I don't usually blog on weekends, but I need to today. I'm just coming out of a week-long bout with bronchitis. I'm well enough to catch up on the news, but not well enough to do something more productive with my time.
Reuters reports that a growing number of affluent women are dropping out of the workforce, as their spouses earn more. Commentary from Taranto at the WSJ and Ann Althouse. Taranto's "hit the jackpot in the mating game" remark is particularly fun.
I'm not entirely sure why this is news. The rich always have more options than the rest of the country. Reuters profiles a woman with a spouse who brings in 7 figures. Very much a 1%-type. The rich also have personal trainers and three car garages and full time housekeepers. It doesn't mean that their lifestyle habits will trickle down to the regular folks.
I am, of course, typing this at my desk right now. I am chained to it, only because I'm too weary to move. I am sending Steve thought waves about bringing me some tea.
Apt. 11d 
You’re right, that doesn’t sound like news. It sounds like a tired variation on “report what my friends and acquaintances are doing as new trend” but by pasting it onto a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous angle.
On the other hand, just last week, Canada’s weekly news glossy was all about women out-earning their husbands: http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/03/06/the-richer-sex/ See? Scary women with earning potential – we’re spreading unhappiness wherever we go.
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“three car garages”
When we were living in the DC metro area, three car garages were becoming very common in new construction. That was pre-crash, though. Lots of people far down the income scale own three cars or more and would want a three car garage if they could get one. And even people that don’t have three cars would like some place to keep extra stuff, stick a woodworking/fix-it area, etc. When you consider the sort of finishes that are typical of a garage (paint, if you’re lucky, raw drywall if you’re not), I don’t think a three-car garage really belongs in the same category as live-in help.
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I had a cold that wouldn’t quit this winter, but I was never sick enough to skip anything but my running. I also got a new garage door opener. Maybe it’s because we have only a one car garage, but we splurged and spent an extra sixty bucks for the quiet kind. Best garage money I ever spent.
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Don’t know about you all, but I bet that staying home and not working is a lot more fun when your husband makes a million dollars a year. You can probably afford the gym and the personal trainer, you can plan your luxury vacation, you can shop for a new car, you can go out to lunch with your girlfriends. You can go and get your nails done and your hair done. I’m kind of thinking that these are probably the ONLY people who seldom feel bored and unfulfilled as SAHM’s.
Also, what I find weird about the whole WSJ exchange is the assumption that the only reward anyone reaps from working is financial. As an academic, I work mostly because I enjoy writing books and doing research and hanging out with grad students. We lived OK when I stayed home with our kids, but I missed working — not just the money, but the university, the colleagues, the journals, etc.
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There are a lot of ways to not be bored and be a middle income SAHM. (Being a SAHM means never having to grade papers again, btw.) Many work on entrepreneurial schemes or throw themselves into community affairs. Some like doing things with their hands like gardening or cooking. Some read tons of books. Look, everybody is different. Some have exciting careers, others don’t. Some people really enjoy solitude, others don’t. I think it’s a mistake to assume that what’s fulfilling for one person is fulfilling for another.
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I thought Louisa was being sarcastic. The give-away was when she said she missed her colleagues.
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“Some people really enjoy solitude, others don’t.”
Yeah, some of us enjoy having a cushion of nobody-around-time to get us through the rest of the day, which is more socially demanding.
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