Whisper
March 27th, 2008, 01:22 PM
More frightening news about the economy here this week.
Housing prices are down nearly 10 per cent over the year for the first time since the Great Depression.
Consumer confidence is sagging and spending is flat. The stone fortresses of Wall Street are shaking. Some are cracking.
So completely has the economy eclipsed other concerns here in the U.S. that the 4,000th military death in Iraq and the new spasm of violence there have been drowned out in a national fit of anxiety over when the pain here will end.
You can hear the collective cry: When can we all go back to buying lots of stuff without worrying about how to pay for it?
For non-Americans, whose houses are generally in better order, it may be tempting to smile, ant-like, at the big self-pitying grasshopper. But we should all share his fear.
The rest of the developed world orbits the American economy, utterly dependent on it. Let's not pretend otherwise.
The only logical hope for the rest of us is that the U.S. keeps behaving like a 13-year-old with a credit card.
Canadians, Europeans and Asians of good sense should join together and lead the cheer: Get out there, America, and shop. God love you. Borrow if you have to. Borrow even more if you can get away with it. Just keep spending and ignore the debt monstrosity that slouches down the pathway toward you, maw gaping, hands grasping.
Figure out some way to redefine the debt. Or pass it on to another generation. That has worked so far.
Because someday, Americans are going to have to do one of two things: Start paying their bills, or just walk away from them. And we should all dread either of those eventualities, especially Canadians, who sell more to the United States than anyone else. If anyone has a vested interest in voracious American consumerism, it is us.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/macdonald/20080325.html
Housing prices are down nearly 10 per cent over the year for the first time since the Great Depression.
Consumer confidence is sagging and spending is flat. The stone fortresses of Wall Street are shaking. Some are cracking.
So completely has the economy eclipsed other concerns here in the U.S. that the 4,000th military death in Iraq and the new spasm of violence there have been drowned out in a national fit of anxiety over when the pain here will end.
You can hear the collective cry: When can we all go back to buying lots of stuff without worrying about how to pay for it?
For non-Americans, whose houses are generally in better order, it may be tempting to smile, ant-like, at the big self-pitying grasshopper. But we should all share his fear.
The rest of the developed world orbits the American economy, utterly dependent on it. Let's not pretend otherwise.
The only logical hope for the rest of us is that the U.S. keeps behaving like a 13-year-old with a credit card.
Canadians, Europeans and Asians of good sense should join together and lead the cheer: Get out there, America, and shop. God love you. Borrow if you have to. Borrow even more if you can get away with it. Just keep spending and ignore the debt monstrosity that slouches down the pathway toward you, maw gaping, hands grasping.
Figure out some way to redefine the debt. Or pass it on to another generation. That has worked so far.
Because someday, Americans are going to have to do one of two things: Start paying their bills, or just walk away from them. And we should all dread either of those eventualities, especially Canadians, who sell more to the United States than anyone else. If anyone has a vested interest in voracious American consumerism, it is us.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/macdonald/20080325.html