Opinion - Why Elk Grove doesn't need a mall, much less a casino; How shopping, gambling are useful distractions for conventional wisdom
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2017/02/opinion-why-we-dont-need-mall-much-less.html
By Michael Monasky | February 16, 2017 |
When there is a wide gap in wealth and income, it requires a
complete abandonment of hope and reason to argue that shopping, or for that
matter gambling, creates community. The minimum wage hasn't kept up for
decades. Since the gutting of unions in the 1980s Reagan Era, there's a new
standard of low expectations for a precariously employed workforce, like the
contract employees who run our city. Elk Grove has privatized its planners at
Michael Baker, and engineers at Will-Dan; after all, they'll work for peanuts
to pay off that student debt.
We face two
easily ignored catastrophes: global warming and financial collapse. We persist
in acquiring ever larger vehicles and fast fashion, while in our competitive
sprint to abundance, ignore the quickly approaching cliff of our own
extinction. Having and winning are everything. Belly up to the buffet line, Mr.
Mayor. Shopping is relaxation. Gambling is entertainment.
This is the
zero decade of environmental disaster. By 2030, the atmosphere and the
seas will have warmed nearly four degrees Fahrenheit, while millions of species
disappear as the ocean acidifies. Our descendants will look back at the turn of
the next century and ask why we wagered their future and did not stop burning carbon. Ironically, the
city of Elk Grove burns its green waste across the street from the Thunder
Valley Casino. Our grass clippings fuel incinerators, that amplify the load of
atmospheric carbon and landfill soot, to electrify this climate-changing
crap-shoot of competing casinos.
In 2002,
the country experienced a collapse of the dot-com bubble: an Enron-based,
Arthur Andersen accounting fraud/stock market crash of $5 Trillion. Millions of
457 plan investors lost what was to be their hedge against nonexistent
pensions. In 2008 we suffered the worst financial disaster in our lifetime when
bankers speculated and homeowners foreclosed on tens, perhaps hundreds, of
trillions. From Kennedy to Clinton, the operations of commercial and investment
banks had gradually co-mingled. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission chair,
former State Treasurer, and Elk Grove land developer Phil Angelides compared
the aftermath of the 2008 housing collapse to a small door in a bank lobby,
which opened to an Indiana Jones-style, infinite sight-line warehouse, filled
to its horizon with slot machines and gaming tables. What dire consequences do
we face with a casino?
True
affluence is the value of things commonly held: utilities like SMUD, our
publicly controlled fire, park and water districts; our public education
system; government regulatory controls on business for safety and fairness;
police departments which must answer to the public; a public court system; a
smart public health system. Compare that to the gated communities of thought
which seek not only to privatize every public resource, but sing ringing
praises in a liturgy of uber-consumption.
The central
tradition of 18th century economics is deeply embedded in today's
conventional wisdom, which is this: we can grow our way out of these problems.
This duplicates George W. Bush's error, made in response to his own concocted
tales of terrorism in 2006: “...I encourage you all to go shopping more.” Because
we have what we need, we're already affluent. Having more than that is
unnatural and makes us crazy. The false claims of marketing and advertising are
mere manipulations to consume more mindlessly.
Free
education is key: everyone should have free access. Learn another language and
how to think critically. I'm sure you can think of other needs greater than
shopping and gambling. The Miwuk Wilton tribe has admitted it needs a hospital
and good paying jobs for its members. Our collective hope is replacing
consumption with meeting our needs. Conventional wisdom and business-as-usual
be damned. We should reject the false economies of shopping and gambling. We
should embrace being and sharing together.
2 comments
About 15 million years ago, Elk Grove and the entire Central Valley was at the bottom of the ocean. Not much has changed since then. All the cities in the Central Valley, Elk Grove included, still lie at the bottom of the food chain in California. The Valley towns are predominately the hubs of cheap real estate, dirty air, higher crime rates, and dumb growth (as opposed to the oft-used cliche of smart growth). Elk Grove grovels at the feet of the job creators, desperately selling its civic soul to anyone willing to open their wallets and build something-anything!
If you examine the socio-economic settlement patterns of the state, the coastal and more temperate areas of the state have always provided the highest quality of life as measured by property values, air quality, fitness, income, employment rate, and school achievement test scores. So, when our local "leaders" and Chief Hitchcock ply us with promises of jobs, economic development, shopping, etc., does this mean that Zillow.com, which tracks real estate prices, will suddenly show a spike because the casino and possible mall is going in? Does this mean that our children's chance of getting asthma will go down now? Will my supplemental property tax assessments that are not capped like Prop 13 suddenly take a nose dive? Will my waiting time at the traffic signals shorten? Hardly.
Please excuse me if I yawn over this tidbit of casino news.
I Love the idea of a casino no matter who apposes it! Wilton rancheria
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