Ultimately, it seems we should thank God for this bitter medicine we call a recession. Greed and indiscretion on the part of both our country’s leaders and ordinary citizens have led us to the tipping point. Sure, the government is leveraged up to their eyeballs with funny money that isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Solution? Print more! But more than a few consumers are highly leveraged as well. Some of the culprits:
- High credit card balances
- Home mortgages we can’t afford
- A sense of entitlement to live a lifestyle beyond our means
Let’s stop here for a moment and find the place in the Bible where God suggests we turn to usurious credit cards to buy the stuff our salary can’t justify. Hello Mr. Big Screen Television, brand new car, and vacation in Cozumel. In case you were wondering, it’s not in the Holy Scriptures. The grim truth is that household spending, consumer debt, and the financial sector are wilting in the face of government handouts and cheaper debt. It’s going to hurt but, in the immortal words of Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the 1980’s version of Batman starring Michael Keaton, “This town needs an enema!â€
Maybe this nation needs an enema. Not literally, of course, but the American economy needs a serious correction to get back to sustainable levels. Guess what? We got it and boy did we ever. With unemployment still lurking around 10%, it seems like Mr. Obama and his lackeys’ are still of the opinion that putting more money in circulation is going to cause us to go on a spending binge and whisk this nasty old recession right out to sea, or wherever it is old recessions go to die.
Problem is, we at Solomon Success aren’t convinced that Americans have learned their lesson yet. We’ll take that money and go right out on another credit card fueled shopping spree. After all, with the holiday season fast approaching, what better time to stock up on the wrong kind of debt than buying presents for everyone we know? Tighten our belts and try living in austerity? Ridiculous!
So, thank God for the recession and pray that it doesn’t end until we’ve all come to our senses.
The Solomon Success Team
Flickr / AgentAkit