Wed 29 Oct 2008
And They Said Things Would Be Different After 9/11
Posted by RichSlick under MMO, Observations
[7] Comments
Remember 9/11, things were going to be so different after that day. People promised they wouldn’t grind their lives away at dead end jobs or jobs they hated; People would reconcile differences with loved ones forever; Materialism was dead. That lasted about 18 months then everyone went on a Hummer & McMansion binge that lead us to the financial crisis we have today.
I hear the same people saying that this financial crisis will lead us onto a new world: A world of frugality and a simple way of life; a life based on cash transactions; a credit-less and debt free life filled with joy and happiness….
I wasn’t around for the Great Depression or World War II or Korea or Vietnam and barely a kid during the boom & bust of 80′s oil but I would imagine that the same things were said, “This time, things will be different.”
I suspect that in 18 months around spring 2010 or perhaps spring 2011, we’ll be up to our eyeballs in new & improved hydrogen fuel cell cars and solar paneled houses surfing the net on iPhone WiMax 5.0. The financial collapse will be a distant memory as we bask in infrastructure and alternative energy bubbles cashing in on the boom.
It is the way of things my friends, history repeats itself over and over. It is the cycle of creation, growth and death that we have been accustomed to and it will repeat itself again. All you have to do is position yourself to cash in on the next wave and that’s all there is to getting rich slick……
7 Responses to “ And They Said Things Would Be Different After 9/11 ”
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February 23rd, 2010 at 8:03 am[...] is a pendulum that swings BOTH ways. I’ve been looking for this moment since this post in October 2008 and it’s almost here. The more the media pumps gloom and doom articles the more I know [...]
October 29th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Yes, it does seem to be that certain attitudes toward different things tend to only stick for a short period of time. That’s why it’s got to be a change of lifestyle that goes deeper than the superficial idea that they want to portray on the outside. Many do things simply because they have to. They have no other choice. Others because they really do want to. But when things get back to “normal” (whatever that is), people who didn’t change their habits for the right reasons will digress. And there area always those who did it for the wrong reasons.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Those spending days have never left, and never will. That guy who’s our president is thinking about another round of stimulus checks to get us spending, and some financial windbags are telling us the same. Indeed, some things never change.
October 31st, 2008 at 7:51 am
I agree with your sentiment. A lot of things have to happen before we get lifestyle capitulation. Yet, I have to wonder about the possibility of things like Peak Debt. At some point do we reach a hard limit on inflating, stimulating, defaulting, restructuring, etc?
i.e.
October 31st, 2008 at 8:07 am
I have long believed that consumers could only consume so much but I’m always amazed at how something “new” comes out that people want such as the new Wii and the new iPhone and just when you think they can’t get any better they add features or radically change the product where you are compelled to buy one. Peak debt isn’t a concern because there’ll be a way to reinvent the debt structure.
The only thing I really worry about is peak innovation. Once we stop innovating, we’ll stop buying.
October 31st, 2008 at 8:09 am
By the way, we’ve already experienced peak debt numerous times but the most recent was when the US went off the gold standard. That was the king of peak debt and all new debt was re-engineered with worthless paper called US Currency.
That’s taken us from the 70′s to the 00′s to give us a good 40 year run. Rumours are we’ll convert to the Amero currency soon and start a whole new debt cycle.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 am
Your are probably right on the peak debt.
re: peak innovation, it feels like we hit a (temporary?) plateau on a lot of electronics. I used to be an early adopter on PCs, phones, etc but now there is little penalty for being a laggard. Energy, on the other hand, I feel like a caveman with all the inefficiencies. This post is a good reminder to get up to speed on alt-energy when prices are low.