Every time I have a conversation these days – whether it’s with friends, co-workers, or even my mother – the topic inevitably turns to the U.S. economy. We talk about the latest rounds of layoffs, businesses in our neighborhoods that are closing, how long it will take before the bad news stops, and the inevitable “how did we get here?” My brother recently asked me this (rhetorically, I think), and after a moment’s reflection I said, “everyone’s bills came due on the same day.” Of course this is simplistic, but it is true that everyone from middle-income Americans to small business owners to financiers at large banks has been getting much of the money s/he needs to operate through debt, whether the debt comes from a credit card or a bank loan or a mortgage. And when ordinary people at the bottom of the economic food chain start defaulting on their loans, the pain trickles up in a very nasty way.
We’ve all spent some time doling out blame for the current mess, and a fair share of it has been heaped onto Americans themselves. What kind of culture is this, where people buy so many things that they can’t pay for? And setting the homes aside, what is this unquenchable thirst for new stuff all about? Stuff that we don’t have to maintain or repair, but that we can get rid of in a few years and replace with new new stuff?
