This is referring to Britain, but it may as well be directed at the USA:
This recession is not a failure of market economics. It is a reassertion of market economics after a decade in which we paid ourselves more than we were producing, and funded it precariously and temporarily by complicated credit instruments that it took a while for the market to rumble. Now a prosperity that always baffled ordinary citizens has collapsed. The collapse of confidence is not irrational; it’s the correction to a long run of irrational confidence. All that stuff about the emerging Asian giants wasn’t just phrasemaking for party conference speeches. It was true. We’re falling behind. We face a mountain of debt: the difference between the life we are able to sustain and the life we were enjoying.
When I came to Japan I realized that they were not living the wealthy life I’d imagined. Most Japanese in Tokyo and the surrounding area live in small apartments or homes without central heating or cooling (despite weather that mirrors the seasons Washington, D.C.). Families have one car. They take short, infrequent vacations (overnighters generally). They don’t eat out often. They may carry the latest cell phone and own fancy gadgets, but they sacrifice to buy that stuff (and what else can they do with their money?).
In comparison the average American family enjoys far greater wealth in terms of living space, personal time, cheap energy, and much more.
But has all that wealth been REAL or BORROWED?
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Borrowed! But that is not a failure of the market. I love how “the market” gets blamed for everything. People have made choices, and not just greedy people. Americans have no trouble living with massive and constant debt because they largely believe they are entitled to a good many things which they cannot afford. And then government policies, both liberal and conservative, make it easier for them to live beyond their means. The problem is not the market, but the loss of virtues like thrift, diligence, deferrment of gratification, patience, gratitude, and the like. This does not mean that any particular economic “system” is flawless. In this world there is no such thing. But it is naive to just blame the “freemarketers” and the “corporations” as though they were inherently greedy.
Yes, but what do we do if we live with people who bring the system down around us. Sometimes I’m attracted by the idea of learning how to farm, but I think it’s too late for that.
[...] … for and on behalf of the Historians of Tomorrow from whom we borrowed the baseline assets. …Living on borrowed wealthThis is referring to Britain, but it may as well be directed at the USA: This recession is not a [...]