Lenore, I loved, loved, LOVED this piece! I'm going to print out two copies--one to fold up and carry in my wallet and one to tape inside my freezer door next to the ice cream, because FINALLY someone has put this whole mess into plain English and that is the very definition of IU's mission. Thank you!
I am struck though by the contradiction with what our current liberal politicians and economists are saying about Europe and the US: that austerity and debt reduction are mistakes, and that the government must step up to finance growth via stimulus spending during rocky times such as these.
Myth in the sense that it may not have actually worked during the Great Depression and what "cured" the US then was actually the entry into WWII? Or just a colossal difference in political philosophy? What are your thoughts?
Your Mother's advice
tokyogai
10/25/2011 9:04:56 AM
I also really liked the piece. There just is no quick fix ( which is what we always seem to want). Maybe it is time to buy Ben and Jerry's stock ( Unilever).This will take a decade or more to really get straightened out, but the longest journey starts with a single step..
Ben and Jerry are good guys
Bargain Bin
10/25/2011 9:52:01 AM
Very much enjoyed this piece as well. Plain English, simple to understand, and fun to read.
That Which Does Not Kill Us...
Street Smart
10/25/2011 11:22:30 AM
We're all so intent these days on taking lessons from Steve Jobs's passing, but it strikes me that those lessons don't need to be simply personal--they can translate to our economy in an aggregate sense, too.
What you said in your last paragraph reminded me of this, @Lenore: That which does not kill us makes us stronger. Steve Jobs was someone who got up more times than he fell down, simple as that.
I was reading the other day about how much technological and manufacturing innovation actually took place during the Great Depression. We think of the '30's as such a "downer decade" but they were actually years of great progress on many fronts.
Let's get busy thinking about THIS brand new decade in the same light. Each of us has that individual power. I used to live a few blocks away from the famous garage where Bill Hewlett and David Packard launched their dreams. I would bicycle past and think that it was a pretty unlikely place to be the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
Maybe YOUR garage or basement or computer room is the next frontier. Think about it! Then act on it. Sure beats wasting the decade waiting for government to rescue us, doesn't it?
@Street Smart
I'm with you. It might be unlikely, but the economic growth path still looks like the best way out of this mess.
We have the internet, we have smartphones, we have more computing power on every square block than the entire world had up until the 1960's or so.
In past economic contractions, the people who's ideas could make life better for everyone were limited to a fraction of the well-educated people who happened to be from a leading industrial nation. Now, great innovations can come from millions of people all over the world. And the time from idea to implementation can be short.
Let's roll.
Re: That Which Does Not Kill Us...
Street Smart
10/25/2011 2:32:22 PM
Good stuff, Lenore. There are a lot of similar themes here with what Ray Dalio was talking about in his Charlie Rose interview -- deleveraging takes a long time and it is painful.
But I honestly think, that like any 12-step program, we need to move beyond the denial stage to grasp what is going on. It doesn't seem like the politicians -- nor many of the citizens -- have acknowledged exactly what has to be done.
Re: That Which Does Not Kill Us...
Phoenix
10/25/2011 9:39:14 PM
@Street smart. You are right. We really have the opportunity to make a great start for the future at this point in time. The world is also very well connected as predictablechaos said.The catalyst for change in the right direction can come from any where around the world.
Re: Your Mother's advice
AskAsa
10/26/2011 11:25:49 AM
Sending our government leaders and a good many voters to debtors anonymous so they can practice the 12 steps might be a start.
Step number one - admit you have a problem.
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