We Should Be Asking

"Frugality is making a comeback," claims the San Francisco Chronicle. The article proceeds to describe how, "fearful that economic conditions could get worse and stay that way, Americans are showing an enthusiasm for thriftiness not seen in decades" and provides examples of the many ways Americans are thinking twice about if and what they need to spend money on.

This is good, right? This is what we need to be doing for our health and sanity and for the beleaguered planet that's becoming as depleted as our bank accounts and our government coffers. But the article claims "scrimping may be good for stressed family budgets, but it's bad for the nation's overall economy."

So we need to be asking ... what's wrong with an economy that's good for its citizens when it goes bad? 'This is one of many things we had better be asking about the economy.

We need to be asking what's with an economy that's stock market goes up with news of rising unemployment. We need to be asking why for our economy to thrive to people have to shop themselves into debt. Why does sending good jobs to others countries that pay low wages and offer few benefits make for a "good"economy? Why are lower prices a relief for most people but a bane for the economy (See "Stocks Hurt by Declining Prices")? Why are diamond encrusted doggies collars are selling like hot-cakes while lines at food pantries fill up with once middle-class families?

Of course there is a lot about this economy right now that's not good for people, too. Like cuts in education, fewer people who can afford to go to college, people losing their homes, people losing their jobs, higher food and health care costs, and more people going without health insurance. So what's with an economy that can only provides these important basics when people and governments spend themselves into debt and deplete our natural resources.

We need to start taking notice that such details just don't make sense. They're a sign something is terribly wrong. We need to pay attention when "economic experts" like Tom Friedman of the New York Times tells Meet the Press that what we need to get out of our economic difficulty is to get Americans shopping again (see "Gonna Need a Bigger Boat") .

There is something seriously askew and we need to take note, because if we don't, as soon as things let up a bit, we'll be right back out there shopping at the mall for things we don't need, going further in debt, further depleting our natural resources, and wondering why we feel tired, and overworked, and wish life could be different.

If life is going to be different, we need to be different. We have to say "No, I don't need to buy this." "No, I can get along fine without buying that." "My life, my family, my friends, my health, my children's future ... are more important than constantly having more and more and more that's bigger, better, and faster.

Yes, that will mean the economy as currently constructed will not "recover." It means we won't be able to "wait it out" until life returns to business as usual. A new economy will need to evolve from the ruins of this one. But if we pay close attention we'll see this one is not working in our best interest even when it's working. Yes, for most there will be inconvenience and disruption for awhile. But aren't things getting pretty inconvenient already? Haven't they been pretty inconvenient?

Would you agree? Take the poll to the right and leave a comment about what you think needs to happen.
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Set Your Burden Down

Are you weary? Feeling low? Judith Freeman's op ed piece in the LA Times Sunday, An All Consuming American Fever, includes a graphic metaphor for why so many of us feel like we're dragging ourselves through life.

As Freeman hears again and again how we as American consumers need to "hang tough" because the world economy depends on our continuing to shop 'til we drop, an image pops into her head - an image I now can't get out of my head.

She sees "a great heard of donkeys so loaded down with goods that they're staggering beneath the weight."

But now, as she points out, we increasingly unable to keep up our role of "the world's beast of burden. The party is over and for many Americans it wasn't even much fun." We've been living beyond our carrying capacity. We have to cut back. We have to start shedding the goods that are weighing us down. We have to set our burden down.

Now there is an image I love! The image of us setting down the burden of having to have more and more and more. The image of taking a rest from our compulsion to buy. I love the thought of casting off the weight of our debt and cavorting about unencumbered.

Without seeing it quite in that light, that's what my husband and I were doing when we and our neighbors held a huge yard sale this past summer. That's why we've been tossing the deluge of catalogs that come in mail everyday into the recycle bin without browsing through them. That's why we no longer wander through the stores where we shop to see what all they have, but head instead strait toward the items we need and on to check out.

And that's why, after talking about it for several years but never actually doing it, we've let our friends and loved ones know that this year we won't be exchanging Christmas gifts. We are tired. We want to set our burden down.

We want to enjoy sharing time with each other, instead. Enjoy talking, laughing, exchanging ideas, doing activities and projects together. We want to be those donkeys cavorting unencumbered.

But Judith Freeman also touches indirectly on the fear that lurks in our national consciousness: what will happen if we don't all pick our burdens up again soon? What will happen if we stop shopping, shopping, shopping? Will the world really collapse?

Her closing question is a crucial one: "Can there be a different kind of engine to drive the world economy other than the endless, and often mindless, consumption of ordinary Americans?"

She says she's not holding her breath. I say she better not. I say we better not. Because we're the ones who need to create that different kind of engine. We're the ones who need to build a new engine based on living with what we need, enjoying what we have, making what we have last, using it up, taking care of it, making it do, and traveling light through life while contributing what we can to others and they to us in turn.

Over 100 communities in England and around the world are already doing just that. They're not holding their breath. They are rebuilding their communities as Transition Towns. Here's how the first Transition Town, Totnes, UK, describes what they're doing:

"This time brings a great opportunity for rethinking the way we live and making conscious choices about what kind of community and world we would like to live in. Change is coming whether we like it or not – and a planned response to the change will leave us in a much stronger position than if we wait until change is upon us."

If there isn't such a movement in your community yet, you can join with others and start one. Here's a link to what's underway in the USA.

Let's lay our burdens down. Let's get on with living instead of spending.
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