?????? by Janus Kane

Does anyone out there know what is going on?



Within a five minute period, I read two articles. The first was a cautionary missive, warning us to all learn how to prepare our own emergency food supply in preparation of the day when the store shelves would be empty. The second was the latest bailout news. Apparently, the powers that be have decided that six major life insurance companies deserve bailout money. It left me wondering how even the possibility of two such occurrences can co-exist in one country, state, city or even on the same block.



Is there a conceivable future where taxpayers will be paying BILLIONS to maintain greedy businesses while they are unable to afford groceries at the local bodega? I suppose we don't have to envision it because the reality is here. As companies like the Hartford and Prudential, who have built their businesses on a foundation of actuarial expertise, dig into the taxpaying public's pocket, thousands of people join the unemployment lines every day and those that can hold onto their jobs are scraping together enough to afford a trip to the grocery store.



A housing market that is going belly up, car dealerships closing left and right and prices for consumerables that are leaping by the day, don't bode well for our economy. And yet, we continue to hand out money as if we had a printing press in the basement of the White House.



Obama has made an impressive show over his short term in office and we all realize that he inherited this problem but, at some point, government officials will have to understand that throwing money at the problem is not helping. If we could be more confident that these decision makers were being more judicious about where this money is going and what strings were attached to its use...



The more we see, the more clear it becomes that there are few, if any, penalties for abuse of this system. Big corporations, cunning but not stupid, have caught the scent of money and are coming running, faster than hogs to the slop bucket. Just as with the banking industry, I fear that this money will disappear and the problem will remain, unchanged. Does anyone out there doubt that, at some point in the future, these big insurers will stop paying claims while crying poverty all the way to the bank?



Something is broken within our financial system. Capitalism is failing. Until we find out what the root of the problem is and cure it, we will continue to dig ourselves into an ever-deepening hole.

The Philosophy of Consumerism by Janus Kane

Most of us are familiar with the fable; the tireless squirrel works through the summer to store nuts and fortify his home while the grasshopper laughs and relaxes in the tall grass. Eventually, winter comes and finds the grasshopper, literally, out in the cold.

Fables always carry an inescapable grain of truth, but rarely do we see them come to life before our very eyes as this one is now doing. Our current recession is having far reaching effects, not the least of which is the seperation of the squirrels from the grasshoppers.

We had a long summer. American businesses thrived, the stock market hit ever increasing highs and the housing market boomed, resulting in many good years for everyone involved in real estate and the construction business. During that time, the grasshoppers among us lived for the day, spending their gains as soon as the checks cleared. Big screen tvs, luxury cars and fancy boats were the order of the day for many. Those with more moderate means were still lured by the siren song of affluence. They eagerly stepped up to the loan officer’s desk and signed paperwork for homes on nothing but a wing and a prayer. Get it now, pay for it later became the tune on everyone’s lips. Well, I’m afraid that the tab has come due.

People that lived for the day, never giving a thought to tomorrow. People who were too eager to spend each and every dime that passed through their hands. Those grasshoppers are now paying the price. Only they are not, we all are.

Although I support Barack Obama and recognize the huge effort that he has put forth during his short time in office, I think that beating the drum for more consumerism is a miscalculation. Without some kind of a savings philosophy, we will all be out in the cold once winter comes. The concept of saving is something that we should be instilling in our youth, but we cannot do that until we start practicing it ourselves. Is it really going to take another Great Depression to remind us that a little bit of money in the bank is not a bad thing?

What will it take to make us realize that living the good life on credit alone comes at a high price, too high a price for our limited coffers? The thought that we can spend and spend, as long as our plastic holds out, is a fallacy of epic proportions. It is basic Economics 101 – a house of cards (credit cards) that is destined to come crashing down on us. When that happens, it will be the squirrels who survive the devastation, as they smugly reap the rewards of their planning and foresight. Hopefully, the grasshoppers will not take us all down with them.