The Velvet Rope Economy

The Velvet Rope Economy

Adult dystopian nonfiction
"This isn't just a case of individuals losing out--there are
societal implications too...Indeed the rise of firms like IvyWise or
conceirge medical practices speaks to how a small sliver of the
population can essentially live a different life in the same country.
Real obstacles that everyone else has to contend with--gaining
admission to a select college or conceirge medical practices or
securing an appointment with a specialist--melt away for a privileged
few. The end result is an elite whose special access leaves them out
of touch with their fellow Americans.".
I don't think many of you will be surprised by the central
thesis of Nelson D. Schwartz's The Velvet Rope Economy: How
Inequality Became Big Business. Corporations are increasingly
scrambling to provide ever more posh goods and services to the richest
of the rich, the top one percent or even one tenth of one percent,
while basically neglecting or harming the rest of us.
The most obvious avenues of inequity are those on the periphery
of most of our lives: different flight classes on airlines, wait
eliminating passes at Disney, special boxes and other exclusive spaces
that prevent less well heeled sports fans from seeing the action. But
that's only the tip of the nasty iceberg. What's going on effects us
in every sphere of life. For one thing there's the collapse of the
middle class. Want an education for yourself or your children? While
the elite universities court the most privileged with really
unnecessary frills, the public higher education institutions are being
starved of government support and forced to raise tuition and fees.
So you have students, one fifth of whom are also parents, being food
and housing insecure and graduating with staggering amounts of debt
into an increasingly precarious economy. Want to follow an at least
moderately healthy diet? Good luck with that in one of the
increasingly common food deserts where fresh fruit, veggies, and meat
can be unaccessible.
Not only do the ultrarich live in an altogether different realm
from the rest of us, they don't give a damn about the rest of us. In
fact, if they can save their personal wealth by doing so, they're more
than happy to pull the plug on the services the rest of us depend on.
Look at the widening gap between haves and have nots in public
education. How about private fire departments that won't save your
house unless you pay in? How about the public hospitals closing? In
a medical crisis an extra half hour transport can mean death or
permanent disability.
I think that The Velvet Rope Economy is a must read and act on
for all of us who aren't in the top one percent.
On a purrrsonal note, Yesterday which was Eugene's birthday I baked
him his molasses cake and chocolate chip cookies and made a decent
meatloaf by his mother's recipe. But Mother Nature was being a mean
girl. We had big time snow and wind much of the day and then freezing
rain and more big wind. Eugene only had a chance to eat supper and
grab a few hours sleep before having to go out in the mess again.
(Jules)
That does not seem right. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene and all the other blizzard
battlers.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway





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