Peppered Hearts

This is the post I was planning on writing but changed my mind. Today I got mad at the economy again.

(From here.)

My roommate and I made a crucial mistake this morning.

We turned on the news.

I know, I know. What were we thinking? Watching the news? Now? In today’s world? How masochistic were we feeling?

We had CNN on for about 3 hours. I didn’t hear a SINGLE piece of positive news. All I heard was that everything sucks and we’re all going to die. It’s fun.

The President Obama came on. Cool. I like to hear what the guy running the nation has to say.

Naturally it was all about the $787 billion stimulus package and how we were going to spend it. But that’s the problem. All I hear is how we’re spending the money. Where is this money coming from? Where are we getting those billions? I tried googling it but I couldn’t find anything. I went to the Recovery website and there was still no information on where the money is going to magically appear from. All I hear is how we’re going to spend it. Which is kind of the problem.

The crisis right now, from my limited viewpoint, has come about in kind of the same way as the Great Depression. People were spending money they didn’t have. They bought houses they couldn’t afford and that weren’t even worth the price. It’s evident in the job market. In New York City, on 23rd Street, a studio apartment can cost $3000 a MONTH. That’s basically a single (and small) room. How is it worth it?

We keep talking about how we’re going to spend our stimulus money, which is what we’ve done for years. Credit cards, buy what you want and then pay it off. It’s a lovely lifestyle, if you have the money to pay it off with.

I’ve only read one “Confessions of a Shopaholic” book (Shopaholic and Sister). It was entertaining and hilarious but it whole time I was reading it I kept noticing how extravagant she was. Frugality was presented by her frumpy sister. The shopaholic was the warm and kind one. Why so? Why is being frugal bad?

I’m a college student. I live on a budget. Spending loads of money is not an option for me.

But the thing is, I’m not broke. I have very generous parents who are helping foot my bills. I don’t go hungry; I can go out to eat with friends; I go to Broadway shows. I don’t spend money outrageously because I’d much rather have it in the bank for a rainy day.

The US economy is having that rainy day right now. And instead of whipping out our green umbrellas, we’re getting drenched. There’s no where to go because we’ve eliminated those places by outrageous spending. The banks don’t want to reinvest because they lost so much. People don’t want to invest because they lost too much. Businesses are worrying about the future and laying off workers, creating more chaos.

The stimulus plan is all fine and dandy right now because it goes along with everything we’ve been doing. Money is being spent with the promise that we’ll pay it off someday. The only thing is, the people who got us in to the mess will be dead when someday comes around and it’ll be you and me paying it off.