I’ve have been shocked and beaten down from life. Life is unexpected twist of events that can alter our thinking and behavior. I wasn’t prepared to deal with my father death but, I had too. I wasn’t prepared for a lot of events in my life but, I conquered them and learned from it. I learnt that you can’t be too comfortable with your state of living don’t get too attached to how things are now. Don’t have that feeling run your life though, know it is okay to deal with challenges. Where would we be as people with some suffering? The pain and suffering make us who we are it shows us what is really important in life. Don’t have material items make your happiness they are only temporary feelings. The brain releases endorphin which makes you feel excited and happy. Your contentment should be able to do without ipods, and other material items. You see people in 3rd world countries living simple lives and happier than people with all the riches in the world.
You’re sitting on a Persian silk rug until life rips that rug right from under you. I think a little suffering can help most people realize what they can do without with. Suffering cuts the middle man and goes straight to the source of the problem. You see in a different light and the whole entire world makes sense when you have what you need to survive. Western civilization is always about MORE MORE and MORE and wealth. We are so accustomed to living a certain way we forgot how we were when life was so simple. Thorstein Veblen’s book The Theory of the Leisure Class he spoke about Conspicuous consumption which means purchasing items to display wealth and a higher social class. The one of the ills of America is that we are obsessed with becoming rich and not working hard to achieve it. There is always a commercial on television about real estate gimmicks that will have you getting checks in the mail for thousands of dollars. I think this recession is one of the best things to happen to America because we need to be pushed to the edge a little to realize how we are overspending and not making good decisions. Times are hard in America not as hard as the citizens in Zimbabwe where the currency is almost worthless due to hyperinflation and they are printing out $100 trillion dollar bills. Companies are laying people off firing workers to save money. Businesses like Circuit City are closing down and people are now realizing we have a financial problem. This recession isn’t permanent and America will prevail but, this is a much needed waking up to the America.
Discuss
sciencesaves on April 10, 2009, 2:48 PM
America is in a necessary adjustment period.
Those who lived, or continue to live beyond reasonable means, with no regard to the future, have put us in this mess. Greed, materialism, and irrational expectations have created an unfair division of our society. I don’t agree with Rush Limbaugh, he only cares about wealth and power accumulation, at the expense of anyone who doesn’t subscribe to the elitist mindset.
This is how revolutions start…
Samuel Sherbin on April 10, 2009, 7:38 PM
Our greed and materialism has divided the country in various ways. We can prevent this with some common sense and forwarded thinking.
Verisoph sapiens on April 11, 2009, 2:29 AM
most people would choose to have, for the majority of the miseries of this world are down to not having.
For a lot of people happiness is having enough to eat.
Just plain greed is natural/biological and not only occurs in humans.
But calculated greed is a human thing, it can stimulate feelings of pleasure similar to sex or drugs and it’s short term gratification leading to long term regret.
Attitudes and behaviour will not change long term after this financial crisis is over.
Greed/wealth is like sea water, the more we drink the thirstier we become…
Samuel Sherbin on April 11, 2009, 7:34 AM
you’re exactly correct. I’m just saying that the heightened greed is what caused the recession and if we step back and realize this maybe we can turn things around. No doubt that greed will still exist when the financial crisis we just have to stigmatize it now when it’s on the news and in everyone’s face. I don’t want this issue to be put in the back-burner when the recession is over
sciencesaves on April 11, 2009, 9:35 AM
There are many who will not change their ways, it’s true that our nature is to accumulate wealth and power. I don’t think the majority of Americans will continue to tolerate the equivalent of a mega-lottery jackpot awarded to shrewd paper-pushers who are actually “legal” smash and grab criminals.
Capitalism has to have some limits for those who only care about themselves, and their perceived “success”.
Verisoph sapiens on April 11, 2009, 6:57 PM
greed itself is a symptom, not a cause, of the current problem. The cause is an economic system based on profit above all else. And to eliminate greed, we need to look at moving beyond the economic system that encourages it. Resistance is the way out! Because under capitalism boom and slump will remain a perpetual cycle.
Alas…
Carlos Mandelbaum on April 16, 2009, 6:39 PM
tim hall on April 28, 2009, 12:12 PM
It is not just greed that drives people to excessive gains. Fear plays a large roll in every thing we do. When folks become successful for what ever reason, there becomes a driving force to protect that success from returning to previous conditions. There is the fear of losing respect from their peers if new success is not being achieved. Barry Glassener wrote “The Culture of Fear” in 1999. In the most recent melt down of our finacial system, fear was the deciding factor not greed. These finance ministers knew that there was’t any real product to drive the economy and that all reasonable credit was used up. They had to create bogus credit intruments or lose their jobs. Their careers as finacial officers were over and they were afraid to start new careers.
The industrial boom ended before the labor force could be educated. The technology boom did not offer enough well paying jobs to purchase exspensive products. The governments kept easing lending rules to drive purchases. Now we have to educate ourselves in new fields in order to be able to produce a product that will sustain real growth. Obama’s temporary “pay it forward, build more infrastructure” will work to get investors going again. But without a huge muti trillion dollar investment in education that would have only been in the millions if done under Ronald Regan, we will be back in a false credit economy. The simple fact is that technology has moved ahead of an ignorant society. Actually it was first brought out by Richard Nixon in 1974 when he seen the Japanese flooding our markets with cheaper goods. Government works, if the public gets involve in numbers.
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