Enough stuff?

The election is over although some votes remain to be counted and the results of three Senate races are still unknown.

Meanwhile, the state of the economy may be indicating that old ways are coming to an end. Certainly, the tasks facing us - and our newly elected politicians - will require new ways of thinking. Albert Einstein put it well when he said: "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."

Since the end of World War II, economic growth in the United States, and the developed world, has been driven by consumers. For the past twenty five years, unrestrained consumer spending has been supported by a flood of credit card and mortgage debt. The idea of "buy now, pay later" became quaint and old fashioned compared to the apparent reality of "buy now, never have to pay at all".

An economy driven by ever increasing consumer spending is a house built on sand. As shown in the retail sales numbers (almost all major chains are reporting sharply lower sales), the financial storm of excess debt is threatening to wash away the "more" culture. While there are many in our country who live in poverty, most of us have far more "stuff" than we really need. The danger that our possessions, and our expensive activities, will come to own and define us is all too real.

The transition from a society of borrowers and spenders to one of producers and savers will not be easy. If we make it successfully - and there are no guarantees - the greatest benefit will be time to spend with family and friends, or in reflection, rather than existing on a treadmill that takes us from work to store and back again.

President Eisenhower, reflecting on a past period of economic turmoil, summed up the situation this way: "Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs."

Socrates, during his trial for heresy, indirectly made the case for time with this remark: "the unexamined life is not worth living."

Frugality and modesty are the heresies of the consumer culture. In the long run, however, intangibles - friendship, love, service, the acquisition of knowledge, and the time to enjoy all of these - are likely to add far more quality to our lives than the mindless acquisition of "more stuff".