The Simplest Event

"The simplest event-a woman buying a pound of sugar, for example-must be analyzed. Knowledge will grasp whatever is hidden within it. To understand this simple event, it is not enough merely to describe it; research will disclose a tangle of reasons and causes, of essences and "spheres," the woman's life, her biography, her job, her family, her class, her budget, her eating habits, how she uses money, her opinions and ideas, the state of the market, etc. Finally I all have grasped the sum total of capitalist society, its nation and its history."

(LeFebvre, 1971, Critique of Everyday Life, p. 57)

Organized Passivity

A Car for a Home? Mitt Romney Would Cut This Program Too

“The individuals and families who are served by the Safe Parking Program™ are not only homeless,” adds Roslyn Scheuerman, one of the program’s two case managers. “They are refugees from the American Dream.” ...In 2010-2011, the program served over 800 people. “The Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta and the County of Santa Barbara have been tremendously supportive of the program since its inception,” said Schwarz. “Without government contracts and grants, the program would be without funding. We currently operate the program at a loss to the agency.”

http://www.independent.com/news/2012/jun/28/sbnbccs-safe-parking-program-feat...

Here's the eye-opening account of laid off workers now living in cars in Santa Barbara by Jeff Tietz in the June 25 Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-sharp-sudden-decline-of-americas...