Phoenix and Ice

La Honda

History in the USA is either a commercially run enterprise or hidden to the point of inaccessibility. In La Honda, the small town in the hills south of San Francisco you find no notice board not a sign nor commemorative plaque or statue – nothing to remind you of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, the celebrated heroes of the psychedelic era of the 1960s. The author of “Sometimes a Great Notion” and „One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” who once referred to himself in an interview as being “too young for a beatnik and too old to be a hippie” is not remembered by any monument here. He lives on however in the works of Allen Ginsberg, Tom Wolfe or Hunter S. Thompson. And in the memories of the people of La Honda.
„He was a nice guy,” said Pat whom I meet on the porch of Apple Jack’s Inn, “he worked in a hospital where he secured acid for his guests. Most people were using it at that time to find out what would happen to themselves. Kesey gave it to others to watch what would happen with them”. The tall trees of La Honda must have witnessed some truly wild spectacles. Kesey used to mount speakers in the tree tops and had bands like the Grateful Dead over for private gigs. The Hell’s Angels were regulars until the police decided they had seen and heard enough. Pat – a small braided tail in his graying mane – remembers the crazy old days. “The farmers were thinking the devil had moved into the neighborhood. They were trying to remove him – by all means necessary”. Soon after Kesey abandoned his property in the late 1960s a thunderstorm destroyed the house.
„Write this down,“ Pat commands, „Bush is an asshole. The Republicans are assholes.” He refuses to have his picture taken because he is in – to use his words – some trouble with the government. “Last time I voted was for John F. Kennedy,” he said, “His reward was to extend my tour in Vietnam”.

The End of Wall Street

As banks implode in rapid succession and Senators and Congressmen on Capitol Hill debate an emergency bailout the little man has worries of his own and a burning question: How can it be that the ailing finance sector gets subsidized with 700 billion while his mortgage rates are allowed to gnaw away his livelihood?

Economists argue that this injection of capital is necessary to prevent the crisis from causing a meltdown of the entire economy and thus the destruction of everyone’s welfare. Whether or not the bailout is the right measure is a question that divides experts and parties alike. Whereas Democrats pledge to vote for subsidies on the condition of a reform of the markets Republicans are split. Conservative Republicans especially are reluctant to refloat banks using the taxpayer’s money.

Financial support may save the US economy this time. In the long run it doesn’t change the fact that this system of capital markets is no longer sustainable. It simply does not reward achievement. Nor does it promote long term economic activity. It is not good products, satisfied customers or employees that decide but greed and the pursuit of the fast buck. Executives have been receiving million dollar salaries for moving jobs across the border, stripping companies of their assets and selling them off or merging them at a bargain. Ordinary citizens depositing their savings in private equity and 401k funds were put in the role of shareholders with ensuing consequences.

It also wasn’t exactly helpful that the USA have curbed bank supervision and safeguards in recent years. Suddenly everyone was deemed credit worthy, the most reckless transactions sanctioned. The time has come to rethink the system of financial markets. Tighter bank supervision, a restrained approach to granting loans an the introduction of the Tobin tax on profits of short term speculation can help to change the market from a roulette table back to it’s intended function: a marketplace for investors.

The Streets of Denver

This is Matthias G. Bernold in 16th Street Mall in Denver, CO. Because of his grim expression, his dark shades and facial hair he could be easily mistaken for a violent protester. But he is not.

Shithole

When I asked the people in Detroit how they liked their city I would typically get these answers: “It’s a shithole”, “it’s a toilet”, “it’s the butt of the United States“. Partly, this answer may be the result of cynical humor. However, to my surprise, the answer matched a very bad odor that I could detect in the city streets. The answers also may be related to the typical situation with restrooms. Never before in my life had I seen so many “No public rest room” signs pinned to the doors of the hotels, bars and gas stations. Toilets, I concluded, are very precious here and the Detroiters defend them eagerly.

Another reason for the unpleasant way the Detroiters talk about their hometown may be the result of political disappointment. These people feel abandoned. Every other month, a car factory is shut down. Unemployment and crime force people to leave the city, with 500,000 leaving Detroit in the last 30 years. Today, 900,000 people remain.

Corruption also causes widespread disenchantment with politics. Major Kwame Kilpatrick, an overweight Afro-American democrat, has been the target of a variety of different accusations. The same night we arrived, he spent in jail, because he had ignored a warrant not to leave the USA. When this article was published, Kilpatrick was free again, but he had to pay a $50,000 bail and wear a shackle.

Exploring downtown Detroit, I stumbled into an exciting political debate in an excellent café named Urban Bean (if you make it to Detroit you should check it out!) “Politicians are snakes,” said Amelia Casilias, a barista student. “Our major is a rattle snake”. Her feelings were shared by the other guests in the café who leaned comfortably on the bar. This is what Joe, a slim 18-year-old bicycle mechanic, said: “Why would I vote? It does not change anything anyways. When George W. Bush was elected for the first time, more people actually voted for Al Gore. Bush won anyways.”

The bartender – who until this moment had been quietly smoking one cigarette after the other – was about to join the debate. However, a man quickly entered the café, marching straight towards the back of the Urban Bean. Just before the stranger could lock the bathroom door, the barkeeper got hold of him. “This is not a public restroom,” he said, and kicked the stranger out.

Anti Abortion

One Factory for Old Men

The word “iron” the way John Balzano says it sounds like a freight train rolling over a bump (in case you find it difficult to appreciate this metaphor, please listen to the audio clip on the website). The 71-year old is a member of the steel worker’s union in the Tin Mill in Weirton, WV, which was just recently bought by the Indian steel giant Arcelor Mittal. “Iron,” Balzano said, “iron means strength. Hold tight. Hold together. That’s what iron means to me”. In August 2008, Balzano took us on a tour to the factory site that he had been working the past 49 years. “This factory is my best friend”, he said. “It has never let me down. It has paid me every single day. It gave me health insurance. It allowed me to send my sons to college.”

The Tin Mill is one of the few remaining factories in the area. Where Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia meet, you will find the ruins of the once mighty steel industry. Rusted furnaces raise their thawed chimneys; the ground is littered with car wrecks, fallen tower cranes and train tracks without a purpose. As many as 30,000 people used to work in the steel mills of the neighboring towns of Weirton, Steubenville and Mingo Junction. Now, it is one third of that number, and half of the population is gone.

Balzano is not the only worker who could be retired. Most of his colleagues, who steamroll aluminum on conveyor belts, have grey or white hair. On average, they are 57 years old. They are remains of a golden era before globalization hit the steal belt; remains of a time when unions successfully fought for decent wages. “When times changed, they were too young to accept a Golden Handshake. Today, they can’t afford it anymore to retire,” said David Skolnick, a reporter for a local newspaper.

It is not clear whom the workers are going to elect. Traditionally, they vote for the Democratic candidate, but their religious beliefs are conservative. “Many are mad at politicians,” said Skolnick, “because they could not protect the steel mills.”

Balzano will supposedly end his career where he began it. His mood is excellent, his optimism unlimited. “America is the best nation in the world. I cannot understand how anyone could want to live in another place”.

And how much Rocky are you?

TRACE DOWN THE MARVELOUS BERNOLD ON HIS SPLENDID US-TOUR

This is Matthias Bernold, who is performing a very funny posture, in front of an Austrian flag on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. Photo: Rick Hicks

the official derbernold-locator on google-maps

ROADTRIP TO THE WHITE HOUSE

“What are Americans like today?” John Steinbeck wanted to know when he started the trip that he later turned into the book Travels with Charley. 50 years later, it is time to ask the same question again and to follow the great US-American writer’s trail.

This is a multimedia-reporting project. From August to November 2008, a group of international reporters will travel the United States to draw a profile of the USA in the election year. News is provided multilingual in a blog, in print articles, photos, interactive maps, audio-slideshows and/or video, depending on the demands of the media-organisations.

The tour investigates the key issues of these elections – immigration, health care, environment, crime, private possession of firearms and security. It picks up the voices of the men and women in the streets. It will be politics, episodes and anecdotes, a mosaic of stories, an attempt to describe the diversities and contradictions of this nation.

The journey will take us to the battleground states. We will explore the Mexican border and the Bible-Belt. We will compare big city urban areas to old and new suburbia and to the generally declining rural towns of America. We are going to see places hard hit by globalization. There will be excursions to Native American reservations, to places of school shootings and an investigation of the rebuilding process in New Orleans.

Coordinator of the tour is Matthias Bernold, who graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City in May 2008. Bernold works for the Austrian daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung and for the Austrian weekly Falter.

Roadtrip to the White House in der Wiener Zeitung