And Now

"Mr. Obama appeared to be preparing the world for a reshaped global economy in which the United States no longer was the ultimate export market for the world’s established and emerging powers. It was that habit of overconsumption, he appeared to say, that led to the boom-and-bust cycles that he has said must end."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/world/europe/02prexy.html?_r=1&hp

Hooray hooray hooray!

Good Articles

The Real Great Depression - The panic of 1873 bears more significance to today than that of 1929, and preceded the economic shift from Europe to America. Within America it bolstered popularity for fundamentalist religion. The author writes in such a way as to make history interesting and clear to an outsider like me - and also reveals how a financial market crash affects more than just those people who want to buy stuff on credit.

Sha Na Na and the Invention of the Fifties - 'The Fifties' as we know them today are an invention of 1969, when social unrest necesitated finding a common link in nostalgia. The decade of Cold War panic and Beatniks became the Sock Hop era of family values and economic optimism. The Juvenile Delinquants of the time became Greasers - glorified white working class teens.

The End of Art - A meaty read, full of great quotes and revealing thoughts on a topic that artists love to explore. Or at least, should love to explore. Bringing religion into any discussion is a dangerous step these days, but this author masters the complex task and opens door for further exploration. His mention of religion will raise fewer red flags than his insistence that "The subjugation of art... to political ends has been one of the great spiritual tragedies of our age" (I happen to agree). But neither does he delicately poke at religion with postmodernist fear of stepping on somebody's toes.

an answer to my question

so, as i listened to all the babble about the financial crisis today, i realized the answer to my question about the importance of credit. quite apart from the individual/family, it is small business that relies on credit. so, if i like small business, then i should like credit. nostalgia may pretend that there exists a simple answer to society, but that is of course just not true.

this is the reason why i titled my last post "the dangers of having a blog": because i start spewing about things i think about, regardless of whether i actually know anything about them. then i sound either a)pompous or b)idiotic [or c)all of the above]. this is one reason why i didn't have a blog for a long time. i don't like sharing things that are too personal (my mother and who knows who else reads this) but if i share things too impersonal, i run the risk of being (bumbumbum!) WRONG.

i am a person who thinks a lot and talks a lot. sometimes i sound like i know a lot. but at the end of the day, i am aware that i know pretty much squat.

actually, it's debilitating to have so little confidence in my knowledge, because it makes me afraid to have confidence or make decisions. how can a person have an opinion when there are very smart people out there who have opposite opinions? or when you don't have all the facts?

so, faithful readers of the blog (of which there are none, so i guess my rear is covered), bear with me in my times of error (pomp and idiocracy). and feel free (i beg you) to correct me or add to a discussion. this would pretty much make my week.

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in other, more exciting news, i sold my car today! that's a weight off my mind. the longer i can wait before buying another one, the better. the high school girl who bought it seemed quite happy about the investment. and she had cool glasses.

closing remarks - the danger of having a blog

"Recently, we've seen how one company can grow so large that its failure jeopardizes the entire financial system." -Bush in today's speech about the proposed $700 Billion financial bailout.

Personally, this is how I feel about megastores like Walmart. I know it's a completely different thing from Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, and (reaching further back) Enron etc. Nevertheless the principles can be applied: too much of our money goes into one company and its failures affect us all. In financial institutions these failures are such as we've seen in the news recently. In the retail sector, these failures include product quality, job outsourcing, poor employee treatment, and (an underappreciated problem) aesthetic tyranny.

Ok, so I have nostalgic preference for buying local and locally-owned small business. That is how I would like my life to function -- small circles. Knowing where my purchasing dollars go, even if I'm spending more of them for fewer (but essential) things.

Anyway, after that tangent...

I did not see Bush's speech, but read it, and actually thought it was pretty good (considering, I mean, it IS Bush). It provided a synopsis of the mortgage deflation and ensuing financial crisis that a civilian like myself could understand. It made his plan look pretty good. He even says it will partially (mostly? maybe completely?) pay itself back. Even I know enough to see that as optimistic.

The speech revealed to what extent our economy depends on credit. Buying houses, cars, and college education -- all need credit purchasing power. Watch out, Americans! Bush says. The way things are going, someday, in the very near future, you might not be able to buy things you can't afford!!

Now, I understand that mortgages are necessary for buying houses, and I am the current holder of certain college loans that I think are worthwhile, but all in all, Americans buy way too much on credit. Everyone has credit debt. No one saves money. Financial consultants are always warning us about this problem. Everyone knows debt is a big mistake, but most of us do it anyway.

We can feel patriotic about going into debt. Spending makes the world go round. At least, it keeps our markets moving in the direction we like them to move. If we didn't spend, there wouldn't be Christmas.

How did you spend your Economic Stimulus tax rebate? Remember that? Well, now that you've spent that money on a Wii, be prepared to give it all back, with mucho interest, over the next umpteen years to pay for this big governmental buy out. (Also, be prepared to pay for surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.)

What would our world look like without as many ways to go into debt? Would everything collapse, allowing China to stage its big takeover? Bush certainly thinks so. You haven't bought a new car since 2006! You might as well be a Communist!

Money. The big world. It all makes me want to crawl off the grid.

Maybe I will someday. As soon as I've paid off my debt...