Economic Crisis

I find it curiously odd, that our economic growth is directly proportional to the amount of dollars spent per capita.  Though I am struck by the pervasive theme of wealth and status directly correlated to accumulation, throughout human history. When hunting got scarce, in the old days, was that dawning of economic crisis? Probably so.

Our modes of tracking our well-being as a country rely on material accumulation of houses, cars, and commodities to be leveraged for even further financing. In these times of austerity budgets, furlows, cost-cutting boot strapping, am I to believe that if I could just spend some money that all our economic problems are going to go away.  It is unsettling to wake up to radio programs relaying information about our economic viability being directly related to my desire to spend my money.  So much talk of the economic crisis, that it makes it certainly attractive to freak out in growing despair for the lack of prosperity projected for the future to come.

But in actuality, I think this rhetoric is symptomatic of the reasons why we are in these economic dire straits in the first place.  The emphasis is still on our consumption rates, and how much of our money we are re-circulating to keep our country afloat.  Is it possible to fix a problem with the same actions that brought the problem on in the first place?  To do my part, I need to throw my cards in the game, take on a house note, car note, put money in the stock market, and play the game the way the game was meant to be played, that's what the context implies.  From what I'm understanding, if I actively choose not to spend my money then I am actually hindering economic growth for our country.  Part of the complexity also has to do with the fact that economic forecasts use general terms like 'spend money' as if to suggest my willingness to buy a cup of coffee will jump start the economy, though in actuality there are no qualifying references on what this money should be spent, JUST SPEND IT.

I am ready for our paradigm shift.  My utopian solutions are to put less emphasis on what we do not have and more emphasis on what we do have. When it comes to survival, I think its pretty safe to say that    humans like all other species will do what they need to do to keep surviving. And there are plenty of people in America that are doing just that, surviving, to keep shelter, food and warmth. But for everyone else who is doing better than just surviving, I think its our duty to put this paradigm shift in motion and move away from the notion that economic prosperity equals material gain.  

So what do we have?  We have creativity, conversation, laughter, each other.  We have a beautiful planet, with gifts of color and smells of nature that can remind us that we are parts of this whole.  My heart goes out to all the struggling families, out of work, barely putting food on the table.  That's no joke.  But as the schism between the materially wealthy people and the materially poor people widens, I think its important to recognize what exactly this current economic crisis is. This is a true opportunity for us to de-emphasize material accumulation.  This is our chance to bear witness to rhetoric that states that money cannot buy happiness.  This is the start of a paradigm shift in which the rich wealth of shared human experience shall emerge as the true gauge of prosperity.