Economy or Just Living Beyond Our Means?
Labels: Credit, Economy, Society
Readers of this blog will have to get use to my off the wall way of thinking and looking at the world as well as my continued apologies for my bluntness. I really am not judgmental and honestly have a great deal of compassion and empathy for all of humanity. It is just that there are a lot of people in this world milking the system, stirring the pot, sticking it to their brothers and other 'human' ills while the rest of us seem to think that is just the way things are. Well they aren't, not if we refuse to let them be this way or that.
My next peeve is centered around the economic crisis we are supposed to be having. The one that occurs after each Presidential election...don't believe me? Go the library periodicals and pull the headlines for those years...you will see it.
In addition to my suspicions that gas prices only spike to make the true increase less painful...I mean would you really be happy going from $2 a gallon to a $2.50 if it didn't spike to $4 first? I can't help but notice that those most effected by the 'economic crisis' are people that were living beyond their means to begin with. Lots of toys, expensive house and debt up to their eyeballs.
So when the unexpected happens, like they suddenly have only one income, they are unable to make ends meet, and things get repossessed and foreclosed on. Credit is not a game you play where you see if you can spend every cent you earn on your sum total of bills each month. And he who dies with the most toys only wins because he stiffed his family with the debt.
My husband, the Lord Emperor of my Universe, is in the supply chain business. The sheer number of brand new vehicles towing small homes behind them as people traveled 100s of miles to camp out over the holiday weekend boggled his imperial brain. How can we be in a recession when you see that?? Not to mention that almost half the population still eats out at least once a week...with kids...eating machines??!!!
It must be a national thing or that big chain store wouldn't be advertising the savings a family of 4 would have per year by buying groceries instead of eating out...hello...can you say duh?? Don't they teach home economics anymore?? My husband and I do hit the fast food too much in the summer because of the heat but we don't even have kids so it isn't a financial hardship to do now and then because we don't waste our money year round...just during 100 degree weather.
Everyone is very busy, and that is super. But take it from a lazy person, there are plenty of healthy, convenient foods to keep around the house that is still way cheaper than eating out all the time. In this age of Diabetes and The Glycemic Index, convenient healthy snacks have become much more common and affordable...if you ever want tips on that subject send me an email
When you really think about it, doesn't it seem like our quest for more of everything has pretty much guaranteed we are all gonna die if there is every a national or planetary disaster that cuts off the supply chain? We all enjoy the niceties of life and if you can afford them without hocking a kidney then enjoy! Just try to keep this thought in the back of your mind...nothing is forever and the entire world could be turned upside down in a blink of an eye.
It could be something as minor as breaking your arm and being off work for long enough to get behind on your mortgage not to mention the cost of the medical bills since you may not have insurance. It could be something major like having the bread winner get killed in a car wreck with no life insurance for his widow and 2 kids. It could even be that thing that most of the planets religious population agrees is coming...they just disagree on whose God will save them...and that would be Armageddon.
Sadly I really have no solution for this except maybe that people try to put more thought into the what ifs and less into the instant gratification of what they want at the moment. Perhaps the reason health care is so expensive is because we are a society that treats their bodies like amusement parks and not like the sensitive machines that they are. We eat, drink, party, smoke, drive too fast, and participate in many sports that can kill you on purpose for fun!
If I were an insurance company, I wouldn't insure half the people I know. Maybe deep down we all have a death wish, well I don't, I am a wuss with a vivid imagination who can visualize the accidents as if its already happened to me. {Shudder} Then again being a chicken makes me twitchy and that is also dangerous. ;) If people would take better care of themselves, and not live in harms way - so much, then maybe they wouldn't need so much health care?
Who knows. All I do know is there are a lot of people who owe more than they could afford if one income were to be lost or even decreased. So why buy the house you cannot afford when the one you can afford just needs carpet and paint? Why buy the brand new car when you can get a perfectly good used one for half the money? I guess it must be for show. Someone once said the clothes make the man. Pshh! An asshole in a suit is a still an asshole. Meanwhile a saint in rags is still a saint.
Anyways, it just isn't "going without" when you have to give up dining out or this years trip to the Bahama's. Going without is only having enough food for your kids and not yourself or enough to pay the water bill but not the electric. However losing your house because you could barely afford the payment to begin with, then maxed your credit card on a big screen TV for your bedroom and a DVD player for the new Mini Van only to lose your job because you just can't not party and are always late or hung over is not an economic crisis...it is stupidity 101.
Credit is supposed to be for emergencies or for earning frequent flier miles. As you reap so shall ye sow. Or something equally profound. You know, these little rants have really been helping. I just hope that my outbursts and condescending view of humanity are taken with a grain of salt. Once the thoughts leave my mind to grace the page, my passion for the topic tends to wane. And since I am not running for office any time soon, being wishy washy is still allowed.
