Memoirs from 2034 (#2)
The thing that was true in 2012, and is still true today is that history has a way of apparent unfolding. Meaning that if you look back at history and the events that were occurring, it seems obvious that the result you have now is the result that was always going to happen. But if you voice a worry that things will result in a given way before they have happened, people think that there’s no possible way that this event could wind up leading to that outcome.
What we do know in 2034 is that a lot of little things were going on in the world that 2012’s America just dismissed as being things that happened in other places. What hubris and bland entitlement we Americans displayed when we said that those things weren’t first world issues; they were issues that only lazy or backwards cultures experienced as a result of inefficiency and lack of democracy. Like the Greek economy collapse. Like the overwhelming preponderance of AIDs in Africa, or the recurring outbreaks of ebola, or H1N1 or other respiratory viruses, or any of many other scary viral potentials. Then came the great 2015 boomer die off. No one is quite sure why it happened. Some are certain the conspiracy theories were true. Stories of an engineered virus attacking anyone over 50 so that Medicare and Social Security could be saved for the post-boomers flooded every node and hive. In the end it didn’t matter if it was a conspiracy with a goal or not. Both systems were bankrupt and scuttled in 2017.
I mentioned my theory of backward looking clarity to my hive yesterday. I wondered to them why this was true. They pointed out that events that are happening in the here and now are usually never presented clearly; the issue is almost always selectively presented for the outcome the presenter wants. I took that away with me and looked again at women returning to the hearth and wondered why they would do so. I was taught that they went happily, but also understood that women of the late 20th and very early 21st century outspokenly believed themselves to be equal to men - in effort, for pay, and in due of recognition. So why would these enlightened women willingly return home to be muted?
Again, the ten year recession loomed as a key factor.
Some local governments were faced with a choice: deny all benefits to everyone, or cut all essential services, or find a way to selectively provide benefits and services. Crime rates were unmanageable; there wasn’t enough money for an adequate police force and people blamed the lack of parental supervision. With the pressure to maintain the American lifestyle with any resemblance to the manner of which they were accustomed, many people began to blame two income families for stealing jobs completely from other families. Finally, some states made a bold choice to tie state provided welfare aid, health services, and unemployment benefits, not to mention tax deductions, to the number of wage earners for each address. A significant flat tax structure was implemented for all incomes under 500k a year. Poverty exemptions were removed. In addition, they passed laws that fined parents of children born outside of marriage. The state coffers fattened.
The Federals noticed quickly that reported state unemployment levels had dropped and payable government support had dramatically decreased. They adored the idea and rolled it out nationally. If you were married without children, two income households would be taxed at 60%, but single earner married households would be taxed at 25%. If you had children, two earner households were still taxed at 60% - forget about the dependency exemption, the additional tax dollars were needed to cover the inevitable additional burden on state services to manage your children because you were not there. However, if you were married with children and were a single earner household, your tax rate was just 15%. However, if you were married with children and if the state could not find the husband a job, they would house and feed the family. But they always found him a job. Manual infrastructure maintenance positions abounded. But if the state found him a job and he couldn’t or didn’t keep it, then the family was forcibly relocated to a remote indigent camp where everyone worked. Single mothers were considered to be abandoned and indigent, and were also subject to immediate relocation. Many women very quickly found a husband or returned to live with their parents.
But why wasn’t there a concern, a cry, a rally against enacting these policies? It wasn’t as though Americans weren’t familiar with the slippery slope being offered to them. They had listened for years to reports from dozens of places where women without a husband, father, or brother to speak for them couldn’t obtain some crucial thing necessary to life… whether it was medical treatment, living assistance, obtaining employment, or even being allowed to travel unescorted. In 2012, local cultures and traditions in Nepal, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the DRC, Guatemala, Sudan, Mali, Chad, Yemen, the Solomon Islands, Niger, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Iran all restricted women in some significant way. Looking back from today it seems plain that the path we were headed down only led backward. But looking at it in 2012? Well, anyone voicing a worry was just a making assistance more difficult for those that really needed it. What happened in those other, not first world countries would never happen here. Stop worrying and go spend some money on something. You’ll feel better.
What we do know in 2034 is that a lot of little things were going on in the world that 2012’s America just dismissed as being things that happened in other places. What hubris and bland entitlement we Americans displayed when we said that those things weren’t first world issues; they were issues that only lazy or backwards cultures experienced as a result of inefficiency and lack of democracy. Like the Greek economy collapse. Like the overwhelming preponderance of AIDs in Africa, or the recurring outbreaks of ebola, or H1N1 or other respiratory viruses, or any of many other scary viral potentials. Then came the great 2015 boomer die off. No one is quite sure why it happened. Some are certain the conspiracy theories were true. Stories of an engineered virus attacking anyone over 50 so that Medicare and Social Security could be saved for the post-boomers flooded every node and hive. In the end it didn’t matter if it was a conspiracy with a goal or not. Both systems were bankrupt and scuttled in 2017.
I mentioned my theory of backward looking clarity to my hive yesterday. I wondered to them why this was true. They pointed out that events that are happening in the here and now are usually never presented clearly; the issue is almost always selectively presented for the outcome the presenter wants. I took that away with me and looked again at women returning to the hearth and wondered why they would do so. I was taught that they went happily, but also understood that women of the late 20th and very early 21st century outspokenly believed themselves to be equal to men - in effort, for pay, and in due of recognition. So why would these enlightened women willingly return home to be muted?
Again, the ten year recession loomed as a key factor.
Some local governments were faced with a choice: deny all benefits to everyone, or cut all essential services, or find a way to selectively provide benefits and services. Crime rates were unmanageable; there wasn’t enough money for an adequate police force and people blamed the lack of parental supervision. With the pressure to maintain the American lifestyle with any resemblance to the manner of which they were accustomed, many people began to blame two income families for stealing jobs completely from other families. Finally, some states made a bold choice to tie state provided welfare aid, health services, and unemployment benefits, not to mention tax deductions, to the number of wage earners for each address. A significant flat tax structure was implemented for all incomes under 500k a year. Poverty exemptions were removed. In addition, they passed laws that fined parents of children born outside of marriage. The state coffers fattened.
The Federals noticed quickly that reported state unemployment levels had dropped and payable government support had dramatically decreased. They adored the idea and rolled it out nationally. If you were married without children, two income households would be taxed at 60%, but single earner married households would be taxed at 25%. If you had children, two earner households were still taxed at 60% - forget about the dependency exemption, the additional tax dollars were needed to cover the inevitable additional burden on state services to manage your children because you were not there. However, if you were married with children and were a single earner household, your tax rate was just 15%. However, if you were married with children and if the state could not find the husband a job, they would house and feed the family. But they always found him a job. Manual infrastructure maintenance positions abounded. But if the state found him a job and he couldn’t or didn’t keep it, then the family was forcibly relocated to a remote indigent camp where everyone worked. Single mothers were considered to be abandoned and indigent, and were also subject to immediate relocation. Many women very quickly found a husband or returned to live with their parents.
But why wasn’t there a concern, a cry, a rally against enacting these policies? It wasn’t as though Americans weren’t familiar with the slippery slope being offered to them. They had listened for years to reports from dozens of places where women without a husband, father, or brother to speak for them couldn’t obtain some crucial thing necessary to life… whether it was medical treatment, living assistance, obtaining employment, or even being allowed to travel unescorted. In 2012, local cultures and traditions in Nepal, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the DRC, Guatemala, Sudan, Mali, Chad, Yemen, the Solomon Islands, Niger, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Iran all restricted women in some significant way. Looking back from today it seems plain that the path we were headed down only led backward. But looking at it in 2012? Well, anyone voicing a worry was just a making assistance more difficult for those that really needed it. What happened in those other, not first world countries would never happen here. Stop worrying and go spend some money on something. You’ll feel better.