I try not to see the glass half empty. However, it seems that the latest economic expansion has not really helped the American middle class all that much (although it has created a Chinese and Indian middle class.)

There is an interesting article in today’s New York Times (”China Leans Less On US Trade“), indicating that, because the US isn’t a high-growth market, China needs our market less (and is expanding trade with our traditional trading partners, namely Europe, the Middle East and Africa.)

I think, that, in the future, we can look forward to ever worsening customer service, at least on the bottom level. Or, to be more to the point, the product will be practically given away, it is the non-indifference of a customer service person you’ll be paying for. But if industries are indifferent to a market, they usually grow by cutting expenses and performing layoffs.

As a pessimist, I always wonder when the stagnant wages will finally catch up with the New York City real estate market - and make it reflect the market reality of people’s salaries. Apparently, though, everyone except me is a millionaire.

You can’t escape the coverage of the Virgina Tech massacre in the media (I’m glad I can tune it out.)

I get the impression that he wanted the world to understand him, very badly. When I was his age, I felt the same way (sometimes I still do, really.)

Its not a good reason to blow anyone’s head off, although its too late for bromides like this now. I remember how lonely I was in college, though, and am not surprised he was starved for attention. I would have thought that a college in a non-urban setting (does Blacksburg, VA qualify) would have had few enough people where someone would have reached out to him. Maybe Blacksburg isn’t that kind of place. Is America?

I think there’s a point in everyone’s day (or week) when they get to thinking “What could it take for me to chuck this life I’ve made for myself?” Well, part of that daydreaming, for me, always involved trolling through the housing ads, finding the cheapest places to live in the NYC area, and finding out how little money I need to survive here.
One of my options, living in a trailer home, is going up in smoke. Apparently, according to the New York Times, they are being sold out for development and/or condos.

Does this mean that I have to retire in Detroit?

And I am going insane!

I’m going to start posting alot more often, now that there is, on the horizon, the ability to suppress certain posts from the front page of this blog. In the future, hopefully, the world won’t be presented with posts that are under the category “Very Personal”. Access won’t be denied, but it won’t be the first thing people are presented with either.

Which is good. I’ve needed place to work stuff out, and I’ve decided that this will be the place. I’ve always tried to write stuff out to work out my problems, and instead of a pencil and paper (which, to tell you the truth, still feels more natural), I will write here. Let’s see if this works.

For some friends, please look at http://www.jonsteiner.com/blog/category/very-personal/