RA "Death Of Macho"

In the selection of text “Death of Macho”, Reihan Salam writes about the change of power in the United States shifting from men to women, and how the recent economic collapse was partially do to the  “macho” finance capitalism. The article was written in 2008 and was written towards conservatives who are interested in the state of our country. He believes men have been hit the hardest during the recession and this will cause problems for their ego. Salam says men are “even less well-equipped to deal with the profound and long-term psychic costs of job loss” (630). Salam seems to have an angry attitude towards the macho financial men who are in control, and believes men will only stand in the way to delay the historical trend of equal power among both genders.  He claims that the loss of jobs, and power of finances being turning over to women, will cause the “death of macho” and men will have to make the choice to fight or accept these facts which can cause drastic effects on humanity.

Salam uses the term “he-cession” to refer to the disproportionate impact the current crisis has had on men. A much larger amount of job loss in the United States has happen to men then women and the trend continues. This is due to the fact that men have been in control of the economic crisis and their “aggressive, risk-taking behavior, that has enabled men to entrench their power” (631) has gotten them there. There are many past examples of government polices that men have created that have only benefited their own gender; such as, the housing bubble that created less-skilled jobs at a higher pay for millions of men, and the New Deal which only forced on job creations for men. Salam says that since macho has “run a mock” and “is now giving way to macho unemployed” (632). Men tend to have a lot of issue when their power; such as, job loss and not being the bread winner at home, has been lost, lending them to heavy drinking, loneliness, and loss of wanting to commit to marriage. In turn these issues will be felt within humanity.

After discussing what the effect of solely men being in power has created, Salam further talks about the outcomes, and that there are only two choices men will have to make. The first is adaptation: men will need to embrace women as equal partners. The second resistance, meaning they will decide to not accept the death of macho. The second choice would cause a series of unnecessary yet devastating events. He also believes that North America would have a much easier time adapting then countries such as Asia or Russia, were women traditional have always had significantly less power.
            I think when you look at how large of a difference there is within gender from 50 years ago to now, its only observant to think that within another 10-20 years women will have just as much power in the financial and political world as men. Women are no longer just housewives, they don’t keep their mouths shut about politics and they already out rake the number of men who are currently earning bachelor degrees. I agree with Salam that men need to accept women as equal partners, and if they can’t the transition could be very unsettling in countries and parts of our state that are just not ready to accept the facts, but like all change, its never easy for large groups of people to all agree at the same time. Similar to race it took years, even decades for the acceptance and this is just another step in right direction of humanity.