Life Among the Ruins

I keep telling people the way of life we've been living for the past 60 years is done and gone, and they keep ignoring me. Oh well. I'm used to it.

Now here's graphic evidence -- terrific pictures of the ruins of America by the young photographer Edgar Martins, arranged into a slide show in todays NY Times Magazine.

The McMansion is now a vanishing species. Condos aren't far behind.

The first picture is of luxury condo ruins in Phoenix (shown here). What devastation! I'm living in a luxury condo myself right now, and guess what? I'm going to have to stay here, because I can't sell the place and only just might be able to give it away. But then, people don't sympathize when I tell them I'm being held prisoner in paradise.

No part of the country has escaped the wrath of the avenging gods of bogus securities and fraudulent loans. There's devastation among the McMansions of Greenwich, Connecticut as there is in the high-end condos of Phoenix.

Perhaps the most dramatic pictures are of the half-finished Echelon Resort-Casino in Vegas. Boy, they really know how to do ruins in that town, now that the dreams of easy money are done, and everybody suddenly realizes there's no such thing as something for nothing.

Welcome to the Age of Aquarius, and remember, that rice and pinto beans with a little Spam you're eating is much better for you than that filet mignon ever was.