Tuesday, January 15, 2008

How to be a good citizen...

1 comment:

Sharon Secor said...

LOL... the part about spending being part of good citizenship isn't so satirical. More than 70 percent of the US economy is based upon consumer spending. No longer are we primarily producers, just consumers. This shift began soon after the Industrial Revolution hit America and we gained the capacity for mass production. Soon after came the need to shift the traditional understanding of consumption and debt, from a philosophy of thrift and a mistrust of debt that was not productive to buy now pay later sort of mentality in which consumptive debt was no longer frowned upon. Mass marketing, with its hired social psychologists, came to the rescue, helping to shape the wants and perceived needs of generations, creating armies of good consumers. Undoubtedly, if a majority of the people do revert to old-school spending and saving values, there will quite definitely be some economic pain, but of the good sort... the type that sometimes accompanies a healing wound... or the aches that an out of shape person feels when they start exercising regularly. We may even find that we become productive again.

Best,

Sherri