The release of the new novel by Tom Perrotta, "The Leftovers", coincides with the 10th anniversary of 9/11. A Rapture-like event before the story begins causes the instantaneous disappearance of millions of people (though unrelated in any way to the conservative Christian version). Perrotta inevitably summons the national anxiety tied to thousands of citizens vaporized in the World Trade Towers. Perrotta's work is filled with sharp observations of behavior through the many forms of stress and frailty. There is a particular American sadness that attaches to the failed expectation of Christianity when there is no balancing of the scales, rhyme or reason why some are taken and some, not.
But there is another resonance in "The Leftovers" that is less explored: the operations of the US economy on the individual that are making so many Americans, "leftovers". That is not the book that Perotta wrote, however. (Along that line, Richard Ford is more durable.) In Perotta's small town America, fully drawn characters cope in a world defined by disappearance but not necessarily of industry and jobs like so much of the nation is experiencing today.
The question is asked, though. Our anonymous leaders are barely noticed. Their reaction to the Disappearance is to pick up morale the way George W. Bush did, weeks after 9/11: urging Americans to go shopping. Fill the malls. Buy things with a smile. But what do we do, now?
1 comment:
Telling people to buy things kind of makes sense since consumers drive a big proportion of economic activity. Supposedly we are not buying enough goods and services to keep people working. But Bush got it wrong, since people can’t buy what they cannot afford.
A letter to the newspaper in a little town in Baraboo, Wisconsin hit home for me. The writer’s name is Bill Dragnon. He wrote:
“....Henry Ford had a solution to this demand-side deficit. One hundred years ago he raised his workers' wages from around $3 per day to $5 per day. Other employers were angry with Ford, but in reply he said he wanted his workers to be able to afford to buy the cars they were making. Henry Ford made a decision that improved his company's sales, his employees' income, and the country's economy.”
It all comes down to caring more for workers, the little guys ... not making the rich richer so there’s some mythical “trickle down” that the poor, rural tea baggers are waiting for. Pay the janitor better, don’t fire him. It is best for the economy AND human dignity. If God existed, He would vaporize every banker that caused the mortgage crisis, remained a subsidized millionaire, and created no jobs except for their butlers and chauffeurs.
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