Boardwalk Empire

[The Newswire]

I've been watching a lot of TCM lately. In particular, the gangster movies from the 1930's really resonate with me. In a way, the world is such a different place now, and, in a way, so many of the issues are so very current. Those movies took on themes of people with good work ethics and limited opportunities, as well as issues of gender roles, personal responsibility, defining right versus wrong, and how a society can reabsorb men who have been to war and killed people for their country.

I believe we are in a depression now. My mother was an economist for the United States government for many years and, when I asked her what the difference between a depression and a recession is, she told me, without even having to think about it, that it depends on whether your party is in office or not.

I have another definition of the difference between a depression and a recession. They say porn is recession-proof. Everyone I know who does any business in the adult arena says revenues there are down. Way down.

So, in addition to TCM, I've also been watching the Boardwalk Empire previews and ubiquitous Los Angeles billboards for some time with great impatience. Everything about the show looked like it was going to be awesome. HBO got Martin "Goodfellas" Scorsese to do a long form cable drama about Prohibition in Atlantic City. Boardwalk Empire was apparently created by Sopranos writer/producer Terence Winter.



Boardwalk Empire stars Steve Buscemi as the Treasurer of Atlantic City when Prohibition goes into effect. The pilot kicks off with him addressing a temperance group and then telling his driver, a Princeton drop-out back from war, played by a fine-looking Michael "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" Pitt, that the first rule of politics is to never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Looks like Michael K. Williams, who played Omar on The Wire, is going to be in this too.

I saw Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt act amazingly together before in the thought-provoking movie Delirious, about a good-looking homeless teen, a lonely paparazzi photographer, and a trapped teen pop diva. I think Delirious would have been a bigger film, if it had just had a name which was not so forgettable. I thought it was really good and I just had to look up what it was called. But I digress.

Boardwalk Empire so far is a ridiculously good story. I keep wondering about its historical accuracy and there are so many fascinating little tidbits, of the sort I'd usually go check if I saw them in a TCM movie, but I don't want to spoil any suspense on a series I will definitely be watching all of. I just know to take it all with a grain of salt because of that opening disclaimer about the truth and a good story.

I had unattainably high hopes for this series and, so far, it has absolutely met them. If someone were to tailor-make a series perfect for my viewing pleasure, Boardwalk Empire has it all. It is intelligent, witty, tidily plotted, beautifully shot with sets designed with entertaining and inspired attention to detail, flawlessly acted and directed, and features characters ranging from iconoclastic criminals to flashy club girls to artists, all in great outfits, including the best in mobster chic. All this one is missing for my needs is a vampire.

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[Ajax Knucklebones]

We're in a depression. I have no money for HBO. Are u crazy or something?

[Amelia G]

We're in a depression. I have no money for HBO. Are u crazy or something?

Generally people with salary jobs are supposedly given a precarious situation by the current economy, but generally have, at least for the time being while they hold those jobs, more buying power because so many businesses are slashing prices. HBO is discounting regularly.

HBO is a subsidiary of Time Warner. Cursory research shows Time Warner stock prices were around 30% higher in 2007 than they are now. And, unless the stock split, that same stock a decade ago was worth around 340% of its current value. Not adjusted for inflation, which would make it worse.

Entertainment is the primary industry where the USA actually had a trade plus versus imports and has been since the 1970's. So, if a media giant is plummeting in value, that is a pretty good bellwether for the overall economy.

[Ajax Knucklebones]

Generally people with salary jobs are supposedly given a precarious situation by the current economy, but generally have, at least for the time being while they hold those jobs, more buying power because so many businesses are slashing prices. HBO is discounting regularly.

HBO is a subsidiary of Time Warner. Cursory research shows Time Warner stock prices were around 30% higher in 2007 than they are now. And, unless the stock split, that same stock a decade ago was worth around 340% of its current value. Not adjusted for inflation, which would make it worse.

Entertainment is the primary industry where the USA actually had a trade plus versus imports and has been since the 1970's. So, if a media giant is plummeting in value, that is a pretty good bellwether for the overall economy.

Oh, I believe we are on the cusp of a depression. I don't think we're exactly there yet, but it's moving closer and closer everyday. You are correct that people with salary jobs do have much more buying power than those without a paycheck. It definitely seems though, that most of us working stiffs who have been lucky enough to stay employed, have a lot less buying power than years past. I haven't been out of work since this shitty economy went South 4 years ago. I do pay for luxuries, but since this whole mess started, and things like electric, water, food, and gas keeps going up in price while my salary seems to be going down more and more every year for the last 4 years now, due to certain cuts and no raises, certain stuff like HBO (even with a discount) just isn't what I call a "worth-while" luxury anymore. Paying my DSL bill every month for my computer connectivity seems to be vastly more of a worthwhile luxury due to how much more bang for my buck I get in entertainment value as well as how much information I gain while I'm on here, albeit some false info, but you just need to weed that shit out.

I will also tell you that for the last 4 years, I've got it down to a science, what luxuries would quickly get cut off if I did lose my job. My DSL probably would be last if only for the fact that there seems to be really no such thing as "job" ads in newspapers anymore. At least nothing really worthwhile. Most open positions are now found on the computer on different sites.

[Mr Karl]

At times I wish I could experience a depression.....I need the rest

[mystoo]

At times I wish I could experience a depression.....I need the rest

I hear ya. I definitely didn't mind when my work was cut down to 2 days a week. Of course though, the E.I checks were never on time and they really screwed me come tax time. Bastard government!

[VoltaireBlue]

Fuck time warner, & fuck hbo. I watch most of what I want to for free on hulu.

[Raza]

I watch everything I want for free on the internets.

Which when it comes to TV series still isn't much...

[TheDeathKnight]

http://money.cnn.com/news/storysuppl...on_depression/

We are at about 10% unemployment.
Great Depression was at 25%.

And I am guessing that a lot more people starved and had no way to survive back then.
A lot more people lost absolutely everything, and there were a lot of suicides.

Obviously things are bad now, but not as bad as back then.

Carnivale was another really good show set during the great depression.

And porn would be recession proof if it was only available via paid sources.
Since there is a lot of free porn out there, people can cut back on stuff they
pay for, and go back to the free stuff. Same thing with movies. People can
skip going to the movies, and watch stuff on the internet or DVD later.
Back in the great depression, movies still did well, because people had
to go to theaters to see them, and people wanted a break from their
miserable lives. I think that still is true today. If people just sat at home
and did nothing on the weekends, to save money, people would go insane.
People have to get out and do fun stuff or they go nuts. So entertainment
in general seems to stay somewhat safe in recessions.

[Morning Glory]

I guess that depends on your definition of a depression. let me put it this way, all of the people that were making a lot of money before are still making a lot of money now.

Remember that 60 years ago women weren't people. 100 years ago people worked 18 hour work shifts for a dollar a day and even with inflation, that will get you just a little bit more at Mcdonalds. For most of human history most of humanity were slaves.

So in other words, things are pretty much the same as they have always been. Much ado about nothing.

[TheDeathKnight]

Yep.

Although if you look at conditions for humanity now, versus the 1900's, versus the 1800's, versus the 1500's, and further back, we have slowly been improving. We might be prejudiced and capitalist, but at least we don't have as much child labor, we have better education, and we aren't burning witches at the stake anymore. At least not in mainstream western countries...

Things still suck, but the big picture is slowly improving.
Except for the environment and overpopulation.
We are sucking worse in those areas...

[Ajax Knucklebones]

http://money.cnn.com/news/storysuppl...on_depression/

We are at about 10% unemployment.
Great Depression was at 25%.

And I am guessing that a lot more people starved and had no way to survive back then.
A lot more people lost absolutely everything, and there were a lot of suicides.

Obviously things are bad now, but not as bad as back then.

Carnivale was another really good show set during the great depression.

And porn would be recession proof if it was only available via paid sources.
Since there is a lot of free porn out there, people can cut back on stuff they
pay for, and go back to the free stuff. Same thing with movies. People can
skip going to the movies, and watch stuff on the internet or DVD later.
Back in the great depression, movies still did well, because people had
to go to theaters to see them, and people wanted a break from their
miserable lives. I think that still is true today. If people just sat at home
and did nothing on the weekends, to save money, people would go insane.
People have to get out and do fun stuff or they go nuts. So entertainment
in general seems to stay somewhat safe in recessions.

If you take into effect the people they don't count in unemployment---Those who used to be self-employed who are out of work and those out of work, but have stopped looking, it's around 20% now. In my county they're have been numerous suicides that the police have attributed to money problems. So, yes, it's not as bad as it was during the height of the depression, but keep in mind, that was the HEIGHT of the depression...Not during the whole depression. So, yes, I still believe we are on the cusp of it if things don't change soon. And as far as things getting a little better, I really think the media could make a turd look like a piece of gold if they wanted to. I believe our economy is that turd. Except that the media can only shine it up enough to look like pewter.

[TheDeathKnight]

"If other people are losing jobs, it's a recession."

"If you lose your job, it's a depression."

It's relative to your own situation. If you say unemployment is at 20%, that still means that 80% of the
country is still employed. So even if it's low pay, or part time work, 80% of people are still getting
paychecks. So they probably think it's bad, but they won't think it's horrible until they are one of the
people who are out of work.

[ForrestBlack]

I do agree with some of what you are saying, but I also think there is a business owner component. A business owner may still be employed, but these days all those sorts of people I know are suffering because their customer base is squeezed into the 'new frugality' Time magazine wrote about. I am employed, but I have clear visibility to the contraction in the credit economy, the spike in actual and potential customers that simply lost their cards when the banks shored out their outstanding liabilities, the number of part timers we used to be able to hire but can't have do the job now because it might interfere with their Government assistance, etc. So, I think it is possible to have visibility and feel the belt tighten without actually having to be signing up for the welfare or unemployment yourself. I'd call it a depression, even though I haven't lost my job. Partly due to how much harder it actually is to do my job under these conditions. On the other hand, I will admit that it's no dust bowl.

[TheDeathKnight]

It's certainly much worse than the last recession...

[Ajax Knucklebones]

"If other people are losing jobs, it's a recession."

"If you lose your job, it's a depression."

It's relative to your own situation. If you say unemployment is at 20%, that still means that 80% of the
country is still employed. So even if it's low pay, or part time work, 80% of people are still getting
paychecks. So they probably think it's bad, but they won't think it's horrible until they are one of the
people who are out of work.

I DO have a job. I've had a job through this whole mess, but I also see things the average person doesn't see. Customer after customer, day after day, struggling with everything they have possible to get by. Most of them, if they are in a "partnership", usually only now have one person working while the other is looking for a job...OR...Like I see on a daily occurrence, nobody in the fam has a job and they're uprooting and hoping for better stakes in another state. It's a fuckin' mess. So, I still stand by my "cusp of a depression" mind state. At the height of the depression, 75% of Americans were working by your insight. Sure the Hell doesn't mean there wasn't a depression back then.