Consumption and hair of the dog

The government buying beer from drunks is something I could at least support.

Since I can infer that liberal now means radical consumptionism (or fill in the blank everything deemed "bad") I may also draw a corollary premise that "borrow and spend" Republicans are liberal - the neo-cons better take cover - their eating their own...

Eric, you're absolutely right. The best thing that could happen this Xmas season is for the retail giants to post record-low revenue numbers and substantial losses. If they don't you're probably right about us slipping back into our old habits.

The whole situation has lent itself too easily to forgetting the recent hardships. Many in my situation; those with prudence who do not finance things they do not need are feeling at ease at the moment because of fuel relief and a few other devaluing economic indicators. I fear, however - those who have merely coasted by may be tempted to reengage their debt with the temptation of lower consumer prices and better interest rates. Stronger beings have fallen for less.

What's the best thing you can buy a loved one this season? Debt relief. Take that $100 you were going to spend; buy a $20 bottle of wine to enjoy together and make an $80 credit card payment instead. No debt? Congratulations.

Our society needs to get away from expecting consumerism. The holiday season is about closeness and engagement with loved ones - not gift giving. Macy's will tell you otherwise, but I know my spouse will be extremely thrilled when she learns that I've paid her mother back for buying us a bedroom set last year. That's three gifts for the price of one. (Mom's happy, I'm a thoughtful husband, and our debts are secured.)

We forget that currency is fundamentally the promise of future enjoyment; financed at today's tax rate and tomorrow's inflation - riddled with debt before you even touch it. It costs you ~$130 today to buy a $100 gift. What we spend today, we forgo tomorrow. I'm all about living in the present, but to do that significantly you must provide security for your future.

The best gift you can give is your compassion - and that's tax-free.

Matt,

I got the impression that I didn't earn enough money. I'm not too big to fail. So, you're taking my drinks and giving them to AIG execs as part of their resort retreat.

Can we please, for the love and pity of God, stop waving the bloody shirt of income redistribution? One might think that shame, if not honesty, might restrain Matt in Hartford, following the astonishing act of theft perpetrated by the Congress at the request of a Republican administration, whereby the income of future generations of Americans has been redistributed to the greedheads playing the Money Game on Wall Street. And you're hot and bothered about some poor people getting a few bucks at your expense? It's not the poor free riders that are breaking the American middle class; it's the rich ones. They, after all, are too big to fail.

Having just read the comment by Matt in Hartford on the conservative batcave meeting thread, I want to apologize for jumping to conclusions about his point of view, and assuming he was on board with the transfer of wealth to the rich simply because he was dubious about transfer of wealth to the poor. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

on this topic, the part of Republicans is well noted...
Bush continues to lead his 8 year charge of piling up huge debt...
no surprise there...
his presidential role model?
not his dad...
it's none other than Ronald Wilson Reagan...
who taught the American people a powerful lesson by example:
spend now and leave the debt for the future...
well...
it worked for Reagan...
he's dead and gone...
and his half-mountain of debt added to Bush's half-mountain is now providing its inevitable destructive effects...
especially when added to the mountainous personal debt of Americans...
quite the influence Reagan has had on consumers since the 80's...

we are now finding out how hard it is to move a mountain...

prosperity faith hope love joy peace to all...
Forgive Reagan...

Oh, yes. By all means, let's not buy anything.

Let's make sure that unemployment goes wild.

That's a fantastic economic plan.

Just as insane as the "borrow endlessly" one.

Re: The "we gotta resign ourselves to being poor".

Hell no!

We gotta learn to live within our means. That's no secret. That's not even flashy or odd, or anything but normal truth.

This is not about wanting a depression so everyone will learn to live an anti-materialist monastic utopia. That idea is the worst of all worlds.

First, we have to live within our means, this is true. But what we REALLY NEED TO DO is produce. That is, we need to start drilling, logging, farming, mining, making stuff, we need to start making use of what we have productively to produce wealth, so we can pay off our debts and we can have jobs and support ourselves.

In that pursuit we need drastically altered tax policies and a LOT of regulatory relief from both states and federal government. In other words, WE NEED TO GET BACK TO WORK instead of just borrowing passing speculative money around.

But do you hear any politicians talking about that? Hardly. Obama's talking about killing off small business and slamming down on industry and investors.

I just can't believe people are so blind they aren't screaming out this stuff at his rallies.

I can't believe that so-called conservatives, who freaking know this already and should react this way instinctively aren't screaming it at McCain and Palin.

But I have yet to read even a single op-ed, columnist, or blogger saying this.

Has the country totally flipped out?

Of course we can borrow endlessly. We borrow from each other and we all get rich in the process.

No one is going to live poorly to satisfy someone else's social vision.