Reading the Sunday paper, I like to save the best for last, and think about whether I'm going to ultimately read certain articles. This is because newspapers are vying with other media to scare us, startle us in such a way that we bother to read the whole story. Today the most fearful stories seemed to be about financial fears. A fair regulator unlistened to by government and now resigning, Bernake failing to tell the truth, jobs lost. Something about the U.S. bonds struck me with terror, as I have money in bonds. We're all jumpy, but some of us also know that what we can read about or see on TV is not a complete story. If they are trying to make us scream, they're doing a good job of it, but it is also turning some of us away from seeking information, and taking action. We feel like butterfies pinned to a wall.
I know how to avoid the murder trials and pop star scandals, but should I be reading about the economy? Everyone has their position, but is anyone speaking the truth, or do they even know it? I have common sense, and I know if there are hard times there are hard reasons for it, and that change takes time. There are no easy fixes. It seems to me, deregulation has allowed financial institutions to run amok, and that the practical solution is to rein them in by force. You don't let a runaway horse stampede and hurt people out of terror. You don't let your kid in a candy store with no supervision to eat whatever he likes. Banks are terrified because they have TOO MUCH discretion, and their instincts are paranoid and self-serving. Let's face it, these are people who went into their profession to make money not to help people. Otherwise they'd be social workers or something else.
I try not to participate in this fear foaming zeitgeist we've been experiencing. But I don't want to get robbed of my retirement by sheer stupidity of the people elected to represent us. I know enough to know I can't trust in them. It feels like there is no safe place for my retirement money, and no information about how to protect myself. If the government would try living within its means, then perhaps we could end these wars we can't afford, and address fully what's wrong at home. But I guess that is too sensible. No wonder ordinary citizens can't spend only what they earn. They have been encouraged to live in a fantasy of buy now and pay later, or never.
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