We do not have to ask the people who calculate the Nielson ratings why so many people hit the channel button on their remotes and turn to reruns of Seinfeld, reality TV programs, dance contests, or Turner Classic Movies to avoid watching the news or listening to the talking heads pontificate on the day’s events. The news has been so dismal for the past year that we may be reaching the psychological tipping point, the current cliché for escapism. 

We are in a recession and hope and pray that it does not become a depression.  Making matters worse, the cost of a barrel of oil has reached nearly $120 which may translate into $4.50 a gallon for gasoline by July 4. It costs more than $1,000 to fill up an 18-wheeler, which in turn has inflated everything we buy since most goods are delivered by truck.  Basic commodities are skyrocketing out-of-control and it can cost more than $200 to fill up a shopping cart. The price of rice has doubled along with other grains. Overseas we are witnessing the start of riots in Africa and Asia. The government of troubled Haiti was the first to fall.  Others will follow in the world’s poorest countries. The UN and other agencies are ill-prepared to deal with an international food crisis of this magnitude. 

Even the deniers of global warming have come around as they watch Greenland and the Antarctic Ice Shelf melt away much sooner than expected. Forecasters tell us that if this continues, much of Long Island, New Jersey and Florida could be under water by 2050. 

In the epicenter of confusion and chaos, the benighted Middle East, the wars grind on in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, in the sliver of land of perpetual hatred, it appears it is just a matter of time before Hamas and the Israelis have a showdown.  Iran is working on its bomb and its leader still promises to exterminate the “Jewish Enclave,” finishing once and for all Hitler’s dream.

Adding to our fears was a report that while life expectancy is at an all time high, it will soon go in reverse as our fragmented health care system drains our resources. We have also been told that our giant 4x4s are as unsafe as many smaller cars. Meanwhile, to save money at the pump, we garage the 4x4 and use the small family sedan, which in turn will cause a rise in fatalities on our roads, which we are told are falling apart along with the bridges. Until last week, we could take comfort in the fact that flying was safer than driving.  Now we learn that the million or so people who fly each day have a greater risk of being killed as the plane taxis along the runway and crashes into another jet preparing for takeoff.

As Election Day approaches, the candidates tell us that hope is just around the corner, providing we elect one of the Big 3. The pundits think otherwise and increasingly have little faith in the candidates’ ability to do anything but tear each other apart. In historical terms, we need a wartime leader who will have the imagination and leadership skills to galvanize the nation, putting forth several Manhattan Projects to address international issues, energy and global warming.  If this does not happen within the next year, to paraphrase Will Rogers of Depression fame, we will be driving to the poor house in our 4x4s, hybrids and BMWs or trekking across the landscape like the Joads in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Back in the 1930s, they left in their old Hudson for the land of milk and honey, California. Today’s migrants from the East will only find the same problems when they arrive.

To be sure, things are not that dire and most likely will not be. However, if we dismiss our problems as just part of another business cycle and continue to avoid taking timely action, the slide will continue. Come Election Day, we better make the right choice because, for the first time since the Depression, the nation is at risk. What we see on the news before we change the station is truly reality TV.

-- Sander A. Diamond