Corrective Emotional Experiences, cont.

My fabulous Canadian cousins have always humbled me with the interest, knowledge and understanding on all things American. I would have to say that the average Canadian has more working knowledge of American politics than most Americans do. Sad, but true. Most of my family is Canadian, and I've spent lots of time there. I've always been interested in how Canadians and Americans share so much but have enough differences to make things entertaining, from a sociological perspective. i.e. Bowling for Columbine , which regardless of your views on Michael Moore or gun control, is mandatory purely for the thought-provoking value.


Here's a Link to a neat summary from the Globe and Mail about the impact of American's resurrected savings accounts, on a global scale. It's daunting to realize that going from a negative savings (that's living on credit, to you-n-me) to a measly .8% in 2008 is already having an impact in China and other major trading partners. And we are showing signs of returning to savings rates in the 7% or more range. Sounds good for us, right? Turns out the rest of the world was kinda getting used to US extravagance. And places like China give less of their GDP wealth to the actual workers, so the impact is magnified.

Remember all that talk about "irrational exuberance" in the stock market? That lead to a sort of entitlement on returns, such that if you weren't maxed out on your credit and way into the markets - you probably didn't get enough performance from 'your' money. The idea of saving , vs. investing or enjoying the high life, was actually laughable. As in: "You poor chump, you. That went out with GreenStamps!"

The only trickle-down economics I've ever seen at play with us little people has a lot more to do with perceived wealth and accumulation of all the toys that traditionally spell out "the good life". So not just a house, but a large one, with two luxury vehicles, a cabin, a boat, some combination of jetskis/snowmobiles/ motorcycles/ATV's etc. which in turn mandate working more to make all the payments so you actually have less time to enjoy your tricked-out leisure time. A few years ago, the average family was carrying $11,000 in credit card debt alone. Add in a bloated mortgage, car payments, student loans, and you wonder whether the plan was ever to pay it all off. The promotion a couple of years ago from one of the credit card companies was to name when you wanted it all gone, and they'd adjust your payments accordingly. Like it was a novel idea, managing to get out from under 20% a.p.r. I haven't looked up recent figures on credit card debt. I know enough to find it all crazy-making already.

I thought I was debt-savvy. I sat through high school business math with enough attention that the teacher (Mr. Lewis, RIP) would auction off the seat next to me during tests. But the first time I was closing on a house and we got to the all-important principle plus interest sum over 30 years, I had a near-Tourettes experience. I wish we all could sit down and DO THE MATH and then make some decisions. But it's ingrained: go try to buy a house or a car and they figure how much you can afford in monthly payments before they even show you options. So, yes, we've all been given plenty of rope to hang ourselves, but good. And I doubt you and I are big on the bailout list.

In this context, I'm living smaller but not necessarily for these reasons. We take so much for granted it's appalling. My sad little attempt is to be more mindful and maybe more frugal but that's not the main objective. So, yes, taking money out of circulation has global impact. Perhaps entitlement knows no international bounds either.

On the flip side, I took out my family and friends to lunch today and didn't feel a tad guilty. Spending time together is always a good thing, and supporting a fun neighborhood eatery that is both child-friendly and has excellent microbrews? That is truly money well-spent.