Banking analyst Meredith Whitney said, "Pulling credit when job losses are increasing by over 50 percent year-over-year in most key states is a dangerous and unprecedented combination, in our view."
I dread reading the news lately. Each economic disaster--job losses, housing market woes, stock market declines, banking failures--makes my heart sink. It feels like the stable underpinnings of our lives are shifting in an ongoing earthquake. Playing by the rules isn't working anymore for a lot of Americans. We're losing our homes, jobs and pension plans in record numbers.
But I don't want to focus on just the doom and gloom. I have faith in the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the American people. We started as a nation of entrepreneurs who left everything familiar to gamble on a new world.
I think, once we're through all this mess, that we will see ongoing and significant changes in society. More communal living. A decrease in consumerism. An underground economy. Or, somehow they'll right the ship (I know, mixed metaphors) and we'll all go back to our complacency. I admit, being well employed, owning a home and providing lots of lovely goods for your family is about the sweetest deal on the planet. The American Dream, and rightly so.
What do you think?
