Blog #8

The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?
By: Kurt Andersen
Source: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1887728,00.html

"During the '80s and '90s, we were Wile E. Coyote racing heedlessly across the endless American landscape at maximum speed and then spent the beginning of the 21st century suspended in midair just past the end of the cliff; gravity reasserted itself, and we plummeted."

The perfect analogy for Americans these past 20 some years. Andersen vividly sums up how the American lifestyle has continued to grow ever since the 80s and has yet to stop until now. And we wonder why we didn't see it coming?

Since the 80s Americans have been indulging in the excess of society. In '82, Americans saved an average of 11% of their disposable income. That number has plummeted to less than 1%! The price of a new American home has quadrupled. And now a third of Americans are obese, where as in the 70s only 15% were.

"Golden ages and empires do come to an end." Basically, there has to be and there will be a change in America. Americans can not return to the way things have been for the past 20 plus years. There must be change and great change if we are to remain on top. Americans are going to have to revamp their mindset and shift their way of thinking. We must break our addiction. "We are like substance abusers coming off a long bender, hitting bottom (we can only hope) and taking the messes we've made as a sobering wake-up call."

Andersen concluded his vat of knowledge with this and show shall I: Now that we're accustomed to the unthinkable suddenly becoming not just thinkable but actual, we ought to be able to think the unthinkable on the upside, as America plots its reconstruction and reinvention.