The Recession Generation

[jkoci]

My parents grew up in this scenario and I'm wondering if my children will have to deal with it too. My oldest will be graduating college in a couple of years and who knows if the economy will be better or worse than it is now.

Recession Generation Will Spend Less for Life - Newsweek.com

 

[AdamI]

The "recession generation" spending less for life is a good thing. The reason we're in such a mess is because we've been spending more than we make. Debt is destroying the middle class, and we're squandering our resources on waste too. Your kids will be richer if they spend less.

 

[superjudge]

James Howard Kunstler calls the economy right now the "Futility Economy". It is futile in the sense that governments are implementing futile strategies in attempts to return the economy to the position it once was, and will NEVER return to. As has surely been said a million and one times, the world as we know it is going to change...

The Futility Economy - Clusterfuck Nation

 

[jkoci]

The "recession generation" spending less for life is a good thing.

I agree. Sustainable living may be the new norm.

 

[jkoci]

James Howard Kunstler calls the economy right now the "Futility Economy". [/url]

I have listened to his podcasts a few times. Interesting commentary.

 

[AdamI]

James Howard Kunstler calls the economy right now the "Futility Economy". It is futile in the sense that governments are implementing futile strategies in attempts to return the economy to the position it once was, and will NEVER return to. As has surely been said a million and one times, the world as we know it is going to change...

The Futility Economy - Clusterfuck Nation

I agree with some of what Kunstler says, especially about aesthetics. I really hate the "sprawl."

But I disagree with some of his techno-fatalism, and I think it's almost a cop-out to preface his aesthetics on his techno-fatalism. Even if we had "Mr. Fusion" machines that gave us near infinite energy, I would still hate the sprawl and I would still enjoy living in a real community and occasionally riding a bike to work. The fact that we've created hideously ugly "places not worth caring about" and made ourselves fat with cars-for-cars-sake is reason enough to change things. No other reason is needed.

On the subject of returning to how things once were... that's never possible. History is non-repeating novelty. Time is linear, at least for us three-dimensionals.

I do think the age of cheap oil and "happy motoring" is nearing its end, but I also disagree with Kunstler in that I don't think we're going back to pre-industrial times. Instead, we are as always moving forward into the unknown. We may have some awful malthusian die-off and live out the "Mad Max" films, or we may innovate our way past peak oil but using different technology and different transportation methods. Who knows... it's even possible that the pressure of peak oil will lead to new innovations that in the end leave us with even more and cheaper energy than we ever had in the oil age. I believe very strongly that the future is fundamentally un-knowable, so the only way to find out is to keep going.

BTW, I'm an early adopter type, so I'm already living car-free and have been for years. I personally have found it to be an improvement in my standard of living. I hate traffic, like to zone out on trains, and love to ride bikes. I've also lost weight and have more energy.