Sunday, May 10, 2009

Private Benjamin is a Parable for this Economic Death and Rebirth in the USA

I will just print the parable and let you figure it out. This morning I got it when I was reading some economic data from the last week. We in the USA are just like Judy Benjamin. We are living in denial and think that the rude awakening is just an illusion. We haven't even got thru boot camp yet. From Wikipedia:

Hawn plays Judy Benjamin, a spoiled, wealthy Jewish woman, who joins the army after her new husband dies on their wedding night. Naively believing it to be a more glamorous career than it is, life in the army is a rude awakening for Judy who has so far lived a pampered existence. However, she is forced to re-evaluate her life and decides to stick it out, eventually leading to promotion (much to the dismay of her superior, Captain Doreen Lewis).

During her stint in the army, Judy meets Henri Tremont, a dashing French doctor. However, their romance is short-lived when he returns to Paris and she to her army career. Later, Judy manages to be assigned to NATO headquarters in Paris where she meets up with Henri again. He later proposes marriage, to which she accepts but she is forced to give up her career in the army in order to do so.

However, later into the relationship, Judy discovers Henri's controlling side and is also forced into signing a complicated prenuptial agreement in his favour. Then when she finds out Henri has already been unfaithful to her, she realises that she is in danger of losing the new-found independence that it took her a lifetime to achieve and walks out of her wedding just before they take their vows.

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