By: Revanche

From the desk of …..

November 29, 2008

Had a nice long horrors-of-the-economy chat with a good friend, and absentmindedly cleared up a lot of paperwork on my desk. Not that I usually mind tidying, I just never do it when I’m sick, so the distraction made it painless. She was telling me about her latest call from their financial adviser and that they were told to Stop Spending. It wasn’t meant to target them specifically for overspending, it was just a report on the state of their portfolios and their immediate advice to all retirees were to batten down the hatches and preserve principal. That’s probably good advice for any of us. 😛

Have two offers (low, of course) on the table for the truck and will need to work out a plan to get the paperwork done on Monday. Should I go to the dealer in the morning and go to work late? Go to work early and leave early?

I went out for the first time today, and saw the corner gas station listing Unleaded for $1.87!! That is amazing! What has been going on out there this week? However long the lower gas prices last, I’m loving it and the corresponding lightened load on my monthly gas bills.
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Also, I don’t think I’m buying a laptop for nearly $700. Got news of two more friends who were laid off today and tales of misfortune make me more hyper-aware of the need to batten down MY hatches. Which, of course, always puts me in mind of the irony that the economy is suffering in some part because consumers aren’t consuming. Happily, today’s well-timed guest post by Carson Brackney over at Consumerism Commentary discusses this very phenomenon:

We’re actively engaging in the very behavior that encourages a larger financial crisis in order to protect ourselves from that very same financial crisis.

On pulling back spending and the perceived effect on the economy of not spending a short time ago – I still can’t find it in my heart to disagree that while mindful or needful spending is fine, this entire popping bubble situation is born of the mentality that our only weapon, tool or coping mechanism is to spend. It’s going to continue to be a painful time, and I feel for every one of us who will have to weather this storm, but I have hopes that our continued good stewardship of our resources and good money management will bring us through safely in the end. Maybe that’s too PollyAnna for some, but I’m still feeling positive from Deepali’s thankfulness reminder.

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