This Just In: British Woman Finds Employment

Joel commends us to Simon Kuper 's account in the Financial Times of how Kate Middleton, marrying Prince Andrew (!) William, will embark on her new life without a job--and how, in this respect, her name is legion.  In only mild exaggeration of Kuper's point,  none of us has a job any more.  The  old live off their pensions or their accumulated real estate value; the young live on the old or each other. "In this crisis," says Kuper,  "people have switched en masse from living off wages to living off capital."

Agreed that Kate is stepping up from the family's party-favors business, but if if she thinks she is moving into a life of uninterrupted ortolans and whipped cream, she'd better think again.  I'll bet she has already been instructed as to her duties and responsibilities--cutting ribbons, hugging school children, keeping her bra on while on her boyfriend's yacht.  If her mind wanders, she'll be brutally reminded by her phalanx of handlers.  In this light, it may be that Kate Middleton, after a long informal internship, is the one young person in Britain who is actually getting a job.    

Afterthought: My friend Dan suggests that if it doesn't work out, she might also find employment as a model for jellybeans.