Mass Hysteria!

Everybody panic! Quick, stock up on bottled water and canned meat! Head to your basement if you have one, or your downstairs bathroom if you live in the South! (we don't have basements down here, no frost line....)

Ok, now that I have your attention, I was doing my best to mock the mainstream media and the government. We are in a recession. Of this I am aware. I think everyone knows this, if not, well, I'd like some of what your tokin. How did we, as a country, get to this point? People living beyond their means, spending money on shit that they can't afford, and may never afford. My friend Mike is a landlord up in CT. He has to evict people from the North End of Hartford, people who have BMWs. They would rather spend the money that they have on a flashy car than pay rent or live in a decent apartment. They drive nicer cars than Mike, who owns multiple buildings (and this is his side job)!

As long as you could afford the monthly payment on an item, whether it be a car, a house, a tv, a credit card, a yacht, you were good to go. When Steph and I were approved for a mortgage, we were approved for up to $280k with ZERO down. That is batshit insane! I like to say that we are a 1.5 income family (and even that may be generous). There is no frickin way I could pay a mortgage for something like that. I have made my share of financial mistakes over the years, but this would be financial suicide, and the mortgage company had no problem mixing the koolade for me.

The end result of all of this money-spending madness has been record foreclosures, the near collapse of the financial sector, and company after company laying people off. In response to all of the gloom and doom, it finally appears that most of society is coming to their senses. We are all saving more money, spending only when we need to. The retail stores got demolished this holiday season, because we all decided to spend less and more thoughtfully. I know I didn't pay full price for any holiday gift that I purchased. The deals were unreal. If things keep up this way, I can't see all of these retail stores staying open.

But isn't all of this new found financial responsibility a good thing? Yes, quite a few retail chains and large companies may go under, many good people will lose jobs (and that may be easy for me to say, but I'm not so arrogant as to think that I couldn't be one of those people), and families across the country will have to tighten their belts. If the end result is a culture of people only spending what they can afford, people saving money to get them through hard times, people investing in higher/advanced education, and generally investing more responsibly, wouldn't that make the US a stronger country, more ready to succeed in the 21st century? I believe this would be a case of taking 1 step back to take 2 steps forward. Economists write books about how parents should teach their children to save money, spend what they can afford, and avoid credit card debt. So it is about time we all finally did what all these smart people reccommend.

And now that we're all FINALLY doing all this, the mainstream media is freaking out. Talking about deflation. In typical fashion, they continue to focus on all of the negative. I know there is a ton of negative news, and that it is all news we need to know. At the same time, maybe they should bring up some of the positive. There has been a lot of flab added to the American economy. Companies have over-expanded and need to trim down. We're all going to the gym now and slimming down. No pain, no gain. New year, new you. So they should also talk about how this could help the country in the long run. They should mention how families and businesses can save money, prepare better for the future, and make more responsible financial decisions. Fostering mass hysteria just causes everyone to freeze up, panic, and hide away in the basement.