April 2, 2011 11:59 AM
First it was Hush Puppies
The year was 1994. Hush Puppies, (the shoes) were all but dead. “Sales were down to 30,000 pairs a year ...” “The company that made the shoes was thinking of phasing out the shoes ...”Then around late 1994 or early 1995 something happened. A relatively small number of young people began wearing the shoes because “no one else would wear them.” The shoes became “hip in the clubs and bars of downtown Manhattan.” Among the people wearing the shoes was Isaac Mizrahi, the clothing designer.
A couple of prominent designers used the shoes in their collections. Another designer featured them in his store. Word of mouth took over.
The company sold 430,000 pairs of classic Hush Puppies in 1995. The next year it sold 4 times that number and that pattern continued. “In 1996, Hush Puppies won the prize for best accessory at the Council of Fashion Designers awards dinner at Lincoln Center....”
Someplace along the way the “popularity” of the shoes reached a “Tipping Point” and the shoe was reborn. [Source: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell]
General acknowledgement of the broad economic problems faced by the States is not new. Between 1979 and 2007 State spending across the country grew at an average rate of 6.5% a year, as they took on responsibility for various services. By 2009 spending was down 3.4%, and dropped an additional 5.4% last year. But the drop was not nearly enough. [Source Washington Post]
The Federal debt is slightly north of $14.2 trillion.
This year, for the first time since it was created in 1935, Social Security will pay out $45 billion more in benefits than it will take in from current payroll taxes paid in by individuals and employers. And this trend will only get worse.
Public approval of labor unions in 2009 (48%) and 2010 (52%) is the lowest recorded by Gallup since they began asking the question in 1936. In that year 72% approved of the union movement.
Then came the 2010 election. Republicans picked up 6 U.S. Senate seats, 63 U.S. House seats, 5 Governorships, 695 State legislators, 13 State assemblies, 6 State Senates, 11 additional States in which they control both legislative bodies, and 10 additional States in which they control the Governorship and both legislative bodies.
In Wisconsin, as the whole nation watched and as Democratic members of the State Senate fled the State to try and stop a vote, the governor and legislature cut the compensation of State employees and severely limited their collective bargaining rights.
In Ohio, the new Governor and legislature are on their way to making major changes in collective bargaining with public employees, and cutting funds for all agencies, including those responsible for all forms of education. The Governor is pushing to lower taxes on corporations and high-income individuals.
Gallup reports that, by 48% to 49%, the public backs the unions over the Governors in the disputes over collective bargaining rights.
In Idaho, teachers have been stripped of their collective bargaining rights.
In Michigan, a State with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, the Governor and legislature are reducing the number of weeks in which people can collect unemployment benefits. Previously, they enacted legislation that allowed the Governor to appoint financial managers who can effectively take over local governments by firing people, tearing up employment contracts, etc. Some legislators are considering a bill that would force local school systems to put support systems out for bid.
In Florida, the new Governor and legislature are considering legislation that will reduce unemployment benefits to 12 weeks, even though the State has an 11.9% unemployment rate.
In New York, the Governor has succeeded in negotiating a budget that will cut $2 billion from education and healthcare as part of efforts to cut overall spending , and begin an overhaul of the State’s Medicaid programs.
In California, the Governor and legislature have already cut $11 billion from the budget. The Governor’s efforts to get a tax extension proposal on the ballot has cratered. The legislature has refused to go along with him. There is no doubt that there will be a need for further cuts.
In Pennsylvania, the new Governor has proposed a budget that cuts higher education funding in half.
Public discussion of the current budget fight between the Administration and the Congress has included the unthinkable, changing eligibility for receiving Social Security.
Where it all will end, no one knows. But what is clear is that the Tipping Point has been reached.
On December 17, 2010, in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, a street fruit vendor, named Mohamed Bouazizi, was apparently set upon by local authorities, including a female officer who humiliated him in a variety of ways, including by striking him. He tried to appeal to other local authorities, but got no relief.
He then told his friends that he would demonstrate to the world how unfairly they were treated by setting himself on fire. And that is exactly what he did, standing in front of the municipal building.
And so it began. His public act was followed by a massive response from Tunisians against their government. On January 4, 2011 Bouazizi died from his burns.
He died not knowing what he had wrought.
The President of Tunisia who had ruled with an iron fist, fled the country on January 14, 2011. But that was only the beginning.
First there were, and continue to be, public protests in Algeria and Oman. Then came protests in Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Iran, Libya, Morocco, Lebanon, and Syria.
Subsequently, the government of Egypt has fallen. The Saudis have moved armed forces into Bahrain to try and stabilize that government. The President of Yemen is negotiating his date of departure. Libya is in a state of revolt, with intervention by NATO on behalf of the rebels, with at least the tacit support of the Arab League. Where this all ends is anyone’s guess, but what seems to be clear is that the Persian Gulf area will never be the same.
Mohamed Bouazizi was the Tipping Point.
