You hear it in the news everyday. Analysts debating weather or not we are headed for an economic depression. It's scary. I have been thinking about it for a while now. You can't help but think about it. But what I have been thinking all seems like a catch 22 to me.
Last month, Steve had a booth in the home show. He has had so many booths in so many home shows I can't even count them all. I used to go, way back when he first started. I quickly learned that they are very boring events, so I stopped going. Well, I decided that I hadn't been in years, and to show my support to my loving husband, I decided to go last month. Also I thought, "Hey! I am actually building a house. Maybe it will be more interesting to me now." WRONG. Ok, we did find the tile we want to use for the backsplash in our kitchen, but it is ridiculously expensive so we probably won't use it anyway. And we did talk to a man for a few minutes about a water softener (WOO HOO!). But other than that I just walked around looking at the crazy people spending their hard earned money on CRAP (I really hate that word so when I say it, which isn't very often, I really mean it). CRAP!
I am probably the cheapest person you will ever meet. And I just don't go shopping to go shopping. To me, a trip to the mall is more of a punishment than anything. I wait until we have no options left before I go grocery shopping. I never buy my kids toys except on their birthdays or Christmas, and I didn't buy them any toys for their last birthdays, just clothes.
So anyway, I am walking around the home show watching people and screaming at them in my head saying, "STOP! WHY ARE YOU BUYING THAT?! YOU DON'T NEED THAT!" I was thinking about how much consumer debt we have in our country. How many people are defaulting on their home loans. How many people declare bankruptcy each year. I wanted to tell those people to stop making it worse and go home and put their money in the bank or use it to pay off their credit card bills.
But then I started to think about what would happen if people stopped spending money. I know someone who always has to have the latest and greatest gadget. And everyday something comes out that is better than what was there before. So this person is always buying the new gadget, even though they have practically the same thing 10 times over. And I know for a fact that this person or their family cannot afford it. And I just want to smack this person upside the head and say, "STOP! You big dumb butt!"
But seriously, what would happen if people did stop? What if people didn't want to have all the latest and greatest? We would surely be thrown into a consumer driven depression then. Wouldn't we? I mean, that's the whole point of this new tax refund thing, right? To give people extra money to spend so that our economy will keep going.
But then if people keep spending money they don't have on things they don't need, doesn't that hurt our economy too? We need people to keep spending money to keep our economy going. So it just seems like we have this vicious cycle going on.
So then, I really don't know what the answer is. Do we want people to keep spending money on things of no worth, or do we want them to save it up and pay off their debt? I don't know. You tell me.
4 comments:
I agree that the answer to our hurting economy is not going to be this refund check that we all get. I mean, that won't help all the homes in foreclosure, etc.
I think our country, our generation, knows how to spend and not save. We live in a time of so many "needs" that aren't truly "needs".
We've been counseled for a long time to have 6 months of income in savings (is that the amount?).
I say - don't spend. Save your money. Pay down your debt or get out of debt. I don't know how that would affect the economy though either.
I think this is tricky because I never thought about the people who help our economy by spending money on all the new gadgets out there.
In my opinion it comes down to the simple, but sometimes hard to implement, idea of spending within your means. We shouldn't hole ourselves and not spend any money, but make a budget and see what you have available. Pay your tithing, pay yourself(savings), pay your bills, and then if there is extra go out and buy that cool new gadget. One month you may be able to buy a new outfit, the next maybe a new ipod-it just depends on what you've got!
I guess I really don't think about what other people are spending. We are really good about staying with in our means. If we could just stop eating out!!! It would be better.
Every year there are different things we spend our money on. This year has been vacations. We don't live by family so we have spent a lot visiting them. We have also a cruise planned for May.
Next year we have decided we will replace all our t.v.'s because they need to be high def right?? Since we know we will be doing this we are holding off on that flat screen Jeremy wants really bad.
I don't hardly ever buy my kids toys but the Grandma's are out of control in that area, so I guess they are keeping the economy going.
It hurts my head too bad to think about it. I am just going to worry about what I am going to wear to bed tonight instead.
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