The Economics of Love: How to Profit from the Coming Collapse of the Mating Market
In the not-so-distant future, dating up might mean hooking-up with a Dr. Zhivago-esque lawyer in St. Petersburg while working as a live-in nanny.
Have you ever wondered why many Thai women, especially those from small, economicall-depressed fishing villages, actively seek out foreigners for marriage? Or why American men willingly fork over boatloads of cash for hot, Russian mail-order brides? Market forces, son, market forces.
If we're being honest with ourselves, there does seem to be a global pecking order, an unwritten system of classification which affects our perceived repoductive value. For the moment, Americans can claim reproductive supremacy, as most people on this planet would probably mate with an American due to our nation's status as an economic superpower.
In a purely materialistic society, where people are no more than their bank accounts, high-powered careers, or physical attributes, everyone would most likely date American, so it's no surprise that Americans tend to get spoiled, entitled, and stuck up.
Theory and Practice
A significant number of singles in the New York metro area pointed to what seemed like mysterious cultural differences between Americans and the people from other countries. Clara Trischler, a 24-year-old Austrian visiting New York City, had her own theory about American women.
"It's stupid to generalize," she said, "but I think American girls play harder to get."
Trischler made her observation from the upstairs lounge of an East Village bar, where she mingled with friends and travelers from other lands--Americans, Europeans, and South-Asians.
If it's true that being in the dating market is no different than being in the market for a good washing machine, then perhaps Trischler was seeing American women simply exercising their dominance as a name brand, knowing that wherever they go, they're going to be in high demand, kind of like a pair of Jimmy Choos.
Even first-generation Americans like Croatian-American Diane Kolanovic notice a strange sense of entitlement among fellow Americans when it comes to dating.
"At American bars, it's all 'What do you do?' instead of just having fun," she said.
Kolanovic stood at the bar with her two cousins at Copacabana's Hawaiian party. Large parties at Copacabana are usually well-attended by Port Chester's Brazilian crowd, but also draw people like Kolanovic, who are looking for a more culturally diverse group of party-goers.
But what would cause an American to choose a place like Copacabana over a more typical venue? Maybe decades of unbridled economic growth in America have spawned such an entitled, materialistic generation of singles, that even fellow Americans find the whole experience disconcerting.
"It's a Westchester attitude," she said. "It's about where you went to school, who you know, your friends."
Rachel Smith, a 28-year-old townie, whose parents have been in Westchester for a couple of generations, sat expounding on America's dating scene while having drinks with some friends in White Plains.
"All of my friends married people outside of Westchester."
Smith's advice for today's Westchester single? Meet people outside of the area.
It would make sense for Westchester in particular to be an epicenter of entitlement considering some of the country's most affluent individuals live here. After all, Greenwich, a town synonymous with wealth and home to many an investment banker, is just across from the border from Port Chester, and Scarsdale is a stone's throw away.
It's no wonder many American women take such a calculating attitude toward dating. If you have the opportunity to score with someone on the Forbes list, then maybe being a little more careful with who you talk to might help your chances.
The Coming Crash
But if Peter Schiff is right, the current mating hierarchy could topple over along with the Dow Jones Industrial at any moment, upending the system. If that happens, and America takes a back-seat to the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China), whose economies have the potential to grow exponentially if China ever decided to unpeg the Yuan fom the falling U.S. dollar, Americans could wake up to find their nest eggs gone and their girlfriends leaving them in droves to pursue flings with Chinese businessmen.
While nightmarish, this scenario might actually improve America's dating scene. When unrealistically high expectations on the parts of both single men and women come crashing down, maybe, just maybe, it will finally be possible to look past another American's menial job or imperfect appearance and see that person for who they really are.
We might even see a return of traditional dating and courtship, no sex before marriage, and other previously antiquated 1950's social mores. It would no longer be feasible to marry for money since no one except for a small elite would have any.
Stripped of our fancy jobs, extravagant homes, and designer clothes, we could finally get back to what's really important in life -- talking and getting to know one another
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