The U.S. Economy - Juxtaposed

PART ONE IN OUR SERIES ON AMERICA’S HARD TIMES

By Mande Wilkes

FITSNews - June 29, 2008 - We bemoan $4 a gallon gasoline as the rest of the world survives - thrives! - while paying thrice as much.

We complain that college admission is too competitive, and yet colleges actively court students (instead of the other way around), launching their ad campaigns in kids’ freshman year by sending out student-specific brochures and placing direct calls to students’ homes.

We decry healthcare costs, all the while happily purchasing medical insurance for our pets and paying for expensive vet visits and pricey pet prescriptions.

We’ve heard for years that the middle class is disappearing, yet college degrees, second homes, and multiple cars - all benefits of middle-class life - exist at higher rates than ever before.

It might make us feel better to revel in what we call hard times, but it doesn’t bring truth to the “hard-knock life” myth.

Seriously, it’s just not that bad. In fact, it’s actually pretty good, and maybe we ought to finally ‘fess up to that fact.

After all, today’s “hard times” may be tomorrow’s good ol’ days, especially considering the enormous debt we’ve incurred to get those second homes and third cars. The piper will be paid - he’s a formidable collector - and we owe him a lot. There’s no doubt about how bad it might get, but we’re certainly not there yet. Not even close.

So in the FITSNews spirit of public service - inasmuch as that term has ever applied to us - we’re happy to bring a much-needed reality check to the indulgent whines ringing pitifully off the hook.

To that end, this week we’ll be presenting a series on these and other ironies of our economic life entitled The U.S. Economy: Juxtaposed, wherein we’ll provide a brutally honest look into our collective wallet.

What we’ll show you in that wallet is different than you’d probably imagine, though as you’d expect there is no bundled wad of cash.

There is, however, a collection of plastic, the digital age’s answer to the proverbial “cash cow” or “money tree.”

Unable to find such a cow or such a tree, Americans invented the credit card, and along with it invented the myth that one can have it all. And we - all of us - bought into it hook, line, and sinker.

Stay tuned …

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