Of Debt, National Character and Our American Future

Debt is swallowing us up. I am sure that the Republicans will beat the dead horse of Democrats as tax-and-spend-liberals (avoiding scrutiny of the errors in those four words by talking loudly) but the Republicans have proven themselves worse. They have hocked the country - they have pushed the country further into debt at a time we might not be able to spend our way out. This lead me to read David Brooks' The Great Seduction by Debt with more than a little interest:

"The United States has been an affluent nation since its founding. But the country was, by and large, not corrupted by wealth. For centuries, it remained industrious, ambitious and frugal.

Over the past 30 years, much of that has been shredded. The social norms and institutions that encouraged frugality and spending what you earn have been undermined. The institutions that encourage debt and living for the moment have been strengthened. The country’s moral guardians are forever looking for decadence out of Hollywood and reality TV. But the most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money."