Debt and the Economy

For years Americans have been living in a world of gratification.  The "buy now, pay later" mentality has become a way of life for many if not most of Americans today.  However, times are changing and it is happening even if most of us don't want it to.  

In years past, lets say in 2006, a person would go into a store looking at a TV, or to a car lot to get a new car, and when they are weighing the ability to buy said item the thought process may have gone a little something like the following.

"how much down, and how much a month?"

"I can make those payments"

"will my FICO score be approved so I can get this?"

"hmmm I could really use another way to boost my credit."

These are the thoughts of times past, times when all a person needed to do was make the monthly payments.  Never mind the fact that any given person could not pay for said item all at once, it just mattered that they could make the payments.  

America has been in a world were "credit money" or "imaginary money" is what was used to pay for items.  Goods were exchanged for money on a credit card or a loan, to later be repaid in smaller easy to make payments.  Cars that cost 35,000 dollars were being sold to people who made 40,000 dollars a year.  Didn't matter that the person could not pay for it, they just needed to make the payments.

Times have changed though.  All that "Credit Money" has come due, and the lender need it all back.  The problem is, it was never really there to give back.  The sub-prime market should not have gotten loans that they could not repay, they should not have be approved, but alas they were.  Now that this money has come due and it is not there to repay the bubble has BURST!  

All this supposed "wealth" that we thought that we had is now gone and we want to keep it, and make it the way that it was a few years ago.  The problem is, it can't go back to the way that it was.  We were living in an artificial economy, with reality being much lower than where credit allowed it to be.

What is the point of all this discombobulated rhetoric?  I guess to get this off of my chest.  We all are quick to blame the "free market" or "the US Government for all of our problems.  We are all quick to pass the buck onto others, and I have been there myself, but we are all overlooking one very important thing.  It is not just "someone Else's" fault, we are to blame as well, and we all have an equal part in this together. 

Even though we caused this, WE can fix it.  Not the clowns in Washington, or the higher ups on Wall Street.  We the People can fix this.  Will it be hard?  Sure it will.  Will we need to go without?  Yes, we will most certainly go without some things, but I ask you now.  Is that a bad thing?  Is it ok to hear that ancient word spoken to us?  That word that many of us have forgotten. The word is "no", and we should and will hear a lot more of it in the coming days.  But we the people can fix this, and that is were I am looking for answers, not the Hill in Washington DC.