News Didn't Scare Me this Time

The front scream page of Yahoo News this morning proclaims that the US Standard of Living is going to permanently decline because of this recession. Credit is going to become harder to come by and wages will be lower, and prices may be lowering permanently as well. It was set up to look alarming, because if it isn't scary looking, it isn't news. On average though, this may be not such a bad thing, but an adjustment that has been way overdue.

I live by the credo that if you can't afford it right now with the money you have, you don't buy it. If you don't need it, don't buy it. My husband is the same way and I am sure we have avoided a lot of stress with the shared philosophy.

There is a difference between living in a culture of consumption and culture of satisfying needs. Americans have nearly bankrupted themselves as a nation not understanding the difference. Now, we will have to pay for that willful stupidity, and companies and people who tried to live beyond their means are learning some painful lessons on what it's like to live in true need, or maybe even desperate need. Companies may cease to exist, people will get distressed and adjust to survive differently.

Anyone who knows me or has read this blog with any regularity knows that I am not a fan of overconsumerism. It rapes the planet and no one is happier with all that "stuff." The Bush Administration encouraged it after 9/11 since it was distracting and it hyperinflated the economic numbers, but it also fostered greed, selfishness and flagrant irresponsibility. Even within his own administration, Bush took it to the nth level by unprecedented government growth and wasteful spending off borrowed money. Any republican or right wing commentator complaining about the present stimulus plan being "unprecedented governmnent spending" need only look back at the past 8 years and stick that in their maws and block their damn windpipes.

My concern is for those who were already close to the edge. People who through limited education, poor circumstances, age or bad health gave up on anything but the bare necessities even in boom times. These are the people I worry about most. These are the people that we as a society need to take care of and not, as some right wing nut jobs keep trying to do, blame them and tell them they had it coming to them. (Don't even get me started on the hypocrisy of pro-life/revilement of single parents who can't support their kids.)

I come from the perspective of someone fairly blessed--we haven't had any job losses in our immediate family, our health is good, and because we are naturally frugal, we aren't worried about bills because we've never overspent.

But as a nation, priorities have been out of whack, and now it is going to take a long time to adjust. I hope that the stimulus package, though it is also borrowed money will be a good move, and be used as a safety net and job stimulus and not just a way to keep the illusion of things being the same as they were. We do need to change our "standard of living" to be less consuming of the world's resources and more understanding of what is important to a society. We have to pay back what is owed, and it will take sacrifice over a long period of time by the whole nation. There is no way around it. It isn't a bad thing to take responsibility and accept sacrifice for our actions as a nation.

It sure beats the hell out of pointing fingers, blaming, and pretending everything is fine as long as we keep shopping.