Tent cities across america

I had a friend send me these two videos that completely ruined my morning, so I thought I would share:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-kq2w4N4eA

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=329_1219172915

What makes me ill are the homeless children. It also makes me angry. The most powerful nation in the world, and we accept homeless children as a norm these days. It's sickening.

I think about how we got here as a nation, and in no small part it is Americans living beyond their means. And not just a bit, but really beyond their means. For many of us, family savings just don't exist. There's no cash reserve to fall back on when things get tough. And for most Americans, you're just one paycheck away from loosing your home. And it didn't help that there was constant advertising from credit companies telling us to spend, spend, spend. Big box stores telling us to finance and buy... everything. The American dream for many is an illusion. I think we need a... and I hate this word, paradigm shift to living. A shift in belief of what is enough, and what our true needs and wants are. I think a good step would be to just start ignoring commercials. Stop window shopping. Ignore the Paris Hiltons of the world, and just concentrate on what's right in front of us. Our families, children and yes, even pets. Look at what is sustainable as a lifestyle. For some it may be too late. You've already decided to buy a new car when you didn't need to. You took out a home equity loan on your home when you didn't have that much equity to start with. You borrowed money for a vacation that you didn't need, but wanted. All these things that we aquire to make ourselves feel better. We justify them because we think about how stressed our lives are, and that we need to be rewarded once in a while. Well, all these rewards add up. I think we'd feel a lot better if we saved more, lived conservatively and in return, probably more contently. My guess is you won't need so many self indulgent rewards when you're more content (and not having to worry about money all the time). Oh well, this is my small rant for the day.

As for me, I'm trying to live within my means. I've been driving the same car for about 8-9 years now. We purchased a home we could afford, and have maybe 8 more years of payments. We don't make extravagent purchases, and I don't recall the last time I went on a plane for a vacation. We're pretty content, so in general, we're not looking for anything extra. It's not much of a paradigm shift for me, because to my core I'm a minimalist. But for those that like the glitz, I think you better make sure you can afford it, otherwise, you could loose it all in this economy.

Oh, and sorry for not posting for a while, but the future of this countries economy has me pretty worried. I'm trying to figure out what's going to be self sustaining as income for myself and family in the future.