Organizing is the key here, and though I don’t imagine there will be many billionaires that would lend their financial support to such a populist uprising, I think there could be sufficient support from a progressive community that is perhaps disenchanted with Obama, but, at the same time, reluctant to really come out and express their frustration with him. Perhaps developments like what Dr. Goldfarb described, as much as they are becoming the norm, could be the tipping point.

The more patient side to me is reminded that the public sphere, as described by Arendt, presupposes a “viewer”. My hope is that the citizens who showed up at your meeting, the parents at my local school, and the multitudes in Wisconsin and elsewhere are watching, listening, and making sense of the parts and wholes that define our current moment. It is our only hope.

The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) filed for bankruptcy protection on December 12, 2010, and is operating under Chapter 11 of bankruptcy law. The parent company of A&P also owns Pathmark, the Food Emporium, Waldbaum’s and Super Fresh. . As of September 11, 2010, they had $2.billion in assets and $3.3 billion in debt. They had difficulties meeting large interest payments on their loans, and a distributor who supplied about 70% of its inventory would not agree to continuing arrangements. They filed for protection in the Southern District of New York. JP Morgan Chase agreed to fund it during bankruptcy proceedings and restructuring being headed by Frederic F. Brace, chief restructuring officer who is charged by the courts with liquidating the company’s assets as efficiently as possible in order to be able to address a broad range of claims against the company. The company has tried to turn around its business, and has failed. Prior to bankruptcy filing, it has either closed or sold a number of stores. A&P has lost customers to lower-priced grocery alternatives such as Wal-Mart, Costco and Target. A&P labor costs have been described as high, and there have been concerns expressed about lack of work rule flexibility. The company’s purchase of Pathmark for $679 million dollars in 2007 added significant and apparently unsustainable debt. It is rumored that at least one foreign competitor is considering buying some of the company’s assets, aided by a relatively weak U. S. currency. My guess is that few if any companies would want to assume its labor obligations, so if there are sales, it will involve asset sales, and the acquiring companies will hire employees under their own terms and conditions.

“Classism” is a possible explanation for the store closings because those stores which have the most value will be the ones which ultimately survive. That is a function of both volume and margins. Those stores which sell more products and a better mix of higher value products which more affluent customers can afford are the ones which potentially have the highest value. Lower volumes and lower margins generally yield lower value.

This debt problem has severely impacted both the private and public sectors. In both cases, lives and livelihoods are negatively impacted, especially in the short term. The question remains will a good outcome from the private and public restructurings. Restructurings are preferable in my opinion to complete closures.

I live in a community which has done much of its governance in various forms of open meetings between town officials and citizens. It has been taking place for parts of two centuries. The meetings are frustrating, but citizens have a significant influence on governance. It is part of my community’s culture which has been challenged in recent years as old timers have left the community.

I’ve carried with me a Ugandan and Asian inspired saying for some time, “When elephants dance, the grass gets trampled.” There are a number of variations of this.

It is clear that people in Jeff’s community are being trampled by political, economic, social, cultural and other forces, as are many others all across the United States. I believe that this will continue to occur until policies are put in place to facilitate significant economic growth in the private sector. We need to grow the economic pie in order to share more of the value. There are major disagreements on how to achieve this. If the economic pie was substantially larger, chances are Jeff’s community center’s existence would not be threatened.