Came across this article recently:

Americans Feast on Debt

Of particular concern:

• Debt is reaching new highs: “total household debt achieved a new peak in the first quarter of 2017, rising by $149 billion to $12.73 trillion-$50 billion above the previous peak reached in the third quarter of 2008”

Now, I’ve also read some pieces about the effectiveness of various policies in convincing people to incur more debt. I am left to wonder, as I was back about a decade ago, at what point does all this collapse? There comes a point where servicing debt load consumes all available income. Or, in the case of a sudden economic shift, drops below and things fail.

America currently only is able to see as far as the next quarterly earnings report, if that far. Our lack of vision and inability to see citizens as people instead of just consumers to exploit, helps drive this phenomena further.

At some point, we need to step away from a consumer-driven economy. It is not sustainable, and is only going to cause long-term pain and, for many, calamity. We’ll need to learn, as people, as individuals, to value things other than purchases. Don’t use shopping to alleviate boredom, or loneliness, or…. We need to balance spending with saving, find value in something other than things, than accumulated stuff.

Let’s not wait for policies to incentivize savings. Nor for marketing campaigns. Here’s the time to innovate, for ourselves and for our families. Perhaps, by making long-term thinking cool, we can truly change the world.