Have you built your life boat?

I am very concerned about our country. Very concerned, exceedingly worried in fact, that we may be headed for economic collapse. Now you are probably saying to yourself, what does a psychology major know about the economy? And you would be right, sort of, if it were not for the fact that my growing fear has led to many hours of investigative research. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that you do not have to be Paul Krugman to understand the very basic and very real indicators that would lead one to believe that our financial system and the cultural climate that fuels it are the ingredients for a time bomb.

Right now, I can't help but feel as though Americans, collectively, are a blonde silicone breasted airhead from a cheap horror movie. Everyone in the theater knows that there is a scar faced ax murderer waiting in the next room, it seems so obvious, but she goes in anyway. And she gets slaughtered. Similarly, it feels as though we all understand the basic concept that a country with a run away train for national debt and an endangered species as a middle class is probably not a prime candidate for long term sustainability. Yet we do precious little to avoid catastrophe. We are knowingly walking into the room to get slaughtered.

We have fully committed ourselves to the pursuit of the American dream- the big house, the cars, the TV's, whatever it takes to make the Johnson's next door green with envy- and we will stop at no amount of debt to get it. Rarely do we ask ourselves, can I afford this? Though we should, because more often than not, the answer is NO.

As the middle class becomes a thing of the past, the unemployment rate soars, and teachers are laid off by the thousands, we come to understand that the magnates of the banking industry are given government sponsored bonuses, paid for with tax dollars. In my opinion, wealth should be directly correlated to productivity and the positive impact our work has on society. "Sure, those Harvard-educated bank CEOs work hard, but do they work 300 times harder than you?"- Sally Kohn.

We allow the thieves of the financial sector to pillage to their hearts content, to the point of unfathomable riches, but we don't understand the nature of the crime enough to even make an attempt at stopping it. By the we finally start to get it, it is far too late.

We eat the foods that not only make us look and feel terrible, but almost inevitably lead to costly health issues somewhere down the road. We think our health care system is a mess now, imagine what it will look like when all of the 300lb. 30 somethings (and there are tons, literally) begin to have the heart attacks they have dutifully earned. Who will pay for this? Gaze into this mirror for the answer.

And who will fix all of these problems? Not the 30-60 year olds. They got us into the mess in the first place. Certainly not my generation. When the promise of the American dream proves to be a farce, a mere relic of better times, we will be too shell shocked to take any sort of action. How about the youth? Ah yes, the youth will save us. Doubt it, our education system sits at a dismal 18th in the UNICEF world rankings. We will be lucky if those kids can differentiate their asses from their elbows. Maybe the South Koreans, perched at the top spot, will lend helping a hand. I'll ask when I get there, but don't hold your breath. We are on our own, and given our recent track record, that by itself should be enough to scare you. It seems the only people alive in our country who ever really got it are now in their final lap. Please grandparents, save us before its too late.

I could go on and on criticizing whining, but you get the point. As a result of equal parts greed, ignorance, and corruption, we find ourselves in an awful mess. For those of you who are a bit older, can you remember a time where so many sectors- financial, housing, health care, education, to name a few- faced such dire circumstances? Am I being overly dramatic, or are we much closer to complete disaster than most people realize? I may not be an expert, but there are plenty out there who seem to share this sentiment. I worry that the recession, bad as it has been, may not have gotten bad enough. Did we learn our lesson? If we do not undergo a major cultural paradigm shift, I fear that things are going to get much, much worse. Arianna Huffington puts it bluntly-
America is like a patient in danger of suffering a massive heart attack. We may be able to postpone things with a bit of outpatient surgery, but we won't be able to avoid it without some serious lifestyle changes. The economic coronary isn't quite here yet, but it's on the way.

As for me, all I can do is try and learn a lesson from the failures of previous generations. Do I feel cheated to be starting my life of financial independence amidst such turmoil? Not in the least. In fact, as bad as things seem to be, my personal path to success seems pretty clear-
1. Buy a small 2 bedroom apartment, not a 4 bedroom house.
2. Continue to drive a Scion toaster car
3. Save 10% of my income, without fail.
4. Stay healthy
5. Pay off credit cards immediately
6. Wait until I am in my late 30s to have children
7. Adhere to the principles of minimalism whenever possible
8. Plan on never retiring, which is fine anyway, because the absence of productivity seems dreadful.
9. Possibly look into trading all of my American dollars for Danish krones.
and 10. Ironically, given the tone of this post, stay positive! The ship may be going down, but that doesn't mean I have to go down with it. In fact, I'm already building a life boat. Are you?