Friday, August 27, 2010

America Toughens up

A tough economy toughens up America

To read full Yahoo news article click on "A tough economy"

It's been a long time coming. Because I grew up in the 1950s both my parents had "Endured", "Weathered" the Great Depression as teenagers. Each in their own ways was changed and scarred in some ways and made much stronger by this. The motto then was "Do what you can and the rest Can". In otherwords what you couldn't do anything about you just stuff.

I don't think stuffing stuff in the long run does anything but make one crazy and give one cancer. But in the short run stuffing can allow one to just make it through the next day, the next month, the next year so they don't die in one way or another.

But the most important thing about these times might be my grandfather's statement, "If you don't have cash, don't buy a G--damn thing!" Of course, he buried 25,000 dollars in a coffee can in the front yard of his home because all the banks were collapsing and couldn't be trusted. Later when he couldn't find it his oldest son bought himself a house in his early twenties for his wife and child. Grandpa likely knew but I don't think he said anything. He just likely knew his oldest son, "My father's oldest brother" had just bought a house with his money and that literally he just bought his son a house.

But that was then and this is now. So, once again if you don't have cash don't buy it. Because financial deleveraging for all the things bought on time since the late 1960s and early 1970s finally caught up to us and who knows where it will all end up?

However, if you look at our history it has always been, "When the going gets tough the tough get going!"


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