great news everyone

We have a name for the house now, it's Frontier Town.

It fits, I like it.  All this talk about the economy has got me thinking about the mindset of the people that grew up in the Great Depression.  They had different virtues.  Thrift and self-reliance were emphasized.  In many ways those virtues became obstacles when times were better, but I think they're interesting, if we're to be heading into a rough few years.

Will we see another generation that never throws anything away, that plants gardens and repairs their own cars, and complains about the wasteful attitude of their children?  People are funny, and I mean that in the best way.

3 comments:

  1. I don't think any credible economists are predicting hardship even remotely approaching the Great Depression, although please correct me if I'm wrong.

    I think the ongoing & upcoming economic situation will be one that is quantitatively worse rather than qualitatively worse and that therefore there will not be widespread behavioral change other than that people who are underemployed or sporadically employed would usually demonstrate.

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  2. (And by q. worse, I mean worse than previous prevailing conditions, not, of course, worse than the Great Depression.)

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  3. Here's hoping, but my own opinion is that the downturn will be longer and more severe than people would like to think. Still, I don't think we'll see widespread starvation or a great dustbowl or anything.

    Also, I think even relatively small economic changes can have big cultural impacts; the price of gas going to $4 a gallon completely killed the SUV market that had been dominating the auto industry, and with it, discredited a whole mind-set. I think that kind/scale of cultural change is going to happen more.

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