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We All Have Contributed To Our Economy Downfall

By Staff | Apr 15, 2009

I think I must of us have contributed to our economic slump.

We have become a society of wants, not needs. When we reflect on our daily living we are so used to just using the plastic cards for almost anything.

Most of us are living on a fixed income. We seldom took the time to think about how we will pay for things. We look at houses that far exceed our needs, or our income. The material things we all collect are wants, not needs.

I don’t know when this attitude developed. I do know it did not exist when I was growing up. My dad was the keeper of the money. My mother worked very little during her lifetime. As far as I know, no one heard of credit cards back then. The only charge account that my parents had was at The Palace Furniture Company in Clarksburg. Things were purchased only when needed, and that was not often.

My dad built our rustic fishing cabin out at Shiloh. There were no thrills attached to that cabin, no indoor plumbing, or electric. Gas lights in the main room and the kitchen were the only lights in the cabin during our childhood. Telephones were not even a consideration. A battery radio provided our information. All of our childhoods were spent at Shiloh in the summers. That tradition was carried on for three generations of my family. Even the youngest generation find those are the memories they cherish.

Now that same generation is living in huge houses, some with only two people in them, at least two cars, and all sorts of electronics. They all have more material things than they will ever use.

Yet, they keep buying up in houses, cars, and things. Most of their own children had a car when in school, everything in the electronic age, and money that never seems to end.

Vacations are not even the same. We were happy to go to a State Park for even the day. We had no idea what a Spring Break would be like to go to an island, or south.

I am not even sure we had a Spring Break.

I really do not understand what thinking contributes to these ideas. I know it seems more important to keep up with the Joneses these days. The difference is, that if the Joneses existed back in my time, we didn’t know about them, nor care.

Perhaps many people choose not to think about what a short period of time we will actually be on this earth. I seriously doubt if any of us are taking anything with us when we depart.

I do know that most of us have much more than we need today.

Many have been forced to lose our big houses that could not have afforded in the first place. Or never gave much thought our incomes, compared to our spending. The unemployment rate just kind of slipped up on most.

As our President, along with financial advisors, has told us over and over, we must all work together to bring this economy up.

It is past time to ask ourselves, “Do we need this?”, or “Do we want it?” Perhaps children need to have this explained to them, shopping rules has changed.

I cannot begin to imagine having this big debt that some are dealing with.

If anything good comes out of this recession, it would be some might learn that some of the old fashioned habits were not so bad. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.

Santa Claus may be back in fashion bringing only one gift. In fact, all holidays may have to get back to their real meaning.