Seems to me that the new war has two sides, military and economic. I can't really guess whether the terrorists goals were to hurt the economy, but that seems to have been the main "success". Certainly, they could not realistically hoped to achieve a military victory over the U.S.

Anyway, we find ourselves in a rather strange and disturbing position. We are as self-sufficient as we can be, have no debt and see our success being rooted in maintaining minimal consumption and prudent long-range planning. We are also environmentalists and see the future of the world depending on similar approaches on a societal level. We have long viewed the "never-ending expanding economy" as an unrealistic and destructive model. We are now being told by the government/media that we should all do our duty and CONSUME to help save the faltering economy. We say NO, not because we are bad citizens, but because it is contrary to our central belief system. How do you all feel?

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Answers

Hubby and I plan on living our lives just the way we have been for the last 30 yrs. I seem to remember waaaay back in the 80's that everyone was on a buy everything NOW kick. Look what happened to national debt!! Maybe the economy is faltering somewhat, but I don't think that encouraging mindless spending is the way to solve the problem!

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

It seems that the professional pencil pushers have forgotten what they USED to tell the folks to do in times of national crisis and war, save, save, save, and buy war bonds with that savings!!!! They used to push "Wear it out, use it up, and make do without" also, but that saying has sure gone by the wayside!

I was raised in the frugal old-fashioned manner of immigrant northern Europeans, so that has been the way we have lived the past 20 years of our marriage, although at times, I do have to remind dear husband of this, and ask him if we REALLY need, or just WANT, the item in question.

The folks in charge of the economy are stuck thinking in the short term, and do not realize that saving would be better to prepare the overall economy for the future. Folks that are in good economic shape can better weather the long streches of depression (we are beyond recession now IMHO ) than folks who owe every to "the company store", and have no real assets.

Yes, there will be a continuing downsizing of marginally operating businesses, but like the dotcom situation, they were slated for going out of business anyway, even in a "normal" economy. Let the economic chips fall where they may, and let the strong and wise businesses survive, that is truly the American Way, not artificially prolonging business lives that should have been allowed to "die".

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Yes David, we are feeling like being even less consumers than ever. The model of consumerism excess, IMHO, has very much contributed to the hatred others feel for us. Instead of encouraging us to scale down and live more rationally, we are told it is our patriotic duty to proceed with greed as usual.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

I'm returning to "normalcy" whatever that word is supposed to mean, so my patriotic endeavor is to do things the way I did them pre-9/11. That means being the same type of consumer that I was before.

I think my meager purchasing power pales in comparison to the big shots who control the economy. If they want to chip a little more in, fine...it will have a enormously bigger impact than even years of my consumption would ever have. They can use their big tax cut refunds, even. If I liquidated all my assets and spent them to support the economy, it would mean squat, except for my bankruptcy.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Or maybe I'll buy a couple of cell phones. (see other post) That should fix everything! ;-)

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

We did cancel a drive to the beach this weekend. Partly because our free nights at a hotel chain weren't credited yet, and partly out of being tired and wanting to rejuvenate. May still take the young pup to my friends' daughter to watch (pumping money into her economy) just to be able to sleep in and let him romp with his dog friends and to give the older dog a break. We are also paying a fellow massage therapist to come and give us massages one morning. I am unselfishly trying to do my bit for the local economy. ;)

Other than that, we are trying to live as cheaply as ever. Oh, and we will happily pay the hottub repair man coming later today. Do we miss that or what??

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Amen David Amen!

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Oh Yah, hubby just took a 350 dollor a month paycut. His company Lucent got bought out by Celestica, and they decicded that they were all overpayed. That's alot of money, so cutting out extra's is a focus of ours right now ,not spending more. There are alot of people falling into this same boat. Lucky to even have a job these days.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Tren---here's to hoping the pay cut isn't cutting out extras like heat and food. Hang in there.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Geez...what can I buy, what can I buy....

Critter food, bedding, feed supplements, dewormers.....no wait, those are my normal purchases. That won't help.....

I did buy some yard goods off the bargain table for $1 and $2 a yard. Think that'll help?

Actually, I'm making a major contribution to the economy tomorrow...I've got a two hour appointment at the dentist to continue on with the root canals and crowns. They can forget about me buying anything else after that. (insurance doesn't cover it, of course)

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

Oh, I feel that pain coming on too Julie!!! The pain of paying for two crowns needing done, I mean!!! I have been putting them off for a year or so now, waiting for when we have "extra" money to pay for them, well, with the economy like it is, I decided I'll have our old dentist three hours north do the work, he lets us make payments and doesn't charge any interest, and he is cheaper than the rural dentists down here. It will be worth the drive, and I can visit with my family up there when I'm there too, so it won't be a wasted trip.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

Dental thread drift alert.....

Julie...yikes! I can relate, though. I had horrid experiences with dentists for most of my early life. Thus....my visits to see one had become rather, shall we say rare (ahem!) for many years. It was the Y2k milestone that forced me to get over my intense fear and get back to a dentist. I wanted to have my dental work done before the deadline. As it turns out, I had a lot of major work to be done too: an old root canal had to be redone (we're talking 35-year-old previous dentistry) plus several crowns and the odd filling or two. I'm still working on the crowns...these are less severe so I am scheduling for about one a year now (I have insurance but it only covers half, so I pay about $330 per crown.) My old fillings are so big that my teeth are really fragile.

My dentist is a woman about my age and she is wonderful! She told me that folks of my generation (pre-flouride) have continuous tooth problems due to early tooth decay. She said if she didn't know a thing about a patient except by looking at their teeth, she could tell how old they are. (Kind of like with horses! But in this case, by the number of fillings!) Good luck to you.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001