I will order this book. The title alone has my interest. This sounds like a wonderful book for newly married people or someone just leaving college.
And for the rest of us—these five behaviors really need to be addressed. Thanks.

Scot,
The book sounds interesting. My small group was talking about this stuff last night. We are a GM town, and I have felt that we are gluttons since college. However, recently, I realize how much of a glutton I truly am.
Financially, my wife and I are working more and earning more than we have the last few years because of choices for us both to work full time, and we presently have little consumer or car debt but, still there is a desire to purchase or have more, rather than pay down debt or save.
On the other hand, I’ve always believed that generosity is important and have been quick to give in needs and support.
I don’t know what the answer will be to this present problem, but we are on this road for awhile.
Phil

“What are you doing differently because of the economic conditions?”
Actually, we’re spending a bit more — mostly because we’re just about the only people who are.
We’ve always been pretty thrifty, and we’re also well paid, so we have no credit card debt. Right now, since we’re among the blessed few who aren’t taking a financial hit (we’re young, so IRA losses aren’t such a big deal) or stocking up for the end of the world, we’re buying things a little more quickly than we might normally and we’re trying to do a remodel since the builders are all sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
Of course, I recognize that only in America would a family with two cars, two computers, two TVs, and two satellite dishes (cable and internet) be considered “thrifty.”
I really hope that when we come out on the other side of this mess our society will move away from being so credit-dependent. When almost every family has credit card debt as well as a mortgage and two car payments, when most corporations take out a monthly loan just to pay salaries, our system is messed up.
I’d really like to see Christians be at the forefront of living a cash-only lifestyle. And when we’re not paying interest on everything we own, we’ll have more to give as well.

Sure, be thrifty and put more people out of work. Don’t eat out! Perish the thought that a waitress should earn a living. Don’t buy that new car. There are too many employed auto workers as it is. Or why not be really virtuous and live in a shack in the desert?
When we get out of this mess it will not be by following that advice.

The first thing I?d say is that you beat me to the punch. I plan to review this book tomorrow.
The second is that folks should buy this book. It is a very quick engaging read, packed with considerable wisdom. It would make a wonderful high school or college graduation gift.
The third thing I?d highlight is Hamilton?s keys to overcoming fear, which he touches on throughout the book the book: Trust God, offer gratitude, and life of service and generosity to others. These serve as inoculations against fear and also suggest against affluenza.
I think it was Henri Nouwen who made an interesting observation about finances. He said he would get into discussions with patients about all sorts of things including the most intimate details of their sex lives, which they would share freely. Then he would ask questions about financial issues and most patients would get nervous and defensive, wondering why he was prying into their private lives.
Financial crisis or not, I think there are two real dangers with our finances. The first is conspicuous consumption. (That is buying things we don?t need, with money we don?t have, in order to impress people we don?t like.) The other, which I think is equally dangerous, is conspicuous non-consumption. Here we live more simply, even ascetically, as a way of proudly displaying we aren?t like those consumerist types. (Reminds of me of the Mennonite community I heard about that took pride in the fact that they used only hooks to fasten their garments, unlike the neighboring Mennos who used shiny buttons.)
Both conspicuous consumption and conspicuous non-consumption are grounded in comparison with others. They are a source of pride that diverts us from confronting the often painful realities of how pleasure or asceticism have become too central to our identity. As Richard Foster reminds us, simplicity is matter of singular focus on God.

Charles,
How about – don’t spend money you don’t have on things you don’t need?
We’ve worked this way our entire married life – no debt except for house and sometimes car. Everything else is paid off every month or we don’t buy, don’t go.
“We” won’t get out of the mess by continuing to rack up consumer debt and default.

For a brief time I worked in the financial business, helping people create “financial security” which to Jesus would be an oxymoron. Finances bring insecurity; if you don’t have any you worry about getting some, and if you have some, you worry about losing them! I heard a news report the other day stating that the problem with our economy now was that people had gone from saving less than zero of their income to now “hording” away a staggering 5%! Today I heard that wealty people were no longer taking extravagant vacations because they might be resented by those who were struggling, thus hurting the tourist industry even more.
Sounds like Hamilton’s book should me mandatory reading for those who are being bailed out and included in the Stimulus package.

Charles,
I understand what you’re saying, but in the short term people are going to suffer — there’s no way around it. The best thing we can do is try to change the way we live so that the next version of our economy isn’t built on such a shaky foundation.

I hope to get the book and read it. It looks good.
I’d like to recommend Tom Friedman’s column in yesterday’s NY Times. He nailed it when he wrote about the major cultural change that needs to take place with regard to these matters. We built an economic model in post-WWII America that led to the greatest prosperity the world has ever known, but it is simply unsustainable.
Christians may have unprecedented opportunities to witness to God’s wisdom and love in the coming “Great Disruption” he writes about through lives of simplicity, contentment, and generosity.

great questions here Scot. the concept of “enough” has not been explored or talked about enough in the church. what is enough? Paul says he learned how to be content in all circumstances. what about us? Wendell Berry has some great reflections on this concept throughout his works.
what are we doing? – cancelled cable. don’t need the $50+ a month payment when we have this wonderful thing called the internet. i’m eating lighter, less expensive lunches.
but to be honest, we haven’t been affected much thus far. my wife and i both have steady jobs that have thankfully seen little crunch. YET. we are trying to be thrifty and responsible as we have always been. we live within our means.
some ways i’d like to see Christians respond: sharing and practicing hospitality. seriously, do we all need our own lawn mowers? our own plasma tv’s? cars? bicycles? kayaks? boats? i could go on and on…our stuff has isolated us, destroyed community, and put us in deeper and deeper debt and misery. enough is enough!

this is a mess that is going to take awhile to come through. just like most illnesses,it doesn’t take long to get sick but often takes awhile to get out of it.It takes awhile for the remedy or medicine to kick in and work.i often learn my best lessons from “Little House On The Prairie”.One episode saw the Ingalls in trouble financially and the entire family including the kids pitched in and helped.Then they developed a family policy of “cash on the barrell”.Otherwise,they did not buy until they had money to buy.Sounds simple but it will be rough for all of us. Treve Cox

In our little inner city church plant we have been seriously exploring this for some time now. The economic crisis has little to do with it, as most have faced the poverty crisis for some time despite the wider economic condition. A lot of wisdom has been shared already, so I’ll try not to duplicate.
Perhaps the most difficult, but in my opinion most necessary and possibly most effective approach is to move past individual (or even individual household) solutions and explore collective ones. Our community is looking at ways to effective save through shared housing, collective purchases, redistribution of current property/finances, etc. It isn’t easy- simplicity isn’t simple. However, through the work that this requires, our egos, appetites and individuality is getting confronted and transformed.
As Michael (#5) points out, we must beware of focusing on the externals. As Richard Foster also points out, true simplicity is the external manifestation of an inward transformation.
Peace,
Jamie

I too would recommend Richard Foster on the subject. Reading On Simplicity was transformative for me 15 years ago and all during the boom, we felt like brothers from another planet, heading down the sparsely trafficked highway towards simplicity. (For years, it was obvious we were living in a decadent, unsustainable culture. I would often e-mail friends that this country was like Russia before the Revolution.) However, we never charged anything (other than the mortgage and the car) that we couldn’t pay off at the end of the month. Of course, we often failed, all the same, to live as simply as we would have liked but at least we stayed largely debt free. This past August, my husband finally left a secure job of 21 years and we moved so he could work at a boarding school, and so that we could live a truly simpler life. That was so August. Now, working at a boarding school doesn’t seem so very secure. But we are trusting. As for changes, we’ve already made most of them. Now, they’re probably less voluntary and more necessary. The NYTimes just ran an article on rich people discovering the spiritual joys of nonconsumption but as someone above pointed out–and is doing, which ought to be praised–now is the time to spend, wisely and thoughtfully, if you have money.

Michael,
BINGO at “Both conspicuous consumption and conspicuous non-consumption are grounded in comparison with others.”
Both sides are about being a BETTER machine. Comparison is what demands that we use efficiency to leverage superior results with fewer resources. Non-comparative living is a beautiful possibility for humans who have found an unlimited source.

I am a young married living in Dallas, and at least my corner of the city is virtually untouched by the economic crisis. I was shocked when the girls in my community group from church were enviously discussing how much they wanted a home like our host’s home – which is huge and beautiful and filled with antiques and by my standards is a mansion. The girls concluded that their husbands had advised them to not expect to have such a home early in life, after all, the hosts worked for years to be able to afford such a place.
I was shocked because this mentality assumes that if you work professionally for a few years you are entitled to such luxury. I can’t condemn that big, beautiful house but I also hate the mentality in our culture that assumes that it is ok to spend money like that, even if you make that much.
Entitlement is killing this country and the church within it.

Mr. Expert,
Are you going to have a follow up post or article about this anytime soon?
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http://www.QSLaw.com