Yes, I have mentioned that fact (US > WE, Japan) before, but how much worse will it get? And what will the effect be? A lot of "liberal" white collar IT workers who once entertained multi-culturalist thoughts can now be heard bitching against the Indians who are taking their jobs. More bitching? Migrant workers in blue collar jobs will probably have a worse time, but that end of the job market is already controversial as it is...
>> * the poor are mostly asset free and income starved, so the brunt of
>> any collapse (I am guessing) would be borne by the fat, pampered,
>> wilfully delusional middle and upper-middle classes.
>
> The "fat, pampered" etc. are not all as fat and pampered as this; a
> lot of them are just ordinary people with mortgages to pay and kids
> to feed. Why so much contempt for people like yourself?
>
It would be generous (to me) to include me in that category. I have more sympathy for the real members of that category than for people like me. But nevertheless, you must admit: if they keep buying those SUVs, 150" TVs, 4 or 5 bedroom homes, etc, how much sympathy can we really extend to them? I live in what Joanna classifies a yuppie condo complex though I find it sort of 70s quasi-contemporary mid- brow... be that as it may, a good chunk of the worthies who cohabit this development seem either to have been inconsistently modest in their choice of housing (2 or 3 bedroom condos) or extravagant in their other purchases (Jaguars, BMWs, giant TVs, etc). Just selling off some of this shit should feed the brood for at least a couple of years, I think. Who would buy this junk is another question... I have always wanted a BMW... hmmm...
Oh well, you are probably right...
--ravi