He died not in the service of country in Iraq or Afghanistan. He died in the service of Wal*Mart.
Frenzied shoppers rushed a 5:00 am store opening tearing doors off their hinges and inflicting this obscenely banal trampling death on the employee.
Must respect for life and even life itself be sacrificed on the altar of consumption?
And what about your purchases? Do they contribute to your genuine happiness, well-being, and security or that of your loved ones?
Consider this lunancy and be thankful this pointless death wasn't your own.
Consider this tragedy and be thankful you weren't one of his consumption-maddened killers.
Guest Blogger: Tom
[ 3 comments ] ( 2 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 141 )The D-bomb has hit hard. Government deficits of mind-numbing magnitude are essential to averting economic disaster.
But consumer debt has long been the strategy of choice of the poor and middle class for different reasons. In good times this is the installment plan to our lifestyle dreams. In bad times, it’s a last resort to avert an emotional recession when trapped by job loss, heavy borrowing costs, health problems, declining home values or other predicaments that threaten your lifestyle.
This debt approach has been, at least for most of the last two decades, an inappropriate and unfettered response to the good times equally with the bad. This lies at the core of the excess and irrational exuberance many have exhibited. Consumers wanted more and they wanted it now even if they couldn’t pay for it.
Still, thanks to economist John Maynard Keynes, the traditional principle of maintaining a balanced budget all of the time is simplistic thinking. It too is as wrongheaded for the consumer as it is for the government.
But when the economic model of the post-modern world is built on credit and consumers spending nearly everything they earn to drive national economic growth and ten percent growth rates in corporate profits where do you find the natural restraints to save some of your money?
You are both victim and villain in this scenario. In the former role, you are bombarded, cajoled, and rewarded to adopt credit-based lifestyles you cannot sustain. Along the way you are driven by foolishly high credit limits, dismal if any financial education, unethical sales practices, and questionable advice.
As villains, the majority of you have simply over-reached, over-bought, and under-saved. From almost a 10% savings rate just a decade ago to near 0% today you have effectively left no wiggle room to cope with the unpredictable, today’s reality. The global mess proves you are not alone.
The same appears to be true for governments and the financial system given the speed, depth, and breadth of the global meltdown.
Now the game has changed. The dominant climate of fear plus your personal reality will temper the future course of action you must take for your own financial survival. Many have pulled back their spending. At least half the population have no other option. Some might even try saving.
Yet, in spite of any new found restraint you muster, this response will deepen the problems of the larger community in the short term.
So who will save the economy? You? Me? I doubt any of us are willing to take it in the chops for the other guy after the wreckage that remains of our own plans and dreams.
Sadly, and to the distress of politicians, your restraint (you as villain) could be self-defeating if all of us act prudently in our self-interest to conserve cash.
Such is the paradox of thrift as the world holds its breath and hopes that the other great D-word doesn’t become the reality (you as victim) that your saving is trying to prevent. Some luck.
Copyright 2008 William M. MacKay
[ 3 comments ] ( 5 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 152 )We are all waiting for Barack Obama’s grand entrance to the world stage to make things right. Don’t.
The uncertainty of the next 60 days is no time to delay your plans for renewal. There are powerful forces sweeping us along with or without Obama’s approval and personal stamp.
There is time for countries to fail regardless of the embedded hope we have invested in his Presidency. Was it just last week Iceland collapsed? Ecuador may go this week.
With so many people just hanging on, and others holding out for his performance of financial salvation this is as foolish as contemplating the moon when the house is burning. Test your perspective against reality.
No one person can fix the mess around us. Expecting otherwise is futile.
Lying in the shadows behind what’s gone off the rails is our personal role in the scope of the problems. Our collective expectations (continually rising double digit home prices, excessive investment returns, onerous pay demands, low prices for everything) and the subsequent actions we take to make these reality.
It’s not all the corruption and failures of the system, Wall Street, or the greedy CEOs although when your pension fund is down 60% they are, rightly so, the obvious whipping boys.
We have arrived at the Past Due – Please Remit moment of truth. Some introspection is needed to reconcile where you are and what you need to do to get on track again. But don’t take too long.
Find where you can create value in your lifestyle with modest cost for what is truly meaningful. Prosperity can be found through a change in attitude as difficult as that can be when you’re out of work, can’t pay the mortgage, and have a health issue.
That there will be compassion for those in need is a hope worth waiting for until the man with the long white beard arrives.
Copyright 2008 William M. MacKay
[ 4 comments ] ( 15 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 149 )Barack Obama is a talented wordsmith. His choice of words for his victory speech in Chicago was no accident.
To be sure it was directed not only to Americans but also a world audience. This sword of responsibility cuts a wide swath.
DUTY
First, there is a duty he must shoulder as the man leading his country to apply all his resources and those of the people to meet the immediate and future needs of the nation.
You are similarly called, given the financial crisis of the times, to manage and allocate your resources so as to meet your needs today and in retirement. No leader can save his nation without the collective willingness and prudent action of its citizens. To do any less is morally irresponsible as was the sub prime slime that got the world into this predicament.
WHO’S IN CHARGE?
While slime flows downhill blame must rise to the top. That’s where the person in charge is supposed to be taking care of business and making responsible decisions. That involves analyzing all possible alternatives to prevent unintended consequences that could threaten security and make the good life unreachable. Expect to get blamed (as George Bush should be) if something bad happens.
At the micro level, no one is in charge of your pay check but you. Look after how you spend it. You, not the government, must take responsibility for your decisions. Yes, government can help create the environment and establish the rules of the game but how you play is a personal choice.
BLAME
While Alan Greenspan can refuse to accept responsibility for the monetary train wreck we are living through (and get paid well to speak his innocence) this is a disaster born on his watch. Read the above Alan, Who’s In Charge!
But isn’t there somebody I can blame for spending beyond my ability to pay, borrowing against my home equity, and failing to make contributions to my retirement fund?
SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY
Parents expect their children to develop a sense of responsibility. Now, I expect grown up children everywhere are shaking their heads as they look at the mess around them and wonder why the adults of the world have not demonstrated an ability to behave sensibly.
Who can you trust to do the right thing with your money? You? Your President? Your Prime Minister? Your banker? Your investment dealer/broker? Your hedge fund manager? That we make choices to advance our self-interest has proved false. But here’s hoping, Mr. Obama, that our ability to self-correct is also not a fiction.
RESPONSIBILITY TO OTHERS
Just as citizens have a responsibility to vote, we expect our leaders to help and serve us in their position of authority through the work they are officially obligated to perform. That’s the trust factor. We don’t need to tell them to do the right thing. It’s expected.
The financial health of the country is built on the actions of millions of its citizens/consumers/savers/investors. But we have learned a painful lesson that the invisible hand of the market does not make all things right. Some of our actions need guidance and oversight. Some jail terms.
As individual consumers we also need to do what is right for the community within the context of the choices we make and the lifestyle we pursue.
Our own ability to respond to the challenges of the day will be, I believe, indivisible from the success of our leadership in responding to this global financial crisis. The citizen must be morally responsible and do the right thing no less than the leader.
Copyright 2008 William M. MacKay
[ 3 comments ] ( 3 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 163 )The years since the new millennium which typically played down the dangers of our debt-riddled lifestyle can now pass into the record books along with the Bush era.
And what a finale it’s been, both financially and now politically for America and its people.
While analyses of the past and projections for the future are already in print, what can we take away from the experience that has seen the greatest financial and moral upheaval since the Great Depression?
I’ll suggest 3 important lessons.
1. DEBT HAS ITS PENALTIES. It is not benign.
Whether it be the country’s budget deficit or your own it has consequences.
• It will eventually increase your cost of borrowing as your burden grows.
• It will reduce your disposable income as some income pays borrowing costs.
• Creating a modest surplus will be more difficult; saving may be impossible.
• Depending on how you use that borrowed money, it may prolong reaching your dreams and aspirations or making them sustainable.
• If debt persists it may diminish your self-worth and undermine your confidence.
First steps: Cap your debt right now. (Things could still get worse.)
Pay down as much as you can without giving up your dreams. (Cut out the comforts and the quirky stuff you buy on impulse. Reduce and renegotiate recurring monthly service charges.)
2. HOPE IS VITAL. It is the motive force that propels us through tough times and meager lifestyles. But it is not a strategy.
What is a strategy is to focus on your goals and dreams and what you must do to reach them. So repair your dreams immediately and get on track with your vision of what matters most. Allocate money and time to your passion absolutes, the vital few things that give you lasting joy, without which all you have acquired and received would be meaningless.
3. GREED, SPEED, AND WASTE SUCK US ALL INTO THE MAELSTROM.
This is a generational moment of truth. Take the time to appraise your way of life and listen to the many voices who speak of poverty beyond your income.
Isn’t it time to turn the page?
What we’ll need to get us out this crisis of confidence and rebuild trust are some fundamental changes in how we view the world and our personal responsibility for it.
Copyright 2008 William M. MacKay
[ add comment ] ( 3 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 139 )
Calendar
