some thoughts.

I'm confused. The economy is bad so we should spend money right? But spending money is now seen as a very irresponsible, and we should be frugal and try to save money, as if doing what we should have done years ago would suddenly fix the current problem. It's like we have this love/hate relationship going on, but it's more than that. Our society is a bratty teenager and money is our clueless parent. We don't necessarily feel love for money, but we need it. And because we need it we resent it. It controls us and we loathe it, but without it we would cease to exist.

I feel bad for families who are struggling to get by. It breaks my heart that people are losing their jobs, that people are suffering right now. I have yet to feel the effects of the bad economy; nothing has changed so far in my life. I have a job and I feel pretty secure in it. The company I work for did well last year and keeps getting big sales, which means that there's work for me to do for the next couple of years. I feel very fortunate for that.. I'm paying all my bills on time and I have a little bit of money saved up, at least enough to live on for a couple of months. I'm getting a big student loan soon that I'll use the excess to pay down my high interest debt, so I'll save money there. I'm applying for a job right now that will pay me four times as much as the one I have and if I get it I'll pay off all my credit card debt in just a few years. And if things keep going well maybe I'll go to Europe this summer. I feel very grateful and I definitely ought to be.