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An Economic Downturn May be the Time to Re-evaluate our Lifestyle
By Linda Thompson of Life Path Solutions, Inc.
Every time you turn on the news lately, it's all doom and gloom. If the media tells us things are bad, we believe it, and begin to act accordingly. We moan and groan about how bad things are, but just how bad are our lives today in comparison to, those who survived the Great Depression? A friend recently sent me some quotes that were said back in the good old days of 1955 (only 53 years ago, and less than 20 years after the Great Depression)! Perhaps reading the following will give you a better perspective of where we are now. "If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store." "When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage." "I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20.00." "Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President." "No one can afford to be sick anymore. At $35.00 a day in the hospital, it's too rich for my blood." "If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it." Today, we think nothing of paying $50 for a hair cut, the minimum wage has increased more than 600%, and $35 won't pay for the ambulance, much less stay overnight in a hospital. Necessity vs. Luxury Ask yourself if you are better off (or worse off) than your parents, or is it just that our perceptions have changed. Anthony Crosland, a mid-20th century British politician, once said, "What one generation sees as a luxury, the next sees as a necessity." I've found In my presentations to, research of, and conversations with those of other generations, that Anthony was right then, and is right today. Since the beginning of time, it has been the goal of parents for their children to have a better life than they did. I have to wonder just what "better" means. Does it mean the accumulation of more stuff than our homes will hold; stuff that we want to keep, thus having to store in rented storage spaces? Or does it mean that we have access to higher education, and are provided with the tools to make the best of our lives and for those who follow? As wages go up, consumer consumption increases, causing prices to rise to meet the added demand. It's a vicious cycle. A quick glance at history will show that we live in a cyclical world where we will experience up and down swings in our economy. I'm sure most of you remember October 19, 1987 – the world didn't come to an end, but we felt unsettled and perhaps afraid of what was happening. When gas prices hit $4+ per gallon, we cut back on driving, and the gas guzzling SUVs were kept in the garage. We grew accustomed to that for a short time. When gas began to go down (to a more reasonable $2.50 per gallon) we felt we were getting a bargain. Isn't that perception a bit warped? In the 1920s, a loaf of bread cost 12 cents. Today we're lucky to buy the stale stuff for less than $2.50. And, a week's worth of groceries for $20? In 2008, that barely covers the cost for one day. Time for Reflection and Change The bottom line is, the more we make, the more we spend. We become immune to the prices of those items we feel we can't live without. If our kid loses his cell phone, we think nothing of buying him another (and probably more expensive model) because we must be connected 24x7. We've ignored the importance of having that rainy day fund. Well, folks, it appears to be raining right now, and not predicted to dry out any time soon. Will your children have a better life than you? Perhaps its time we teach them values – what is important (family, education, companionship, ethics and integrity – rather than giving them more stuff that loses it's appeal as soon as the next bigger-better-best is advertised on the Internet and on TV. The time has come to choose what's important to you.
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