The old dilapidated high-rise apartment building stuck out like an eyesore in the middle of the formerly gleaming city. People would walk past it and shake their heads. They couldn’t believe that people were still living in there, after all those years. “They have no choice,” some would say. “What is the alternative? To die in the streets?”
So, after many years, a decision was made. Something had to be done about the old dilapidated high-rise apartment building. That eyesore couldn’t be the representation of the gleaming city that people would point at, shake their heads, and sadly laugh. Something had to be done.
The city council met in their large chamber. One council member had the idea to just blow the darn thing up and start from scratch. “No, no, no,” the other council members said. “We can’t do that. There are people in that building! Where are they supposed to live while we build a new high-rise apartment building from the ground up?”
A second city council member had the idea to build a brand-new high-rise apartment building on TOP of the old high-rise apartment building. Many on the city council nodded their heads in agreement. “Yes, yes!” they cried. “The people can live in the NEW high-rise apartment building, on the top floors! That will solve the problem!”
A third city council member replied, “But won’t we still have all the problems of the old high-rise apartment building? We can’t afford to pay the rent on what we have right now. How are we going to pay for a new high-rise apartment building on top of the old high-rise apartment building?”
“Be quiet!” the other council members shouted. “You don’t care about the people! They have to live in the squalor of the old high-rise apartment building! They DESERVE to live in the top floors of our NEW high-rise apartment building!”
The third city council member calmly replied again, “Well, I tell you what. We all know what parts of the high-rise apartment building need fixing. Why don’t we work on those parts one at a time, until the high-rise apartment building is restored to its former glory?”
“NO!” the other council members retorted. “That would take too long! Those people NEED a NEW high-rise apartment building NOW! And we’re going to build it on top of the old high-rise apartment building… no matter what it costs… no matter if we can afford it right now or not… and then everything will be fine!”
The council streamed out of the council room, cheering their decision. The third city planner remained behind, shaking his head sadly and remembering a story he once heard about mansions built on sand…
Alles in Wonderland A collection of sediments at the delta of my stream of consciousness.
ah, nice allegory, brent. I remember talking about somewhat the same thing on a forum, about how the "bush economy"(which everyone was bragging about for a couple of years) was built on "rotten timber."
ReplyDeleteyes, kudos to your wife for tolerating all of this "right" nonsense. :)
Thanks, Spence. As an independent, it's my opinion that BOTH the elephants and the donkeys are complicit in spending what we don't have. And I'm not an ostrich sticking my head in the sand and pretending there's not a problem - there is. Just not sure if spending a trillion more dollars that we really don't have is going to solve the problem. Time will tell.
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