Figure 1 – On the Brink, Natick, MA, December 2018. (c) DE Wolf 2018.

We appear to be poised on the Brink of the Great Recession of 2019. Orange causes aside, it makes me reflect. Silently and slowly the great Amazon of the 19th Century Sears Roebuck has been on an irreversible decline, like any dinosaur hopelessly and irrevocably facing the path to extinction. Last year our local Sears went for months without its escalator, as if puzzled whether there would be any point. I sensed otherwise. The escalator was briefly repaired. But then the second floor was shut down and the escalator removed. Treated like fools, we were told in giant signage that there was to be a newer and greater second floor. But in the end, as was inevitable, we were told that the store was to close, symbolic of the decline of brick and mortar stores. All items went on sale, employees on notice! And now the final blow even the hangers and manikins are being sold.

The manikins have been stripped of their heads, and their their clothes, like a great slave army up for sale! Yes the economy is on the brink, and everything is on sale!