Submitted for your consideration: a story of economic wonder and social dysfunction.
A lunatic used to live across the street. He had cameras that he watched not from his home but from the local library. He set up bizarre works of yard art and danced before it. He declared he was an independent nation and confidentially told me he could show me how never to pay my mortgage. He was utterly harmless, thought everyone in the government was corrupt, and said he was from Morocco (he wasn't).
The law caught up to him, of course. The bank took his house, the sheriff served the eviction notice, and one fine day seven (count 'em!) patrol cars turned up. Somehow he was not home, though I'd spoken with him out front not an hour before. He made his getaway. I wish him well, though I rather think good rarely comes his way.
Not long after, workers showed up. They hauled off all his possessions. Other workers fell to, cleaning up the yard, trimming bushes. He'd never put grass in the back yard, so they put in a lawn there. Completed the fence. Here's how all that went.
First, the real estate guy. He's the one who bought the place. Then some sort of contractor. He and his wife and his little black dog showed up with a couple of Hispanic workers. Much pointing and nodding. There followed a week in which the workers worked. Probably about ten hours a day. One of them was old and moved as slowly as I've ever seen any worker move. He smokes. He coughs a lot. That's probably why he moves so slow. The contractor showed up once or twice a day, looked around with his wife and the little black dog, then left. The workers worked on.
They finished up today. The contractor came after they had left. The real estate agent too, with a camera. The contractor checked the back to make sure the lawn was in, then left. The little black dog hardly had time to pee. The real estate agent took photos, put up the sign, then left.
It was a marvel of economics. Economic self interest moved the bank. Tax dollars moved the police. The lunatic was harried off. Not arrested, mind you; all that mattered to all concerned was that he be gone. Then a cascade of monetary interests that at last put immigrants to work. The lunatic was not a white man. The workers were not white men. All the rest were (including all the police).
And that's what struck me so forcibly. The powers were all white, but they did none of the work. No, I don't count accounting and finance as work. It's a job, yes, but it ain't work (I've done that; I've also done work). The men doing the actual work were rarely seen by those who employed them and never seen by those who mobilized them in the first place. The lunatic vanished into the vast underbelly of society (it was not his first run-in).
The economics of all this is a utilitarian marvel. The sociology is appalling. Somewhere in there lies at least part of the reason why our society feels so divided.
