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Sunday, December 13, 2009

The elite amongst us need to wise up

"I imagine you're spending your money more wisely now that we're in a recession," the journalist said to the middle-aged lady who was shopping at the mall.

Every day I hear on the TV, radio or read here on the Internet or in some newspaper how people are spending their money more wisely now that we are in a recession. Of course we have to believe here that the same people who say this, or write this, must expect that people are going to start spending their money "unwisely" again once the recession is over.

You see, this is the kind of bunk that amazes me about the way the "elite" in this country think. They want us to spend, spend, spend so they can make money off of us. This is even true of the media that make money off money we spend. So it only makes sense that they want to encourage us to spend our money on material things we do not need. Or, in other words, they want us to spend money we do not have to help out the economy.

Then again, the same media folks who are making up comments like this are basically repeating the same bunk inculcated upon them by the people who make the news -- politicians, rich business folk, media moguls, etc.

Has it ever occurred to these good folks that the person who spends his money wisely, and saved accordingly, every day of every year is the person who is not effected by a recession. But instead of encouraging this kind of behavior, the elite amongst us are constantly encouraging us to spend, spend, spend even when we don't have any money because we spend unwisely when the economy is doing well.

A wise person wouldn't have $5,000 in credit card debt. Instead he'd have $5,000 saved in a bank. A wise person wouldn't buy a house he cannot afford only to later have that house foreclosed upon by a bank. A wise person would buy a small humble home he can comfortably fit his family in. A wise person doesn't jump at every advertisement on TV and say, "Oh, I gotta have that!" A wise person enjoys a humble life and buys only things he can afford.

A wise person doesn't have to live above his or her means and have all the best toys. A wise person, therefore, will not be effected by a recession. Yet, in the media, all we hear about is how Jane or Jack is spending "wisely because these are hard times."

Any person who loses his or her job bypasses recession mode and jumps right into depression mode. For the rest of us, what mode we are in is up to ourselves and our own money habits.

I'm certainly not a financial expert. I'm merely a humble RT who relies on simple common sense to get through my humble life. Likewise, I would like the people who report the news to wise up the same way I want the people inculcate their values on these media folk to wise up.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more! Great post.

Anonymous said...

If more people had common sense we wouldn't be in this jam, but sadly, people have to live outside their means. I live a humble RT life; my wife is in school so we have a lot of related debt to pay, but we live humbly. We share one affordable car instead of two monster SUVs. We life in an affordable home. We don't eat out, we don't spend extravagantly. If only more people had sense!