Kansas City Star, That's What I Are
Ubiquitous
Osterheldt of the Kansas City Star. (Her first name seems to be a typo;
usually it's the first "e" that's accented in feminine French names like Renée
and Desirée.) "Many economists argue we're in a recession, not to be confused
with a depression," she writes:
People are reluctant to use the latter term, but the unemployment
rate was 8.1 percent in February, the highest since 1983.
Back then, I didn't know what the economy was. I was barely 4
years old and watching the likes of Big Bird and Snuffleupagus.
Back then, I carried Bert everywhere my mother would let me
take him.
To put this in some perspective, this Great Depression timeline [1] notes that
unemployment increased from 3.2% in 1929 to 8.7% in 1930, then kept rising to
15.9% in 1931, 23.6% in 1932 and 24.9% in 1933. The rate remained in the
midteens or higher until World War II, which employed millions of men, many
compulsorily.
Osterheldt mentions "Sesame Street" not to emphasize her lack of interest in
anything that happened before she was born, but because the children's program
has been in the news recently:
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit producers of "Sesame Street"
and other children's programs, is eliminating 67 of its 355
staff positions. . . .
Lots of headlines read " 'L' is for Layoffs." A widely circulated
YouTube video by comedian Phillip Wilburn, "Layoffs at Sesame
Street," features Kermit the Frog holding a press conference to
announce job cuts. And a host of polls popped up asking whether
characters such as Baby Bear and Mr. Noodle ought to be fired.
Some say it's inappropriate, and layoffs are no laughing matter.
Others argue laughter is therapeutic. I can see where both sides
are coming from, but there's no hiding from our economic reality.
Not through laughter or tears.
But Osterheldt won't let the thought of homeless Muppets crowding into
Hoopervilles get her down: "As elementary as it may seem, I'm going to keep
hoping and praying for the better times. I'm taking a page from Sesame Street
and looking forward to the sunny days, chasing the clouds away."
Those clouds loom uncomfortably close to home: Osterheldt notes that her own
newspaper is "going through our fourth round of layoffs in just nine months."
Presumably, though, the journalists who've been let go are those who
contribute less to their readers' understanding of the world.
Which brings to mind the taxonomy Ronald Reagan developed when Jeneé
Osterheldt was but an infant: "A recession is when your neighbor loses his
job. A depression is when you lose yours. And a recovery is when Jimmy Carter
loses his."
Forget Sesame Street, let's all hope for massive layoffs at Emory University!
[2]
[1]: http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/Timeline.htm
[2]: http://www.cartercenter.org/homepage.html