David Brooks, NYT, on the cultural anthropology/history of debt:
"The most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money."
He's writing about this report, "For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture"
which is trying to address the explosion of both personal and social debt.
I love the idea of returning to thrift as a great American value and as a matter of social consciousness. With people my own age, I tend to talk about this idea in terms of financial integrity and sustainable spending. We are in an age where it's so crucial to be aware of the limits on resources of all kinds, to think of each other, and to plan for the future.
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4 comments:
Debt is like alcohol. People have different levels of tolerance for both. A little bit can be good for body and soul, but too much will kill you or at least leave you with a nasty hangover.
I love the idea of returning to thrift as a great American value and as a matter of social consciousness.
How do you like it as a pretext for eliminating the welfare state?
Also, blaming all of society's problems on defective "culture" is just about the oldest trick in the neoconservative playbook.
lauksvai
P.S. Blogger sucks. I don't get why anybody, much less a journalist, would still be using it at this point.
Is this your only blog? Where is the groundswell of upset twenty somethings? Maybe they are busy working on their Facebook accounts. Good luck with your revolution.
Dear Anya,
I just finished reading your book Generation Debt. I find your honesty refreshing and I like how you make the book personal and relatable to all. And seeing how you wrote it at 24. Wow... You should have won the Pulitzer for that.
Initially the first parts of the book seems fragmented and a little confused but I think, it mirrors the confusion young adults feel when they head out to the working world, all fresh faced and optimistic when suddenly reality hits them in the head when they're confronted by mountains of debts and horrible job prospects.
Looking forward to read your next book.
A fan from Singapore.
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