Changes

I just finished reading a news column from Thomas Friedman. He quoted an article from "The Onion" where a Chinese worker in plastics talked about the crazy things Americans would buy, like salad shooters, use them for awhile, then just throw them away. You know, I used to have a salad shooter. I used it quite often for awhile. I must have thrown it away or hopefully given it away when I moved after my divorce. I've actually kind of missed it though.

Getting back to the point: Friedman says that this depression may actually be more than just a depression. 2008 may be the year that Mother Nature, and the stock market said "stop". It's time to stop spending more and more for things we don't need, stop trying to make more money than we need, and stop using up our natural resources and throwing away whatever we get tired of. He mentions that we're constantly working to grow more and make more money to buy more things made in China so they can get more money to buy more T bills so they can lend us more money to buy more..... You see where this is going.

I've always thought that a country who's gross national product is essentially it's consumers spending more and more is likely heading for a fall. Have you noticed a falling feeling? Fortunately, people are beginning to realise we need to build sustainably, recycle etc. Hopefully, it will all come out well, but the new world may be different from the old.