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mtnlaurel
10-20-11, 12:51pm
I was vegging out earlier this week with some junky TV after a busy weekend with house guests and saw 2 things on TV back to back that really struck me.

1) On Clean House New York after cleaning out and redecorating a family's apartment, as a special gift the show offered to pay one months rent since financial pressure was one of the biggest problems the family was experiencing. (In the past this show might occasionally offer a family cruise or something, now it's paying rent.)

2) On How Do I Look after make-over the show offered to pay off half of amount owed on the participant's home, as she was very close to losing her home.

Other than the obvious, OWS -- what are you all observing out there that reflects the new, mean economy?

jania
10-21-11, 10:57am
On "The Middle" this week the family started to notice more families in the neighborhood losing their homes and they contemplated getting out of their house and moving into an apartment, due to their own financial crunch.

Alan
10-21-11, 12:08pm
If the OWS movement was inspired by the Arab Spring, as some media commentators say, I saw a troubling parallel last night on the news. It was a short video of a beaten, bleeding, but obviously alive Muammar Gaddafi being dragged off the hood of a truck and into the street, where he was then presumably shot in the head by someone in the cheering mob.

The natural progression of Occupy Libya.

JaneV2.0
10-21-11, 2:14pm
Sure--just like the "Occupy Lunch Counters" movement in the 50s' South led to protesters beating their oppressors. Oh, wait...

peggy
10-21-11, 3:29pm
And the brutal, violent Gaddafi is exactly like an investment banker....yea, great comparison..!Splat!

mtnlaurel
10-21-11, 4:18pm
There is no doubt in my mind that we are sitting on a tinderbox

And I do NOT blame OWS for that

that's the whole deal though - and my whole point of thread --- reality is even seeping into la-la land

AmeliaJane
10-21-11, 7:04pm
To get back to popular culture, on Parenthood one of the couples had the husband out of work for a long time--he ended up starting a business with his brother. The grandfather lost a lot of money in a real estate deal (similar to many people who ended up upside down on mortgages) but they seem to have dropped that plot line.

Parks and Rec last season had a plotline where the city underwent a major financial crisis and they had to close down municipal government for some time.

Alan
10-21-11, 7:37pm
And the brutal, violent Gaddafi is exactly like an investment banker....yea, great comparison..!Splat!

I was thinking more along the lines of mob mentality rather than the focus of their attention. Mobs are scary.

Wildflower
10-21-11, 10:06pm
Have been watching a show recently called Downsizing about a family who lost the majority of their income due to the economic downturn's effect on the Dad's construction business and in turn they lost their home. Show is about how this large blended family is learning to live and cope on a much lesser income.

peggy
10-21-11, 10:10pm
I was thinking more along the lines of mob mentality rather than the focus of their attention. Mobs are scary.

I agree. The tea party mobs with SIDE ARMS prominently displayed are very scary! Displaying guns is a direct threat of violence!

Zoebird
10-21-11, 11:24pm
OWS is far from a mob. They are, by their own effort and assertions, creating a non-violent protest. Arab Spring was also nonviolent.

--

Likewise, i do not assume that a person carrying a gun is necessarily violent or going to be violent, but rather that they are saying that they will defend themselves if violence were to come upon them. EG, if a tea party protest with side arms were to be treated like OWS, then they might likely open fire.

--

i've been watching survivor for the first time ever. i also watched the glee project.

in the first, the puzzles/games are fascinating. now i know why people like the show and it's been on forever.

in the second, all top four got a prize. that made me happy.

so, i got nuttin.

Jemima
10-22-11, 12:02am
I was thinking more along the lines of mob mentality rather than the focus of their attention. Mobs are scary.

Yeah, Democrats and Republicans scare me.

gimmethesimplelife
10-22-11, 12:23am
I was just in Vegas and watched a preview at CBS Television City at the MGM Grand for a show called Two Broke Girls - which has already been picked up for the- season by CBS - the premise is that this trust fund girl loses all her money as her dad was a ponzi scheme swindler - she gets a job with a rougher struggling waitress at a diner in a cruddy neighborhood - a little over the top but definitely dealing with some economic reality, at least for a sitcom. And I agree with another poster, when this kind of thing creeps into la la land, things are getting bad out there......Rob

mtnlaurel
10-22-11, 7:20am
Yeah, Democrats and Republicans scare me.

+1
Jemima - thank you for a chuckle over my coffee this morning!

It would be so awesome if we could have like a 3 to 4 party system in this country. Let far right and far left break off into their own things and let the mushy quiet middle find their own voices and start using them.
I'm still secretly hoping some dc blogger will run with my CCOCS idea --- Compassionate Calculator Owners with Common Sense

Edited to add: I just noticed acronym above could be yelled like a South Carolina football fan with a stammer :~)
'Go c-cocs!'

It must be the weekend - SEC football makes me giddy!

iris lily
10-22-11, 11:37am
Yeah, Democrats and Republicans scare me.

ha ha ha ha.

They just annoy me.

iris lily
10-22-11, 11:38am
I was just in Vegas and watched a preview at CBS Television City at the MGM Grand for a show called Two Broke Girls - which has already been picked up for the- season by CBS - the premise is that this trust fund girl loses all her money as her dad was a ponzi scheme swindler - she gets a job with a rougher struggling waitress at a diner in a cruddy neighborhood - a little over the top but definitely dealing with some economic reality, at least for a sitcom. And I agree with another poster, when this kind of thing creeps into la la land, things are getting bad out there......Rob

Rob this is the teevee show I though of when this thread came up. The rougher girl, we learned last week, has a college degree and big debt.

ljevtich
11-2-11, 12:14pm
I think some of the Modern Family shows have shown some stuff about the economy, as one of the characters is a Realtor. But mostly, no, I do not see the economy coming into play with LaLa Land.