William Faulkner on Donald Trump

There is a fantastic, intelligent, rather low-key article over at Atlantic just now that I think nearly every adult a  American should read, I think.

Will America Earn the Right to Survive?

William Faulkner’s provocative question from 1955 echoes loudly in 2016.

This, below, isn't the point of the article--and it's a great point--but I love this author's comparison of one of Faulkner's characters compared to current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Faulkner had created in his fictional universe a minor Southern incarnation of Trump: Flem Snopes, an unscrupulous and voracious predator with “eyes the color of stagnant water”, who claws and lies his wily way to power, cheating and conning anyone naïve enough to think they can outsmart him. In Flem and his clan, Faulkner excoriated many of his fellow citizens who “know and believe in nothing but money and it doesn’t much matter how you get it.” He harbored no doubt about the harm people like the Snopes tribe could inflict if allowed to reign and proliferate, if their “stupid chicanery and petty corruption for stupid and petty ends” were ever to prevail. Given the latest polls, such an electoral apocalypse seems increasingly unlikely, but the mere fact that Trump is even a viable candidate, would be terrifying to the author of "Absalom, Absalom."

It's a terrific, brief read. I'd argue it's nearly an important read, for all of us.

Our Ugly, Heartless, Immoral US Health Care System

I was just notified yesterday, by my brother, that a friend from childhood had had a stoke.

That was awful enough but, once again, it shows how wrong, horrible, even, our Capitalist, profit-driven health care system is in our nation.

Not only did he have a stroke, the poor guy, but was life-flighted to a local hospital here in Kansas City, from St. Joseph, an hour away. He then had a long stay in the hospital with numerous surgeries. It was apparently a massive stroke.

He's home now but to make all those matters even worse, he and his wife have no health insurance.

His wife is a middle school school teacher in St. Joseph (Missouri).

She continues to be his primary caregiver, which would be more than enough work and strain and stress as it is but then, she also has to hire help during the day for him, while she teaches.

Can you imagine the expenses?

From the life-flight to the emergency room to the surgeries to the daily expenses while he was there to, now, the medicines he no doubt has to have and the daily care for him? All of it?  It must surely be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, those poor people.

And then there's the mental anguish his wife is unquestionably going through.

It's horrible. It's nearly unthinkable what they've been through and what they're going through.

Horrible as all this is, do you know what they'd owe in the UK, England, if this occurred to a citizen?

Zero.

They would owe nothing.

Sure, they'd have expenses but they all knew better, many decades ago, than to tie health care to profit and for just these very reasons.

I say again, our American health care system is the ugliest, most inhuman, inhumane, abusive, immoral, horrible, over-expensive, over-rated, disgusting health care system in the world, bar none. In no other nation do the people have to have fund raisers to cover family member's health care costs. We, here in the US, are the only nation that does that or has to. I imagine few Americans give any thought to that fact.

This is why we needed, and so badly, the Affordable Care Act, the ACA, "Obamacare." It's why we need to go further and have a single-payer system. We need universal health care. The rest of the civilized, educated, industrial world has it.

We should, too.

Link:

U.S. Healthcare: Most Expensive and Worst Performing - 

The Atlantic

Local Mechanic Hits the National News

The Atlantic Magazine has a story this week on a local mechanic and the evolution of automobiles.

A Mechanic Faces the Age of the Self-Driving Car

Joe Sevart, an auto technician turned business owner in Kansas City, Missouri, talks about the future of servicing more advanced vehicles.

Joe Sevart owns an auto-service business in Kansas City, Missouri, that specializes in computer diagnostics. I spoke with Sevart about his transition from technician to business owner, why he hired a business coach, and how electric and driverless cars are changing the traditional auto industry.

Mr. Sevart is out East at I-70 Auto. I used to be a patron, for what it's worth.

This Is How Bad American Health Care Is

Here is a perfect example of how bad our American health care is, given that we tie it to profit and profits. From the LA Times:

How a bite from a stray dog shows 

the sick state of U.S. healthcare

Jan Kern was bitten by a stray dog while traveling abroad and ended up with a jaw-dropping illustration of why the U.S. healthcare industry is completely sick.

That’s because she underwent a series of rabies shots in three countries at four medical facilities. What that revealed, and which will surprise no one, is that Americans pay way more for the exact same treatment than people in other nations.

Moreover, her experience highlights the lack of uniformity for drug prices, including commonly used medications. One facility might charge a few bucks for the same drug that costs thousands of dollars at a U.S. hospital.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to our medical system,” said Rick Kern, 61, who contacted me about his 62-year-old wife’s global healthcare adventure after reading my recent column on drug prices...

The Kerns are former Palos Verdes residents who now reside on Lake Tahoe. While traveling in Southeast Asia a couple of years ago, Jan was bitten by a stray pooch near Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple. The couple went to a nearby hospital, where a doctor recommended vaccination for rabies, necessitating a series of four shots.

The first shot at Royal Angkor International Hospital cost $125. That included $66.75 for the dose of Verorab, a $25 hospital charge and a $25 doctor fee.

Jan received her second Verorab shot at a clinic in northern Thailand. The bill this time: A mere $18.50, which provides the best evidence of the drug’s actual cost. Even with the clinic’s overhead factored in, a shot of Verorab, which is manufactured by French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, was priced well below $20.

Things changed dramatically once the Kerns returned to this country. For her third shot, Jan visited Torrance Memorial Medical Center. It was a Sunday, and she had to go to the emergency room, so that added considerably to her cost. The tab for a single injection: $5,254.85.

Shot No. 4 was administered at the Redondo Beach branch of HealthCare Partners medical group. This time the bill was $427.

It’s important to note that the Kerns weren’t on the hook for any of these charges. They’d shrewdly purchased travel insurance before their trip, which covered all related medical costs, even once back in the United States.

Also, that crazy bill from Torrance Memorial was the hospital’s opening salvo in haggling with insurers. Such astronomic charges typically are paid only by those lacking coverage. The actual insured price invariably will be much lower.

And Verorab, which is commonly prescribed for rabies in Europe and Asia because it’s relatively cheap to produce, isn’t available in the United States. Costlier vaccines must be used.

Even so, the Kerns’ experience demonstrates the financial pitfalls that await anyone with a high-deductible health plan and thus responsibility for a greater share of medical costs. It also underlines the lunacy of U.S. healthcare pricing.

Clearly a big hospital like Torrance Memorial has more overhead expenses than a little clinic in rural Thailand — it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. But that doesn’t mitigate how a bill for less than $20 in another country can turn into a bill for over $5,000 in this one.

“Even if the Torrance bill was $1,200, that’s still a stark difference in prices,” said Nadereh Pourat, a professor of health policy and management at UCLA. “It shows that the free market doesn’t work for healthcare. It works for buying televisions, but with healthcare, there’s no price transparency.”

It's crazy what we allow for and in health care in these United States.

I keep saying, and its true, we just aren't that bright.

Link:  U.S. Healthcare: Most Expensive and Worst Performing

America's Health Care System

America and our for-profit health care system.  Yay, us.

U.S. Healthcare: Most Expensive and 

Worst Performing

Should Be Required Reading

A friend on Facebook (yes, Facebook), posted the following article yesterday. I found it more than a bit incredible and a surprising good, even important read.

Will Racism Ever End, Will I Ever 

Stop Being a Nigger?

For me, it was incredibly quotable. I'll just stick with this one, however:

"...the greatest trick of a racist is getting folks to believe that racism doesn’t exist in the first place or that the people with no power and no privilege are the real racists, the real oppressors."

It reminded me how little, how precious little we Americans know of our own history, our own national history. It also reminded me how we need much more of it in our schools. Besides the above, I think people should have to read the following.

This book:

Slavery by Another Name

And if not reading that last book, then at least seeing the PBS special on it:

Slavery by Another Name

And finally, this article from 2 years ago:

The Case for Reparations 

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

It's fairly outrageous what we don't know or, worse, deny.

Our Obscene Defense Spending, America

Famous and very talented, accomplished author James Fallows writes, this week, in The Atlantic Monthly on the obscene, wasteful Defense budget and our military and it's anything but flattering:

The Tragedy of the American Military

The American public and its political leadership will do anything for the military except take it seriously. The result is a chickenhawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly combine to lure America into endless wars it can’t win.

Fortunately for us, he didn't stop with just the one article, either:

The Chickenhawk Chronicles, No. 11: A Failure of Grand Strategy

What Alfred Lord Tennyson could teach us about civil-military relations. Plus, the simple lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan, from a naval veteran's point of view.

It's fantastic reading and research, as ever, from Mr. Fallows and it's downright important material many more Americans need to read, be aware of and hopefully, hopefully act on----maybe by contacting our governmental representatives and telling them it must stop.

Here's hoping.

Health care in America

It's not about you. It's not about me. It's not about people.



For the businesses, the corporations, the insurance companies,

it's about the money.

We know that.

Now tell me how much we don't need the Affordable Care Act.


Yeah, Obamacare.


Statistics to back it up:

U.S. healthcare at $8,508 per capita -- most expensive

Medical Bills Are the Biggest Cause of US Bankruptcies

New Health Rankings: Of 17 Nations, US Is Dead Last

Missouri Government gone off the rails

Seriously, the severely Right Wing Republicans in Jeff City seem to have lost it. They keep creating reasons for national headlines like this, I saw this morning:

Missouri Senate Committee Votes To Jail Federal Agents Who Enforce Gun Laws

It's as though these people have a "Jones", to defy the Federal government because, well, you know, that Kenyan/Socialist/Communist in the White House is pushing them to it.

Or something.

Apparently our state lawmakers think the state laws preempt the Federal ones, in spite of the laws and precedent of the last couple hundred years.

Then, as if these lawmakers don't make Missouri and Missourians look bad enough, this additional headline hit in the last several hours:

Missouri Executed This Man While His Appeal Was Pending in Court

• Herbert Smulls

Check out that story:

Herbert Smulls was in the middle of a phone call discussing his attorneys’ final efforts to save his life when he was reportedly seized by prison guards, hauled into an execution chamber, and injected with a toxic cocktail of drugs. At the time of his death, an appeal was pending before the United States Supreme Court asking the justices to halt his execution. 

Shameful.

Remember when Missouri was a Democratic state?  Both in party and values? In the "big picture"? Remember when, besides being part of the "flyover country", Missouri was not known or called out for its looney legislators and equally crazy legislation? When, legislatively and judicially, it was a pretty boring state everyone could and did ignore?

Yeah, I miss those days.

Republicans trying to kill "Obamacare" for the 35th time

Yes, you read it right, it's being reported that the Republicans in Congress are trying, for yet the 35th time now, to kill the Affordable Care Act, "Obamacare."

They have no plan for replacing it whatever and our system is badly, badly broken, yet they want to try to end it.

How badly broken is the American health care system?

This badly:

New Health Rankings: Of 17 Nations, US Is Dead Last

We, the US, have the most expensive health care system in the world, people, yet our "return" for all that expense is to have one of the worst mortality rates of any industrialized country in the world.

And the Republicans don't think it needs fixing.

It's insanity. 

It's grossly irresponsible, on their part, collectively.

More than 50 million Americans have no health care insurance coverage whatever.

Don't take my word, my opinion, for it, either. Here is just a bit of data on our health care in the US:

Our free market, Capitalistic health care system is killing us, folks.

And we need solutions.

Link:  Latest GOP Attempt to Repeal Obamacare Fails Again

Incontrovertible statistics and hard data on guns, violence, shootings and killings in America

From an article in The Atlantic Monthly from last year, not today:

The Geography of Gun Deaths

"...what are the factors that are associated with firearm deaths at the state level?

Poverty is one. The correlation between death by gun and poverty at the state level is .59.

An economy dominated by working class jobs is another. Having a high percentage of working class jobs is closely associated with firearm deaths (.55).

And, not surprisingly, firearm-related deaths are positively correlated with the rates of high school students that carry weapons on school property (.54).

What about politics? It's hard to quantify political rhetoric, but we can distinguish blue from red states. Taking the voting patterns from the 2008 presidential election, we found a striking pattern: Firearm-related deaths were positively associated with states that voted for McCain (.66) and negatively associated with states that voted for Obama (-.66). Though this association is likely to infuriate many people, the statistics are unmistakable. Partisan affiliations alone cannot explain them; most likely they stem from two broader, underlying factors - the economic and employment makeup of the states and their policies toward guns and gun ownership.

Firearm deaths were far less likely to occur in states with higher levels of college graduates (-.64) and more creative class jobs (-.52).

Gun deaths were also less likely in states with higher levels of economic development(with a correlation of -.32 to economic output) and higher levels of happiness and well-being (-.41).

And for all the terrifying talk about violence-prone immigrants, states with more immigrants have lower levels of gun-related deaths (the correlation between the two being -.34).

And what about gun control? As of July 29 of last year, Arizona became one of only three states that allows its citizens to carry concealed weapons without a permit. Might tighter gun control laws make a difference? Our analysis suggests that they do.

The map overlays the map of firearm deaths above with gun control restrictions by state. It highlights states which have one of three gun control restrictions in place - assault weapons' bans, trigger locks, or safe storage requirements.

Firearm deaths are significantly lower in states with stricter gun control legislation. Though the sample sizes are small, we find substantial negative correlations between firearm deaths and states that ban assault weapons (-.45), require trigger locks (-.42), and mandate safe storage requirements for guns (-.48).

While the causes of individual acts of mass violence always differ, our analysis shows fatal gun violence is less likely to occur in richer states with more post-industrial knowledge economies, higher levels of college graduates, and tighter gun laws. Factors like drug use, stress levels, and mental illness are much less significant than might be assumed.

Link to original article: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/the-geography-of-gun-deaths/69354/

Quote of the year (perhaps)

"What black people are experiencing right now is a kind of privilege previously withheld—seeing our most sacred cultural practices and tropes validated in the world’s highest office. Throughout the whole of American history, this kind of cultural power was wielded solely by whites, and with such ubiquity that it was not even commented upon. The expansion of this cultural power beyond the private province of whites has been a tremendous advance for black America. Conversely, for those who’ve long treasured white exclusivity, the existence of a President Barack Obama is discombobulating, even terrifying. For as surely as the iconic picture of the young black boy reaching out to touch the president’s curly hair sends one message to black America, it sends another to those who have enjoyed the power of whiteness."

--Ta-nehisi Coates, Senior Editor of The Atlantic, from his article "Fear of a Black President"

Links: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/09/fear-of-a-black-president/309064/#.UDqc1kMFeFM.facebook

http://www.theatlantic.com/ta-nehisi-coates/

The shameless, always-greedy NCAA strikes again

Okay so the NCAA came out today and is penalizing Penn State for the sex abuse scandals under Jerry Sandusky and, as it turns out, Joe Paterno and that's all well and good, sure.

In their penalties for Penn State, the NCAA is giving them a 4 year bowl ban, scholarships reduced from 25 to 15 for four years and says they must vacate all wins from 1998 to 2011.

Oh, and one last thing.

They--the NCAA--is fining Penn 60 million dollars.

I'm sorry but it's a bit difficult to be anything but read that last little beauty cynically.

The NCAA is nothing if not a money hog that famously--and again, rather cynically--exploits student athletes and universities for millions upon millions of dollars and they don't otherwise serve any good, useful purpose, if they ever did.

Sports writer Frank Deford has written and spoken well and extensively on this, as just one source:



So chidren were sexually and physically abused at Penn State by Jerry Sandusky and one of NCAA's "solutions" is to fine--take, really--$60 million from their program.

Forgive me while I wretch and while I don't--absolutely don't--think this is any real solution or that any additional good will come from it.

Unless or until the NCAA turns that $60 million fund over to a sexual abuse prevention organization, I'll have to assume no good is coming from it and that it's only about that same NCAA's all-consuming greed.

Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-penalties-include-60-million-fine-and-bowl-ban.html?_r=2&hp

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/11/150285525/the-ncaa-is-membership-worth-it

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/14/140433661/the-ncaa-and-the-so-called-student-athlete

A fantastic article here by American author, historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Taylor Branch on "The Shame of College Sports": http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/

KC in the news two big ways right now

Kansas City seems to be getting more great national and even international attention. First, The Atlantic Monthly magazine has an article on us (thanks again to the Kauffmans): Kansas City Bets on Culture If you build a shiny new performing-arts center, will the creative class come?

Besides the great press and the terrific article on us, the additional great kicker is that the photo they used, above, is our own Eric Bowers so more kudos to him, for sure. Here's the second great write up we got:

It seems famous and popular international chef Anthony Bourdain came to town and has good things to say about us, too: Celebrity chef Bourdain’s tour of KC flavors airs Monday So we'll be on television to the world this Monday evening. Yahoo. Is there better food in the world? Sure, there's no denying that. Does Kansas City have some good to great chefs and so, food? You bet. And Anthony Bourdain concurs. Kudos Kansas City. Enjoy. And have a great weekend. Links: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/11/kansas-city-bets-on-culture/8661/; http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/13/3553067/celebrity-chef-bourdains-tour.html

Two rules of life

Number 1: No one knows what you're going through. Number two: Everyone thinks they do.

Things going on this holiday weekend

Two pretty big items this weekend (with links below): Now it's Exxon-Mobil, ruining Yellowstone National Park, after BP screwed up the Gulf and second, we, the US, now have American soldiers on the ground in Somalia (that's HOW MANY wars?) and we're sending in drones. Happy 4th, everyone. Links: http://news.yahoo.com/teams-gauge-exxon-oil-spill-damage-mont-river-152649789.html; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/africa/02somalia.html; http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Aud023eNfdsgxjNUTY1vg1ybvZx4?p=somalia+drones&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701; http://news.yahoo.com/american-boots-hit-ground-somalia-drone-attacks-170751348.html

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day out there, indeed.
This shot is dedicated to all the Moms and Mothers out there, sure, and particularly and especially to Helen Marie McCall Evans--Mom.
We lost her in 2000.
A harder working, more dedicated, sincere, compassionate and passionate person you could never want to meet.
We love and miss you, Mom.

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo's Very Important--Environmental--Post

If you're not familiar with Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and his blog, well, you should be:

environmental news stories sunday

for those little stories you won't hear talked about on the almost all white guys talking head shows today.
s.f. chronicle adds beehives to rooftop garden. - although some apiarists say new research into fungus and viruses is starting to give the bee the upper hand against colony collapse disorder, no one is ready to declare a comeback for the pollinator, responsible for about $15 billion worth of nuts, fruits and vegetables consumed in the united states each year - sfgate

increasing levels of mercury found in rare pacific albatross. - levels of mercury in an endangered pacific seabird species have increased substantially in recent decades largely due to industrial emissions from asia, harvard university researchers have found. - honolulu star advertiser
more evidence linking pesticides and malformations. - concern about toxic chemicals in the environment has erupted into the mainstream media again, with new reports tying pesticides to disruption of male hormones, birth defects and cancer. - miller mcune

the long-term effects of in utero exposures — the des story. - the lessons learned from the des story are powerful. endocrine disruptors may cause alterations in the reproductive tract that have severe consequences and form the basis of disease in adults decades later. - new england journal of medicine
study spots high level of fire retardant chemicals in california kids. - a california safety standard intended to prevent furniture from catching fire may be having the unintended consequence of exposing children to large amounts of harmful flame retardant chemicals. - fair warning

common weed killer atrazine is showing up in public water supply. - apopular weed killer that's been suspected of causing frog deformities is turning up in drinking water systems throughout the country including some in missouri and illinois, according to a report by the natural resources defense council. - st. louis post ledger

chemical in soft drink cans comes under fire at coca-cola. - it's about as inconspicuous as a chemical can be: it coats the insides of soft drink cans, a barrier against spoilage and contamination. but to some critics, bpa is itself the health risk. now, a group of coca-cola shareholders want to strike a blow against the substance - atlanta journal constitution

atlantic turtles threatened by man-made chemicals. - a team from the college of charleston, south carolina, found travelling turtles picked up potentially deadly pesticides, pcbs and other organic chemicals linked to cancer and brain problems. - bermuda sun

our 'toxic' love-hate relationship with plastics. - we all know that plastics are common in modern life, but science journalist susan freinkel says they are really literally everywhere — in our toothbrushes, hair dryers, cell phones, computers, door knobs, car parts — and of course in those ubiquitous plastic bags we get it seems every time we buy anything. - npr

critics: state department's latest oil pipeline review 'superficial'. - advocacy organizations are as disappointed with the u.s. state department’s revamped version of its environmental evaluation of a much-disputed canada-to-texas oil sands pipeline as they were with its first iteration - solve climate news

farmers should be conservationists. - the central valley regional water quality control board will take up the questions of fertilizer use and groundwater contamination June 8. here's a suggestion for farmers: instead of belly-aching about another regulatory burden, support monitoring and new rules so that the people who pick your crops get clean water from their taps. - contra costa times opinion

gov. rick scott to u.s. epa: we'll take care of our own water. - the day after the florida house passed a bill to ban implementation of water quality standards set by the u.s. environmental protection administration, gov. rick scott on friday asked the agency to rescind a january 2009 determination that the federal rules are necessary for florida - st. petersburg times

muddy waters: silt and the slow demise of glen canyon dam. - lake powell is the second-largest artificial reservoir in the united states - and is the seeming endpoint for four rivers. but these rivers aren't dead, and their persistent dynamics are slowly, steadily driving lake powell toward its demise. - high country news
time is running out for the grand canyon. - on july 21, a moratorium on staking new uranium and other hardrock mining claims on over one million acres of public land near the grand canyon national park will end. unless the department of the interior makes a decision on the land withdrawal prior to that, it will once again be open season. - high country news

common weed killer atrazine is showing up in public water supply. - a popular weed killer that's been suspected of causing frog deformities is turning up in drinking water systems throughout the country including some in missouri and illinois, according to a report by the natural resources defense council - st. louis post dispatch

workers become ill and die at ogden superfund site. - ling seager is dead. so is jim sproul and chris jensen, who sat next to her in an office in the utah national guard’s joint language training center. across from seager sat mike chen; he survived a brain tumor. a few feet away was mark hepper; he’s dying. others are sick. none of them knows why. - salt lake tribune

tobacco firms used diet-aid chemicals. - british and american tobacco companies deliberately added powerful appetite-suppressing chemicals to cigarettes to attract people worried about their weight, according to internal industry documents dating from 1949 to 1999. - london independent

spring may lose song of cuckoos, nightingales and turtle doves. - some of britain's most cherished spring visitors are disappearing in their thousands. ornithologists say species such as the cuckoo, nightingale and turtle dove are undergoing catastrophic drops in numbers, although experts are puzzled about the exact reasons for these declines - london observer

Link:  http://xnerg.blogspot.com/

Kansas City in Atlantic Monthly article: The End of Men

A great and important read (see link below): None of the 30 or so men sitting in a classroom at a downtown Kansas City school have come for voluntary adult enrichment. Having failed to pay their child support, they were given the choice by a judge to go to jail or attend a weekly class on fathering, which to them seemed the better deal. This week’s lesson, from a workbook called Quenching the Father Thirst, was supposed to involve writing a letter to a hypothetical estranged 14-year-old daughter named Crystal, whose father left her when she was a baby. But El-Scari has his own idea about how to get through to this barely awake, skeptical crew, and letters to Crystal have nothing to do with it. Like them, he explains, he grew up watching Bill Cosby living behind his metaphorical “white picket fence”—one man, one woman, and a bunch of happy kids. “Well, that check bounced a long time ago,” he says. “Let’s see,” he continues, reading from a worksheet. What are the four kinds of paternal authority? Moral, emotional, social, and physical. “But you ain’t none of those in that house. All you are is a paycheck, and now you ain’t even that. And if you try to exercise your authority, she’ll call 911. How does that make you feel? You’re supposed to be the authority, and she says, ‘Get out of the house, bitch.’ She’s calling you ‘bitch’!” The men are black and white, their ages ranging from about 20 to 40. A couple look like they might have spent a night or two on the streets, but the rest look like they work, or used to. Now they have put down their sodas, and El-Scari has their attention, so he gets a little more philosophical. “Who’s doing what?” he asks them. “What is our role? Everyone’s telling us we’re supposed to be the head of a nuclear family, so you feel like you got robbed. It’s toxic, and poisonous, and it’s setting us up for failure.” He writes on the board: $85,000. “This is her salary.” Then: $12,000. “This is your salary. Who’s the damn man? Who’s the man now?” A murmur rises. “That’s right. She’s the man.” Judging by the men I spoke with afterward, El-Scari seemed to have pegged his audience perfectly. Darren Henderson was making $33 an hour laying sheet metal, until the real-estate crisis hit and he lost his job. Then he lost his duplex—“there’s my little piece of the American dream”—then his car. And then he fell behind on his child-support payments. “They make it like I’m just sitting around,” he said, “but I’m not.” As proof of his efforts, he took out a new commercial driver’s permit and a bartending license, and then threw them down on the ground like jokers, for all the use they’d been. His daughter’s mother had a $50,000-a-year job and was getting her master’s degree in social work. He’d just signed up for food stamps, which is just about the only social-welfare program a man can easily access. Recently she’d seen him waiting at the bus stop. “Looked me in the eye,” he recalled, “and just drove on by.” The men in that room, almost without exception, were casualties of the end of the manufacturing era. Most of them had continued to work with their hands even as demand for manual labor was declining. Since 2000, manufacturing has lost almost 6 million jobs, more than a third of its total workforce, and has taken in few young workers. The housing bubble masked this new reality for a while, creating work in construction and related industries. Many of the men I spoke with had worked as electricians or builders; one had been a successful real-estate agent. Now those jobs are gone too. Henderson spent his days shuttling between unemployment offices and job interviews, wondering what his daughter might be doing at any given moment. In 1950, roughly one in 20 men of prime working age, like Henderson, was not working; today that ratio is about one in five, the highest ever recorded. More later today. Link to original post: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135