Welcome to rieblog!

Are we as badly off as we think...?

[More:]

Gloom and doom from every corner of the news world. Economies are collapsing, governments are fumbling, and ordinary Americans, French, and especially Hungarians, Islanders, and Argentinians are paying the price. Let me be perfectly clear, current economic happenings are clearly hurting people out there. Businesses are closing, employment is drying up, and people are delaying retirement as their 401k plans evaporate. The economic situation, however, also provides what we in the English teaching profession call a “teaching moment.” As Americans struggle to economize and do more with less money, perhaps some of them will actually be better off.

A perfect example of what I'm talking about can be found in last weeks New York Times. True to their style sheet, the Times provides a short paragraph concerning declining consumer spending followed by three to four paragraphs of “Joe the Plumber” anecdotes, followed by a final editorial paragraph bashing the current administration. The star of the particular article I'm thinking about is “Hank the Truck Driver,” who has had to forego dining at such eateries as TGI Friday's while on the road. These days poor Hank has been reduced to shopping for groceries and making sandwiches in his truck. “Anything to save a little money,” he says.

Indeed. Economic hard times has led Hank to adopt therieb's efficiency model. But let's take a closer look. Is Hank really that bad off for foregoing the cuisine at Friday's? Doubtless the restaurant provides a little comfort after a hard day on the road, but is the food really that much better that a sandwich he can make on his own? Doing away with the fries at these restaurants will do wonders for Hank's waistline. Imagine what would happen if Hank found the fruit and vegetable isle on one of his trips to the supermarket.

Hank has been forced into therieb's efficiency regimen by lean times, but he might just find it's a smart idea for good times as well. What's so great about TGI Friday's? I look in the windows of the branch here in Riga, and I see tired waitresses schlepping around plates of tasteless food to unsatisfied diners in a dingy dining room. All this for about $15. Hank eats there because it's familiar, but I wonder if he misses it. I ask myself if he is any less happy without those decidedly mediocre surroundings. One thing is sure, he is $15 richer.

The current economic downturn is forcing people the world over to save, and at least in America, stories like Hank's show how easy it is. So much of our money is spent on things we don't really want. Now that we can't afford so much, we ask ourselves the question: “how happy was that new car making me anyway?” Good question. I believe Americans are starting to ask the same question about all kinds of purchases: new jeans, iphones, and dinners at TGI Friday's. We're asking those questions not because we want to but because we have to, and yet we might find the answers to be surprising. It's possible that none of these things were making us very happy. Perhaps these difficult economic times are the perfect chance to develop new habits. If we spend only on what makes us truly happy, we will be better insulated against a downturn next time around.

Of course we have to spend money on more than what makes us happy, and to the extent that ordinary Americans are having to cut back on medical care, educational expenses, home heating, and nutritious food, we have a genuine crisis on our hands. So much of our spending, however, is discretionary. I wonder what would happen if we learned to spend that money with discretion. Some would argue that intelligent spending would ruin our “service economy,” and that I'm taking a job away from a TGI Friday's waitress by advocating sandwich making. Our current president went so far as to prescribe a buying binge to his fellow Americans as a palliative for the September 11th attacks. I tend to believe the Republic is strong enough to withstand a shift toward more intelligent spending by its citizens. We can spend less and be happier, or at least no more unhappy, in both good times and bad.