Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A Sobering Assessment

Suddenly, it seems, we're getting hit from all directions.

Energy and food prices are soaring. The housing market continues to collapse. Government revenue is falling, and taxes are rising. Airlines are jacking up fares and fees while reducing service. Banks are pulling credit lines. Auto companies are cutting production once again. Even investment bankers are losing their jobs.

The tendency is to see these as separate developments, each with its own causes and dynamic. Fundamentally, however, they are all part of the same story -- the story of the global economy purging itself of large and unsustainable imbalances that for a time allowed many Americans to think they were richer than they really were.

There's lot's more - read it all here. I think the idea that for too long we Americans have been lioving beyond our means is fundamentally correct. Correcting that is and will continue to be painful.

RFSJ

3 comments:

Doorman-Priest said...

Well, if you can take any comfort in it at all, its not just you.

RFSJ said...

DP -

You mean, it's not me and hte author who thinks we have lived beyond our means, or that it isn't just the Americans who have done so?

Or both? :-0

Doorman-Priest said...

Well, both but I originally meant its not just the Americans.