When the Economy Turns

I am constantly wondering how things will change when the economy turns back on the right side of the quarter. The media would have us believe that Americans are learning from their past mistakes and we'll all be much smarter, responsible consumers when it comes back around. That we won't live above our means, that we'll think twice before indulging in non-necessities. But I don't know ... will we really learn? Hasn't this country been through this before? Clearly part of evolution in America was not passing on the lessons learned. In fact, it seems that people over compensate for what they didn't have when they were younger.

The lessons clearly are not learned in our neighborhood -- we've seen two houses fall to foreclosure (fortunately, both are now re-occupied, but at a much nicer price than we paid. And true one went at about 50% off but the people had a lot of work to bring it back up to good condition, the previous owners took everything they could ... so sad.) There are more houses popping up for sale and it makes me sad. They are selling for less than we'd want them to. It does mean, we'll be living here longer than we initially thought, because we'll have to wait for the market to go back up. We're okay with this ... our house has a lot of potential and more than enough room for our family ... but we just have to hope the rest of the neighborhood can stay strong and maintain themselves. We think that it will ... but you just don't know who overextended themselves to get in their houses. It's sad when you think about it. Shouldn't we all have protected ourselves from this tragedy?

The other thing about the economy is the job market. It will be interesting to see what jobs spring back to future wealth when the economy returns. Will agencies and freelancers be the wealthy folks they once were? Will skilled workers like electricians, woodworkers and builders return to their previous full engagements and be busy. You can only hope that everyone will find happiness through all of this turmoil. Whether it be financial, spiritual or physical happiness. I hope everyone finds some contentment.