Today there is an interesting article in our local newspaper, The Advocate. It is titled "Debt Woes Nibble at Cards," by Rachel Konrad and Bob Porterfield of the Associated Press.

According to Konrad and Porterfield, on top of the current mortgage crisis, Americans in record numbers are either falling behind or else defaulting on their credit card payments. Indeed, the percentage of Americans in this situation increased by double-digits from October 2006 to October of this year, with credit card accounts at least 30 days overdue jumping by 26 percent to $17.3 billion at 17 major credit card companies and defaults increasing by 18 percent to almost $961 billion (Advocate, 2008, p. 4A).

That, my friends, is scary news, given it does not bode well at all for our national economy, especially since, as we all know, Washington has been frantically striving to find a way to prevent our economy from plunging into recession in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Of course, I think this data supports what I argued in an earlier blog, which is that we humans are inherently greedy. We honestly think we have to have it all and have it right now, this instant, not a moment later. Then again, "The desires of the consumers to want, want, want, spend, spend, spend--it's the fabric of our nation," at least it is according to Howard Dvorkin, founder of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Advocate, 2008, p. 4A). 

We Americans are like so many spoiled children, who think we are entitled to all the expensive toys on the shelves in every store in town. We are entitled to the latest plaything--whether it's a state-of-the art coffeemaker or cell phone or wide-screen plasma TV. We deserve them. They are our birthright. And if we have to go into debt to have them, then so be it. We'll worry about paying when the bills come due.

In my opinion, for what's it worth, I think we could all benefit from reading--and then seriously taking to heart--what a wise man penned in 1846, for those words ring with just as much wisdom today as they did then:

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind."

The same writer said, "I went to the woods to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

His name was Henry David Thoreau. His work is titled Walden. If you have never read it, I suggest you do.

Konrad, R., Porterfield, B. (2008) "Debt Woes Nibble at Cards;" The Advocate; Baton Rouge, LA., Monday, December 24; p. A1-A4.

Perkins, G. (1985) The American Tradition in Literature: Sixth Edition. Henry David Thoreau; Walden; Random House; New York. p. 476-510.