The Boy Who Cried Wolf

One of my favorite fables when I was young...I sometimes wonder if we are a tad guilty of crying wolf with respect to the economic situation.

The good news: the federal deficit for this year will be only $1,600,000,000,000 rather than $1,800,000,000,000. The bad news, which will be released officially Tuesday: the projected federal deficit for the next ten years is projected to increase to $9,000,000,000,000 from $7,000,000,000,000.

It’s far from obvious that our current economic predicament requires an increase in federal indebtedness comparable to that which was necessary to prosecuting World War II.

I'd say so. What I'm concerned about more than the specific numbers and spending is our attitude. It feels as though something somewhere flipped and people care more about spending/consuming (ie the back end benefits of capitalism) versus producing/making products. At one time, people worked hard, created products that people bought in order to get rich and enjoy life. That's how it's supposed to work. Somewhere along the line it seems like people figured out ways to enjoy life - ie spend - without having produced/created the wealth.