Running in Place
Posted by JimI have finally made peace with my new reality. And it is probably yours as well. All of us are facing a new era of working longer, harder and for less money. If you are looking for someone to blame you are missing the point. What we are seeing is a return to normal global economic patterns. The play is the same, only the characters are playing different roles.
Thomas Freidman last week referred to us as the “grasshopper generation”. Americans are used to feasting on the bounty left by the Greatest Generation. We have collectively failed to work or save enough. The home equity line became our dope; the banks the corner drug dealer.
The great post-war era of prosperity is over. We shot ourselves in the foot when we discovered Italian shoes and Volkswagens. It has been downhill ever since. Only we could not see it coming. Regaining that time is not going to happen. Auto workers cannot expect to retire at 50 with a boat and cabin on the lake. Public sector workers are not going to be quitting early either, our governments are equally bereft of largesse.
The Tea Party people are perhaps the most misguided of all. This crisis is not about feckless bankers, government debt or big-spending politicians. This problem is more about the rise of other countries; whose npeople not used to feeding on the wealth left by their predecessors. They are by nature more hungry and more willing to work harder. What we first need to realize is that the Cleavers have left the room. The sooner we do that the sooner we will regain our footing.
