Roundtable Volume 2, #2

Good evening to you all, or good day to our international followers of timezones myriad. It is time once again for an edition of These Gentleman's signature series, the Roundtable. At the beginning of the week, our illustrious gentlemen were posited a question, and their assembled responses can now be viewed and discussed here, in what we hope is our budding community.

The query posed the group this time was in regards to the recent economic unpleasantness. I use the term as one might use it to describe the actions of Jack the Ripper. In light of the brutal actions taken upon the prostitute the global economy has become, I asked each our gentlemen what changes they have had to make due to the crisis. Their responses were varied in both length and descriptiveness, as it has clearly hit some harder and in more tangible ways than others. In this way it would seem we are a mirror for the world at large, a microcosm, if you will, of the gentlemen of the world.

Long-winded intro now satisfied, let us dive right in to the responses, and hopefully, the discussion which results. Be sure to join us again next week when the Roundtable convenes once more.


Jason Schlafstein

I've had to start being a little less of an idiot. Jury's still out on how exactly that's going.









Max Nova

To be honest I haven't made any drastic changes, I still spend probably more than I should on cds and books, and my music purchasing has slowed down but not really because of the economy. At this point I have a whole lot of it and I'm not sure what strange noises to investigate next. Day to day I think I've more or less gone about things the same way, and I'm pretty happy about that.


Brittany Graham

I don't know because as long as I've been a college graduate, the economy has been crappy. I don't know where the poor economy meets being a recent college grad meets being a freelance artist, not that the difference really matters any to my wallet. The only thing different now is that my dad stopped advising me to get a retirement plan as soon as possible. But I'm about as poor as I expected to be after four years of "you're definitely going to be poor for awhile after you graduate."






David Pratt

The economic downturn came for me at a time when I was already strapped for cash in a big way. The only major change I can say I've made is a steadfast resolution to pay for food as infrequently as possible. My meal layout is currently on something like a $1 a day budget.

I did have to give up spending $20 a week on comic books. That hurt.


John Ozkirbas

Fortunately, the economy has effected me very minimally. I live at home for the time being, so I have a very short list of expenses (and my family has always been careful about what we spend our money on). I'm not working, nor can I more than 15 hours a week should I so choose. It's hard to find summer work, but, apparently, I'm actually a desired commodity in my field - small firms are more willing to take on 1st year law students than pay 2nd or 3rd years. I just won't be getting paid (which, well, smells afoul). In my personal life, I'm just careful not to spend frivolously, though I usually was careful before.

My right to complain is not dynamic. My family business isn't going under. I'm not waiting for another construction job for an indeterminable amount of time. My company isn't going to lay me off and replace me with an entry-level college grad. I'm not an artist who depends upon his art for income in this economy. I (hopefully) won't be looking for a career-job before the next two years. I'm just not within the demographic of people who will be affected the most. I'm lucky and I fully understand that - as there are many (including some friends) who have been directly affected and will continue to be for awhile, despite whatever stimulus plan is going to come through. In witnessing that, I suppose you can say that's the biggest way I've been "affected" - I prefer to see the people around me and in my life prosper as opposed to struggle.

Damien Nichols

Let's see here. I've gotten a bicycle, cut my driving by a lot. Moved closer to my job (within a mile). Negotiated for a raise at work (didn't get one, but was able to get put on flextime, so I get every friday off, YEAH!). Started seeking outside income for small odd jobs. Started pooling resources amongst friends for big family-style meals. This is not only economical, its just great to spend an evening cooking and breaking bread with friends. I've also started negotiating to eliminate or reconsolidate my debt, lectured my father on his wasteful spending and lack of planning for the future (tisk tisk). Looking around at the stock market to figure out who the winners of this depression will be. And finally, I've started wrapping my head around the concept of a total economic collapse.

What do you do when money isn't worth anything any more? Gotta be able to eat, have shelter, transportation, etc. without the exchange of dollars. Scary, but doable!

Daniel Strauss

I can no longer afford McDonald's value meals. It's ridiculous, but, $6.50 for a McNugget meal is friggin insane. I now order exclusively off the dollar menu. Got to.









Ali Daniels

Honestly, the economic troubles haven’t really hit me that hard. I am fortunate that my parents, never being very well off, taught me early the value of saving and never buying something unless I had enough money to pay for it in that moment. I’m already working 2.5 jobs, and a lot of that money goes into rainy day savings, so I don’t feel the pressure of the downed economy, because I can support myself until my investments pick back up.

Because of lower interest rates, I have rolled my long-term investments into accounts with shorter terms, so that when the market stabilizes and rates go back up, I’m not locked into a crappy deal, but that hasn't really personally affected me.

I was inspired, though, to give up my credit card for Lent because of the economy, and it’s been working out pretty well, but I definitely miss it. I’ve been spending less money, but not enough to give up Amazon.com. Not by a long shot.

Watching History

Rarely, I think, does history happen where you can sit down (or go to the National Mall) and watch it in anticipation. I don't just mean the inauguration, and election day, but the entire ascending buildup to those moments. We weren't all entirely certain of what the election results would be, but many saw this moment coming for months if not years.

(Inauguration Day/courtesy: Alex Feldman)

So we've finally reached this moment, and it has passed. Yes we can, and yes we did. Change has come, and Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America. But what exactly will change? Yes, some policies will change, but for the most part the "change" that has come to America arrived well before the Inauguration or the election. Obama alluded to this in his speech yesterday:

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply."

All over the District I've seen posters and signs and images of President Obama (glad we don't have to say 'President-elect' anymore) being portrayed as "The Dream, realized." I'm not so sure I'm a fan of this idea that Obama marks the end of racism and prejudice. I don't see Barack Obama's position in the world as the realization of Martin Luther King Jr's dream of equality and justice. It's undoubtedly a step, and the effects will surely be profound in so many ways and in ways I could never imagine. But Obama is only part of the change.

(Obama on the campaign trail/courtesy: AZWiner)

Like many famous historical figures, Obama is not just a powerful person, but was able to be part of a movement. Rosa Parks didn't start the Civil Rights Movement - the growing tension had made a spark almost inevitable. Rosa Parks was part of a movement, a changing tide that had been shifting for decades and would continue shift for decades. Like Harvey Milk for the gay community, like George Washington for the United States, like Lennon or Lincoln or Mandela or Moses, these were leaders, yes, but they were leaders of a movement that was already happening, and desperately needed someone to lead.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the world is changing, and has been changing, and no matter how hard we try, it's not until the historians look back can we attempt to determine when the transition of change occurred. Maybe that's why I have trouble agreeing with the "Obama = change" equation. I see change as not having a specific date - no mark of beginning or end.

Did these people know they were watching history?
(Inauguration Day/courtesy: Alex Feldman)

Yet, I still have this feeling that yesterday, we really did all watch history happen. I imagine no one knew that Lincoln would remain as famous as he is today when he was elected back then, but Americans are aware of the undercurrent tide of change that brought Obama to the White House because they are the ones who brought him there. Obama is not the Messiah-Elect - as fellow Gentleman, Damien, has jokingly referred to him - but America has chosen him as the man to be a Washington, a Roosevelt, a Lincoln, a gentleman to lead a people who have already begun to change.

"A New and Refreshingly Different Experience"

Change. The theme of this year's Presidential Election. The agent at the center of all peril and progress. The story of my life.

So lucky day for me this past November 4th when me and 300 million of my closest friends scored a young, hip, populist president that fits two fundamental criteria I didn't realize I had for a president until Barack Obama exhibited them so effectively throughout his campaign:

1) The foresight to treat our challenges as opportunities.
2) Placing science AND the will of the people at the center of policy-making decisions without oppressing minority populations (race, tax bracket, choice of creative or religious expression, etc).

Before I start sounding like an Obama fanboy, allow me to mention a couple of early Obama moves I'm none-too-thrilled about. I'm not impressed with his choice of Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General. Feels too much like reality tv for me. Couldn't we get someone with more credentials than notoriety? And I'm not impressed with his one sentence answer regarding cannabis legalization given it was the highest rated question on the change.gov site, which he opened explicitly to get valuable feedback from the people. It was especially shady that they reordered the top 5 list when they sent out the responses. For some reason the question voted #1 was listed #4 and shafted in the "legitimate answer" department. But I understand how the political game works, and from what I've gathered of the man, I fully expect Obama to give us the opportunity to EARN the policy changes we the people truly want to see. Not only that, I expect him to do it without having to stick his neck out far enough for the status quo to chop his head off.

My theory is that Barack Obama's most potent weapon is the ability to understand and manipulate the variables at play to reach a reasonable outcome for most of those affected.

[tangent alert!]

Understanding the variables at play in any given situation creates a marked advantage towards monopolizing available resources. Up until very recently, those "in power," to me meaning those with monetary, celebrity, or political influence, have had near exclusive access to most of the variables which determine resource distribution. Don't get me wrong, I am not here to place blame. Society has always lived and died on "bread and circuses." What we the people need to realize is that thanks to the wonders of modern technology we don't need the middleman anymore.

With the ability to share knowledge globally in real time comes a better informed, better educated, and better trained populace. For the first time in recorded history the human species has a means for a fair and democratic distribution of responsibility and reward. With a more evenly distributed level of control over resources, we can stop handing our resources over to the corporations and governments that are then charged with the task of designing, building, and packaging our destiny for us just to sell it back to us on a sliding scale. (Now 25% more sensation of being victimized, free!)

To give an example of a resource that has been denied us, I give you the sham that is network and cable television. A few relatively enlightening channels and programs notwithstanding, I am pretty ashamed of what gets sold to us over "the people's airwaves." Just google "worst reality shows" and you'll see what I mean. Of course that is just the tip of the iceberg. People actually have to turn that crap on for it to infect them. Dont' get me started on my dad's Maury Povich addiction.

But what about those who try to get informed? 24-hour news networks suck and I think most people know it. I thank Jon Stewart for every montage he's every put together showing just how vacuous and/or misleading cable news tends to be. The fact that most news outlets and television stations are owned by major corporations that are busy selling us everything else we don't necessarily need is one of the most disconcerting aspects of our consumer culture. It's up to us to seek and provide better information to each other.

[/tangent]

So it's officially 7 days before we trade G Dub for Obama and honestly I couldn't be happier. There is simply no way the next four years will see worse leadership than the last four years, and I am comfortable with the man the country chose to lead. How does everyone nerdy enough to like this blog (or unfortunate enough to "stumble upon" [tm] it) feel about how close we got, in TWO THOUSAND FUCKING EIGHT, to electing a president that needs his wife to help him send an email?! (link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/11/mccain-admits-he-doesnt-k_n_106478.html).

But no, we got change. We got Obama. We got the almost polar opposite of John McCain and the hopefully now defunct era of neoconservative republicanism. This was not just a partisan affair, however. I don't even consider myself a democrat. As the youngest contender in the race I strongly feel Obama was the only contender on the right side of a socio-technologic-philosophic(al) generation gap. From his choice of Nobel Laureate and green technology genius Steven Chu to his innovative outreach efforts with Change.gov and Change.org (shady dodging of the legalization question notwithstanding), Barack Obama has so far done much to prove to me that he is truly going about things differently.

I'll give the skeptics their due and (mostly) agree that for now it's all rhetoric. But I just can't help but find myself a few steps beyond cautious optimism. What a new and refreshingly different experience.