Datum is a couple years old
and it was part of a comparison of US culture and Japanese. The corollary to the lawyer/engineer ratio in US is - in Japan it's the reverse! 10:1 engineers over lawyers. :[
Perhaps our hope is.. a more Japanese America? :-\ufffd
I tend to believe in momentum, since physics has worked every time I've tested it. The intertwined groups from lawyers to all manner of Authority figures, combined with general ennui, disinterest in civic matters except by radical groups who exploit the situation - suggests we have the turning radius of the Titanic and.. icebergs are dead ahead.
Besides, far ahead of all the disinterested 2-worker-family consumers are - the miniscule group with the funds to perpetuate their hegemony. These certainly buy enough of those surplus lawyers to stay in control. They know where to spend funds for er 'insurance' (RIAA, Disney, SSSCA, HMOs to cut Corp costs, anyone ??) and they already have in their black books: precisely which congressman to fund for which loophole needing tightening or loosening.
Overlay the stark fact of net-worth distribution with: ownership of the media - and its increasing mergers into perhaps two giant Corps (?) and the 24/7 invention of new propaganda, TLAs, spin from the various flaks .. We already qualify for inclusion in that Dystopia anthology I've been reading. The inane infotainment keeps 'em barefoot and pregnant (and away from asking questions). Since nobody much has free energy for organizing, opposing this mega-Titanic:
My guess is that momentum wins, just as in physics. Until a giant Shock occurs! As only the future can.. *surprise*. Meanwhile, yes: it IS depressing. The money is on the Ballmers and their adoring acolytes the MBAs (who wannabe just Like the Winners. Natch.) Fuck the loosers - now That's the Murican Way, is it not? Win! or yer dead meat.
Oh well - in a hundred years there may be all new people - umm, unless they're just like their parents [!!]
Damn, now I'm depressed. Zappa was Right again.
A.
