I'm just going to assume you have seen the movie "Up In The Air" or at least are not concerned with spoilers. If you haven't seen it you can read a brilliant Frank Rich op-ed or a near insane one by George Will. (George thinks the movie can't be about the Great Recession because the book was published in 2001 - apparently concluding from his own lack of vision and talent that no one else has any either. And even if the movie is about our economy he says our problems are the fault of "a welfare state that siphons increasing amounts of wealth from the economy to give to the elderly". Really George this must be a low point even for you.)
The movie asks a poignant question - what if our economy was taken over by 12 year olds?
Twelve year olds aren't interested in committed relationships. They are more interested in teaching girls to enjoy casual relationships then being taught how to enjoy something more. A twelve year old has no concept of long term sustainability. And a twelve year old can be fascinated by simple games with points and levels.
In the movie sky miles are a stand in for the normal game of collecting dollars. Just like dollars new levels of sky miles bring new perks and privileges. But Ryan Bingham is typical American upper class in that its not really about spending the sky miles so much as having them. The movie also hints that removing the sky miles (progressive taxes and regulation as my diary and many others call for) will slow the problem but not necessarily stop or reverse it. Ryan's joy in the game doesn't just come from collecting points and perks like skipping lines and access to clubs; he also enjoys the smaller details of gamesmanship like knowing how to pack a suit case, getting in line behind Asians instead of the elderly or families because they move faster (this sounds like overbearing symbolism but it wasn't on the screen) and how to navigate the maze of car rentals, hotels and restaurants.
The major theme of "Up In The Air" is the real danger of handing the economy to a 12 year old mentality. Even having the best of intentions a 12 year old may, lacking wisdom and discipline, substitute something fast and simple for something that takes responsibility and maturity. So Ryan already works in an industry formed of bosses out sourcing laying off employees and now comes just graduated Natalie Keener wanting to substitute a glocal (her word) telepresence worker with a flow chart for face to face with a seasoned professional. His sister's fiancee has a new real estate venture that substitutes model home heritage for real community. Flying around the country is substituted for going to the moon. Nine to five corporate jobs are substituted for careers like chef. Corporate retreats where no one knows each other are substituted for real work relationships. Fake travel pictures substituted for going places. Breaking up by text message, sneaking out the morning after and lying to a lover about being married are substituted for responsibility and civility.
The advantage of Ryan's character and the over looked silver lining of a movie showing dozens of employee firings, some of them based on real interviews of people being let go, is that since he literally lives in limbo, bereft of most human contact or even contact with the ground, he has a unique perspective on the advantages of the state. He points out that many of our attachments were weighing us down and that we cannot restart without first letting go. Though lost, he is a herald of a new age that is being forced upon us.
Since as George Will points out the book pre-dates this level of the crisis, why is pre-teen philosophy failing us so badly now? This goes to the major difference between a 12 year old and an adult - a 12 year old is still growing - still has time that an adult doesn't. In a pivotal scene Ryan and Alex Goran try to convince Natalie that she can needn't burden herself with high expectations of marriage but Alex, secretly married with two kids, is actually deliberately losing the battle. So too America has left its period of teenage growth and must now mature - Ilargi says it well
What is new today is that the dysfunctional system has to deal with a crisis that cannot be dealt with as previous crises were: with more growth.
And without growth, what wealth there is has to be redivided, or society as a whole becomes untenable. And yes, redivided it is, but not in a way that would warrant society's continued viability. On the contrary, those who always had much will have more, while those who had least will now have nothing. And I’ve said it before, it's not a political statement to say that if a society doesn't provide a minimum for its poorest, that society must of necessity fail.
In another pivotal scene Ryan talks his sister's fiancee out of cold feet. Yes there's no point to life he admits but we do better when other people are around. What goes up must come down. Though at the end of the movie Ryan is left eternally circling high above us, America will have to land cold feet or not.