credit card economy

As the credit crunch continues, more people will start realizing that credit is not a good idea. Spending money you don't have is not a sustainable strategy. Yet our economy is dependent on it. It wants us to consume and consume in ever greater measure all the time. To do so, most of us need to borrow money. Even a five year old knows this cannot continue forever. But the financial gurus in Wall Street seem think it does. They call it economic growth. The better word is senseless resource destruction.

It is senseless not because humans need to live like monks. It is perfectly alright to have some fun and live well. What makes our economy senseless is that the consumption we advocate does not do anyone any good. It is wasteful. It throws away perfectly good materials to nobody's benefit -other than those who sell it and get perversely rich. Our economy is a huge wealth shifting machine. One that drains many to enrich a few. And it does so by relying on a form of brainwashing called advertising. Advertising preys on human weakness.

Advertising tells you it is OK to spend money you don't have to buy things you don't need. Life takes Visa. And with visa you can buy all the silly stuff you want. You can buy cars not for transportation, but to impress your friends and neighbors. You can ditch the car in a few years not because the car stopped working but because it went out of fashion. It is necessary to get a new car if one wants to continue to impress. You need another car. A bigger car. One that uses more gas.

The more wasteful and the less practical a car is, the better. We want it big, bulky, and ostentatious. And the same applies to everything else we buy. Big cars, big houses, big bodies. All of it driven by continuous advertising that preys on our weaknesses. If you think you are immune to advertising, dream on. Every single one of us is a victim here and there is only one escape. Turn it off. Remember tune in ? Best here is to tune out. Don't listen to it, don't watch it, avoid it at all costs. Even if it means missing your favorite show.

Unfortunately, "ethical" businesses -that is something they like to call themselves-, have become nothing more than drug pushers. President Bush had it right. We are addicted to oil and to the life-style that oil brings. Oil is our drug and like any good junkie we need ever more of it just to feel happy. We cannot possibly imagine life without it. Can you imagine ? The horror.

Much like a drug oil has distorted our perception of reality. Because of oil we think it is OK to live in the desert. Or to commute 100 miles a day. We think properties in the desert are valuable and desirable. In the 60s people often told a story about LSD users who jumped out of high windows because they thought they could fly. The story was picked up by the media and quite a few movies. The story was not real. It was meant as a warning: don't use LSD because you will be deluded and kill yourself. Think about that next time you admire that palatial estate in the desert. Green lawns, swimming pools, fountains, it is one big mirage. And it is as unreal as the notion that you can fly.

True you won't crash within seconds. But crash you will. Because properties in the desert have no value. And so it is with most of the stuff you buy and spend your hard earned cash on. It is all "air." Thin air. And we are all bloated because of it. One day that bubble will burst. Better get out of the way.