Saturday, November 22, 2008

A Child-like Yelp of Pain

"Locked-up lending is a prime reason why the United States is suffering through the worst financial crisis since the 1930s."

That was the quote I read in the newspaper today. So now everybody is bitching because it's hard to get a loan. Just last week (and this week and next week) we were/are bitching because there has been too much lending--sub-prime housing mortgages, derivatives and default swaps, etc. Which way is it: too much or too little? You can't have it both ways. Only children can...providing Mommy and Daddy continue paying.

The facts are: in the 1990s and 2000s we adults-acting-like-children spent the past (used up our savings...refinanced our homes); we refused to replenish the savings stock (0% savings rate the past few years); and we spent the future (credit card debt, debt, debt). We used up too large amount of the past and future. All that is left now is mostly the bleak present: hamburgers instead of steak, meals at home instead of going to expensive restaurants, re-reading old books (or going to the library) instead of buying new ones.

But don't despair: there are still pleasures: freed up time to watch a sunset, seeing old friends, and good conversation...the way we used to live before we, like grown-up children, needed more and more toys...and paid too high a price for them.

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