It's the economy, stupid

Or is that the stupid economy?  Or is it simply that our expectations have been so inflated that we expect miracles in a time when miracles no longer happen?

Case in point:  look closely at the photo, which I scanned from an ad I received last week from a certain store where I shop once in a while.

It's the Christmas special on the latest Barbie-mobile.  A VW Beetle.  In pink, of course.

When I was a kid, back in what now seems to have been the golden age, Barbie drove a Corvette.  Back then, real people could afford to drive a Corvette, they weren't any more costly than the average family sedan.  Now, you have to be one of those 1%-ers to even consider a Vette, nevermind feed one.  I looked it up.  The 2012 Vettes appear to start at an MSRP just a hair's breadth short of $50k, and run up to the Centennial Edition ZR1 at a whopping $127,970.  Plus tax and title.  And then there's the insurance.

No wonder Barbie is getting a Beetle.

A few weeks ago, I was standing in a will-call line at the Washington National Opera, waiting to pick up my free dress rehearsal passes.  The woman behind me in line was bemoaning the fact that she'd had to trade in her Vette, and settled for a mere Infinity, in her view a major slide down the social ladder.  From the way she was dressed, I would've sworn she was one of those 1%-ers.  Maybe even they are feeling the pinch, just a bit.

But the tragedy of Barbie driving a Beetle is being difficult for me to get over.  My youthful dreams have been shattered.  Barbie is part of the disappearing middle class!  What's left for little girls to aspire to?