Greed not so good anymore
October 15, 2008Nice to see one economic commentator cut to the real heart of the current financial crisis -
It took 50 years for the lessons of the Great Depression, and the consequent rise of fascism and World War II, to be forgotten. It is not surprising that the generation who survived that experience were committed to a “belts and braces” system of economic management to ensure that that global trauma would never happen again — or that the generation who replaced them in the 1980s could not understand that commitment.
My parents grew up with just that attitude. As for me, I’m half-half. I will occasionally spend a little money on leisure goods (like Fallout 3…hint, hint). But most of my money nowadays is invested in my house and other investments. I certainly don’t ascribe to the austerity measures my parents took, but I’d like to think that in comparison to my peers, I’m responsible with my money (my parents would probably strongly disagree).
What my parents don’t see - and I do - is an entire generation of young people that grew up in the “Greed is Good” 80’s and 90’s. They’ve never known a time when they (or their parents) didn’t have money they could spend on whatever they wanted. Impulse buying is a way of life for them. And now they’re paying for their behaviour in the worst way imaginable - up to their eyes in credit card debt and with a huge mortgage that’ll take the rest of their lives to pay off.
Thank god that I adapted my parents philosophy to my own spending: Before you buy something, ask yourself if it’s something essential that you really really need. If it isn’t, then don’t buy it. As our consumerist society is geared towards those in their mid-twenties, I find it gets easier to practice this philosophy as you get older.
It’ll be interesting seeing how this “me-me-me” generation copes with the kinds of economic conditions that our parents had to face when they were younger.
