Greed Is Killing Our Economy

Everyone already knows that the hording of possessions and money has always been a very large driving force for the human culture. This even dates back to ancient times when military generals would acquire goods while on a campaign, when the ancient Roman Senate would bend rules for powerful individuals, and the list goes on. It's been there for thousands of years of recorded history, and it's not going away anytime soon.

Greed is a part of human nature, to be greedy is to be human. You may not think so, but ask yourself this question. Did you get the most economical car out there? Or did you purchase a nice looking car and were willing to pay more for it? Do you have a big home? Do you go on shopping sprees where you spend an arm and a leg for items that you'll never use?

The problem of being human, is that we always try to out do ourselves on every level. This can come in many different forms, such as being the most popular person at school, having the biggest house on the block, the largest high definition big screen among your friends, and so on.

Have companies faced the same issues? Yes, they have. Every year a company tries to beat their previous sales record, and as years go by that drives prices upwards. When you get a new person into management there may be a period there where he or she tries to make a name for him or herself. How do they do that? By selling more goods then their predecessors, by cutting costs (even jobs) in hopes of increasing the net profit. While they do this, they are effecting the people around them. Jobs are lost, prices continue to increase, the cost of living is more difficult to the manage, and so on. Have you ever noticed your cell phone bill, cable bill, or other bills gradually increasing in costs? Look next time, you may notice it slowly going upward.

Do you remember in the 1970's that housing was about $25,000 for a typical home with basement? The average wage back then was about $13,000. What is the average wage today, about $32,000? How about the average cost of a home? It's about $250,000 for anything reasonable. The ratio between the wages earned and the cost of having a home is much different than back in those days, and much more expensive.

Do you remember years ago when a typical family would have one phone, one economical car, and one television? What is it like nowadays? Each person has their own phone in their room, each person has their own cell phone, each person has their own television. On top of that we add subscription costs of having cell phones, as well as internet access. How about those magazine subscriptions, online game subscriptions, fast food costs, our daily coffee, and all those extras that we filter into the equation? Your starting to take notice how much more expensive our day to day needs are. We are in a sense, spoiled, and it's costing us.

The big question would be, if we cost cut and do away with all those extras that may prove very useful, but ultimately not needed, would we have much more money and fundamentally lower our living costs? Do you believe at this point that we can do that, do away with our cell phones, our sports car, and all of our fun toys and subscriptions that we don't need? How much do you think you would save if you were to cut away some of the fat, would you save $200 per month? $500? I think with the recession that has come on, we may need to re-think our living situations, don't you?