retail therapy, buying something to make you feel good? Buying something new rather than making do?

Maybe if people get a clearer idea of what is really essential, they won't feel quite so compelled to spend as much. (Horrified gasp from the rich and the economists.) And maybe, just maybe, they will realize then don't really need to be earning as much. (Heresy!) Some of the economy is going to go away because people will find out it isn't really essential, or even important in their lives. There will be changes, like it or not.

Some entire industries are going to go away. Cruise ships, for example. There's been any number of sick ships in the news over the years, gradually getting worse and more frequent, and then COVID happened. Who in their right mind is ever again going to get on what is essentially a floating disease petri dish, where you are at the mercy of the sickest person on board? That's going to have a huge impact to the countries that supply the workers on such ships, and the places those ships call on. Except the people in those places seem to regard the ships as a mixed blessing at best.

Some industries are going to diminish. Airlines, for example. People used to do a lot of travelling, and much of it was discretionary. Business travel has been cutting back with the increased utility of remote meeting tools. People took vacations all around the world (holds up hand, me too) and didn't see what was at home. Airplanes aren't quite the same as a cruise ship in that you're not in them as long, but you're much closer while you're there. They make it possible to spread disease all over the world within hours. I suspect airline travel is going to get much more expensive due to climate change mitigation efforts and to try to control the spread of disease. More expensive means fewer people will do it, leading to a contracted industry, and layoffs. The hotel and AirBnB industries are being ravaged just now, and I can't see that turning around any time soon.

Calgary has a lot of downtown office space available for rent. This is fallout from the drop in oil prices. It isn't going to get any better any time soon, and in fact, I think it's going to get worse. For years I've heard control freak managers tell people they couldn't work from home. Why? Any number of reasons that seem valid only to a control freak. Now they have to, and they're finding out it can be done. Soon if they haven't already, the corporate bean counters will figure out that providing someone an office in a downtown tower is expensive compared to providing a laptop and some remote setup expertise. They will save serious rent by having people work from home much of the time. Or satellite offices in cheaper locations. This has been happening already, and I think the trend is going to accelerate. Smarter managers who can work well with remote staff are going to find themselves in demand.

The whole retail experience is going to change. I think the days of mall after mall of the same stores is going to end. Those buildings are going to become white elephants. Why go to a store and risk catching a disease, when you can get stuff delivered for the same price or cheaper? People went shopping to fulfill other needs, not to buy stuff. I think people are going to figure out how to fulfill those other needs without the shopping mall. I've heard of small businesses making big changes to cope with COVID. Our bakery has red circles, and the farmer's market has big pieces of yellow tape on the floor to space people out. Some of them are providing curbside pickup.

Unfortunately, I suspect that many mom and pop stores are not going to survive, unless debt relief or debt forgiveness is a big part of the financial package. When the banks are making billions of dollars a year, jamming their blood funnel into anything that smells like money, they should be forced to take a hair cut and cut service charges and the interest rates they charge. (Thank you Matt Taibbi for that phrase.) Maybe then small local businesses will have a chance.

My thinking has always been that there is more to life than finding or providing the cheapest goods or services. That's a race to the bottom that only the really rich win. The quality provided should count for something. Having it provided by a neighbour and having your money stay local should count for something. Some people used to protest Walmart coming to town because they knew it would kill their main street. And it did, because people figured they could save a few dollars. Nearly every dollar spent in a Walmart flows out of your city. Spend a little bit more, and support your neighbours.

There's a lot of confusion about the various government relief programs. But let's be clear, some relief is better than none. Go ask your grandparents about stories from the depression. Many governments seemed quite willing to let people starve on the street at first. Some people are concerned about the debt for future generations, or their taxes going up next year. I suspect it's really the taxes going up that concerns them. They need to learn about the Velocity of Money.

Putting actual money into the hands of people that don't have any, is much more effective that giving money to billion dollar corporations. Just look at the recent examples courtesy of Kenney. Give corporations humungous tax breaks and they lay off people and close doors. We don't see it, but the managers probably gave themselves a raise or bonus. Give an ordinary person money and they'll buy groceries, or get their car fixed, or get caught up on their rent. That money goes into the local economy, where it probably gets spent again, and again.

"Normal" should be a world where people make enough money to provide the needs for them and their families, and put a little aside. They shouldn't have to be working multiple part time jobs just to scrape by. They should be able to trust that their pension funds are not going to be plundered by some accountant for the already wealthy. Henry Ford enraged the wealthy class when he paid his workers far more than he had to. His reasoning was sound; if he paid his workers enough to buy the products they made, they were more likely to do so. And they did. If it was true then, why isn't it true now?

"Normal" should be a world where people aren't driven to prostitute themselves to make money. The rich tell us they got to the top by their own efforts, and if you can't then you're a failure and deserve what you get. Except many of the rich now inherit their money, and spend it getting more and preventing other people from getting it. That cycle has to be broken.

"Normal" should be a world where help is available to the people with complicated problems at the bottom of the heap, not just the wealthy with easy issues. "Normal" should be a world where a boil water advisory is a periodic seasonal thing, not a way of life. "Normal" should be a world where young adults aren't nearly bankrupted getting an education. Why don't the taxpayers front the money for a post secondary degree program (preferably one with good prospects for employment, like accountant, or plumber, or the like), and they can't leave the country or get a tax refund till they pay it back. Tell me again how a university president should make more than our Prime Minister?

"Normal" should be an economy that works for everyone, not just the already rich. I mean everyone, including those currently marginalized, meaning essentially almost everyone that isn't already an old rich white man. The rich like to say that a rising tide floats all boats, except it isn't true for those who's boats have holes in them, or  are anchored to the sea bottom, or are full of ballast.

But we aren't going to get to a better normal unless we put up a fuss, and insist to the old rich white men that are currently running things, and talking about restarting the economy so it continues to work for them while they're still getting rich off the crisis, that things change. The time for that fuss is rapidly approaching for much of Canada, and it's already here in Alberta. Over to you. Start planning your fuss.

And now, what photos shall I show you?

Another person so happy they are walking on a cloud.

Just about the only panorama that isn't on or of a beach.

Driftwood of the Day
I saw so many faces and strange animals in the driftwood.