When something can’t go on forever…it won’t.

Unless you live under a rock you know the economy has changed recently.  The question is; when did you know it was going to happen?  The press likes to pretend that the economy suddenly tanked without warning but I disagree.  The writing was on the wall years in advance.  Like anyone else, I clung to the idea that maybe I was misreading things and a booming economy based on free credit and magic unicorns would last forever.  Yet small deductions and minor observations piled up incrementally until I couldn’t help but get the point.

In any process of gradual learning there’s the moment when you give up all doubt and just know.  For me, that moment was a minor observation.  I was living in a large city which, as far as I could ascertain, was constructed entirely out of debt.  With a certain amount of self deception you could ignore this.  But one day the pizza delivery guy arrived in a brand new Cadillac Escalade.  While chatting with him I determined that he had indeed “purchased” (i.e. financed) it specifically for his job, he was entirely supporting himself with a part time job delivering pizzas, and he thought his new glittering White Elephant was a wise “investment”.  Nor was he a young fellow…he was in his mid twenties and more mature than the pimply faced high school student I usually associate with pizza delivery and fiscal cluelessness.

When the guy who brings your pizza is driving a brand new Escalade…something is terribly wrong.  That was all you needed to know about the economy in early 2005.

About AdaptiveCurmudgeon

Adaptive Curmudgeon is handsome, brave, and wise.
This entry was posted in Harangue-a-bang-bang!. Bookmark the permalink.

0 Responses to When something can’t go on forever…it won’t.

  1. Pingback: One Year Of Interesting Times: Part I: Unreality Should Be Challenged | The Adaptive Curmudgeon's Blog

Leave a Reply