Economic Woes and the Politicians Who Love Them

Today is Whine About the Economy Day here in Vermont.

In honor of Senator Bernie Sanders’ town meeting on the economy, today in Montpelier, the local news media treated us to a round-up of economic woes.

It seems Sen. Sanders called for Vermonters to share their struggles, so he “could add insights and set the tone” for his meeting.

You know, because, despite being a champion at fueling class warfare, the Honorable Senator has no freaking clue what it is like to be broke these days.

Well, ask and you shall receive. Three hundred and fifty people responded.

Ann Traverso Moore of Wheelock was among those who e-mailed Sanders’ office. Rising costs and a wage freeze at her job mean her family has lost its ability to stay out of debt because payments for necessities must now occasionally go on a credit card.

Sen. Sanders’ response, of course, is for the federal government to cap credit card interest rates.

My advice, not that she asked, is to re-evaluate what “necessities” are.

Down-sizing is not just for corporations anymore. Cut that fat out of your budget, sister, and stop spending your future on interest payments.

Sorry for not being a “compassionate” (read spend lots of government money and pass lots of mandates) conservative but, for crying out loud, let’s get real here. We’re in a recession; we need to change our excessive ways.

The AP had a piece on the economy today that sums up the problem in the first sentence.

The gloomiest outlook for the economy in 35 years may be forcing Americans to live with what they have and save up for what they want.

We should have been doing this all along!

Then there is this gem (from the same piece).

Shoppers are learning a new behavior: how to resist temptation.

An all but lost virtue in American culture. We have spent decades trying to convince ourselves that we can act on impulse – if it feels good, do it – and be consequence free.

That is not reality, as we are now learning.

Back to the Sanders article, here is another quote from the e-mail he received.

Count Kristin Husher, 49, of Brookfield is among those who are dissatisfied. She said she is reluctant to discuss her economic woes because she worries it sounds like whining, but she felt compelled to talk because of her belief things seemed to have changed in a generation, she said.

Husher said her father was able to raise five children, send them to college, buy a vacation home and retire at 62, all on a relatively modest middle-class wage.

“One of the great myths in our society is that we’re all doing well. Really, in fact, it’s taking two wage earners to have the same standard of living our parents enjoyed,” Husher said.

One of the great myths of our society is that our parents’ and grand parents’ generations went out and bought until their hearts’ were content, like we do.

I wonder, did her parents go out to eat as much as we do today?

Did they buy a house that they could not afford?

Did they load up on expensive electronic gadgets?

Did they buy on credit because they did not have the discipline to save first?

Did they consider cable TV, high-speed internet access, and a cell phone necessities?

I am not picking on Ms. Husher; I do not know anything about her situation or lifestyle. My comments are aimed at American society in general.

Things have changed in a generation, but it is not just the economy. We want the biggest and the best and we want it now, just put it on my card.

Now, the bubble has burst (again) and we have hard times ahead of us.

Unfortunately, there is no shortage of politicians – Sens. Sanders, Clinton, Obama, to name a few – who will seize upon this opportunity to gain more power by promising to fix the problem for which they can offer no meaningful solution.

Excess can only be balanced by deficiency. Deficiency is hard. Anyone who promises to make it easy is either a liar or a fool.

The scary thing is that there are plenty of people foolish enough to believe them.  And they vote.