Our great depression

This is my hundredth post. Yeah!

Remember, in grade school, reading about the Great Depression and how in World War II the government imposed civilian rations for food, gas, medicine and other essentials? What if something similar happened today? What sacrifices might we need to make in order to put our personal budgets back on track in this Great Recession?

One of the reasons that I voted for Obama is because he's smart and motivational. If he told every American family to tighten their economic belts, most of us would listen. It would be a message that would be better received than if it was coming from the guy that doesn't know how many houses he owns.

Okay, but back to our way of life... This is what I can't stand about American thinking... We see problems, fundamental problems, and we want to fix them without changing our way of life. We want hybrid SUVs and any other solution that maintains our lifestyle, makes us feel good about "doing our part" and doesn't incovenience us one bit. We see the gas prices going down and we decide it's time for a cross-country roadtrip. Or like the lady on the Today Show said this morning, since the economy is in decline, it's a great time to start buying new appliances because you're going to be spending a lot more time at home preparing your own food. Now there's some logic (I wonder whose payroll she's on).

The mere fact that our country's economy is built on credit and not on real cash, means that we can have car lots full of cars waiting to be bought, it means that we can have huge warehouse stores with inventory (purchased on credit, whose manufacturing was done on credit, and most likely the consumer will purchase the goods on credit). It's a giant pyramid scheme that is crashing right now... but we just want the government to fix it. The big businesses just want a bailout. Nobody wants to give up his way of life in order to fundamentally change the economic system.

I'm no economist, but what would it mean if to our way of life, if we were cash only? If credit didn't exist? or if it just existed with very limited terms?

• Would we all live in our own little castles? 4 bedrooms for 2 people? 4000 square feet for a family of 4? Would we have to co-op more and actually live together with extended family?
• Would we have to save up for a car, order it and wait for it to be made?
• Would we have to eat more fruits and vegetables because pre-packaged meals wouldn't be so readily available on the shelves?
• Would there be enough jobs for Dad and Mom to both work?
• Would recycling be optional?
• Would we know our neighbors and have to depend more on each other to barter goods and services vs. just paying someone?
• Would we have to depend on other people to help us get out of a bind vs. pulling out the Visa?
• Would we live more in community and lose some of our independence?
• Would we have to share our warm homes, our water, our food, our hard-earned cash? Would we have to sacrifice for others?
• Would we be inconvenienced?
  

What changes would you be willing to make in order to have more economic stability in your life and in the country...even if it meant adjusting your standard of living?