vtsnowedin wrote:Tanada wrote: My parents lived through the Great Depression and throwing away something you might someday have a use for was a terrible thing to do. If you had a tangle of old fencing wire and you were in a hurry you might use new wire, but when you had all your chores done you would go back and untangle that wire so the next time there was a break you would have it ready to use. I speak from experience having helped repair the electric fence that kept the cattle and horses from wandering off many times growing up.
Yup. It's just amazing the way a few generations changes things. My paternal grandfather floated over on the boat from Germany with only an eighth grade education. My dad was born in '22 and he hated to waste ANYTHING. I'm sure things were very tight for his family during the depression, but he didn't like to talk about it. Until he got too old to work on much stuff himself (past about 75) old worn out underwear became rags. Short chunks of rusty old pipe were stored in cans for some potential plumbing repair job. And on and on.
Now if many people can't have the current model of iphone, live in a house with the "right" molding and furniture, drive the "right" cars, and on and on, they're convinced they're deprived.
I suppose it's good for the GDP, but it seems kind of crazy to see, compared to "reality" when I grew up (60's and 70's). We had the food, clothing, medical care, etc. we NEEDED, but waste, including leaving any food on your plate, was basically a cardinal sin.
Apparently today's heavy spending "works" as long as the economy is relatively good and nothing big goes wrong. I thought many folks would change spending and saving habits quite a bit from the 2008-2009 shock, but that was apparently mostly forgotten after about 5 years.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.