Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Why I want to see the economy collapse
I'm posting this blog to see if other people feel, in some ways, like I do.
First of all I understand the adolescent and irrational nature of my wish but it is however how I feel on a gut level. Let me explain.
I'm married with two children, both my wife and I are college educated and have decent jobs. For the past twenty years or so I have watched while all this supposed wealth has built up around us. While we have worked hard we have never shared in this paper prosperity. In part because we weren't willing to immerse ourselves in debt and partly because we like our lives simply and uncluttered. There are some things however that we wish we could afford mostly for our kids, things like braces, college, and an opportunity for them to travel to get a better understanding of the world and the people in it. Unfortunately these things are out of our reach.
I came from an upper middle class household has did my wife but all of our adult lives have been spent hand to mouth. Both of our fathers worked themselves into early graves and did not die happy or satisfied. This is part of the reason why our focus has gone to our kids rather than the pursuit of cash. Don't get me wrong I have no problem with being wealthy but rather the price you may have to pay to get there, which brings me to my point.
All around me I see people working two or three jobs just to get by. I see preteen kids in a hurry to grow up not yet knowing how over rated it is. As a country we won't even educate our citizens unless they have the cash to pay for it not to mention the health care problems. In short the pursuit of money and the things it buys has become Paramount to the point that I don't think it is even questioned any more. All that our kids are learning from this is that money comes out of an ATM machine and that if you are not rich and/or famous you have probably failed in life.
What has happened to us? We have created this culture of ownership that leads the best things about life devastated in its wake. I want to see a country were people have what they need, were decadence is laughed at and were hard work is admired and rewarded. If this economy consumes itself and completely breaks down then maybe we can all stop running and take a breath. Maybe that's what it takes in order for us to look at each other and say "What the hell was all that about?".
First of all I understand the adolescent and irrational nature of my wish but it is however how I feel on a gut level. Let me explain.
I'm married with two children, both my wife and I are college educated and have decent jobs. For the past twenty years or so I have watched while all this supposed wealth has built up around us. While we have worked hard we have never shared in this paper prosperity. In part because we weren't willing to immerse ourselves in debt and partly because we like our lives simply and uncluttered. There are some things however that we wish we could afford mostly for our kids, things like braces, college, and an opportunity for them to travel to get a better understanding of the world and the people in it. Unfortunately these things are out of our reach.
I came from an upper middle class household has did my wife but all of our adult lives have been spent hand to mouth. Both of our fathers worked themselves into early graves and did not die happy or satisfied. This is part of the reason why our focus has gone to our kids rather than the pursuit of cash. Don't get me wrong I have no problem with being wealthy but rather the price you may have to pay to get there, which brings me to my point.
All around me I see people working two or three jobs just to get by. I see preteen kids in a hurry to grow up not yet knowing how over rated it is. As a country we won't even educate our citizens unless they have the cash to pay for it not to mention the health care problems. In short the pursuit of money and the things it buys has become Paramount to the point that I don't think it is even questioned any more. All that our kids are learning from this is that money comes out of an ATM machine and that if you are not rich and/or famous you have probably failed in life.
What has happened to us? We have created this culture of ownership that leads the best things about life devastated in its wake. I want to see a country were people have what they need, were decadence is laughed at and were hard work is admired and rewarded. If this economy consumes itself and completely breaks down then maybe we can all stop running and take a breath. Maybe that's what it takes in order for us to look at each other and say "What the hell was all that about?".
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