outside looking in

All I read about nowadays is the economic recession (the one not officially announced) in the US and how it is affecting the country. I read stories that people are digging around for aluminum cans to pay for their mortgage and having to choose between gassing up the car or paying for groceries. It was an article on Yahoo!'s MLB page that inspired this entry as I look in at America from the outside.

I understand that times may be hard in the States but I can't help but wonder just how hard they might be. The stories I read talk about the hardship that people are facing but when you start to read between the lines, it becomes obvious that the people mentioned in these stories could be making better financial decisions. For example - there is a couple mentioned in the baseball article that are having trouble making their mortgage payment. They scour Dodger stadium and its parking lot after games to get recycling products to attempt to get extra income, sometimes gathering $80-90 worth for their efforts. Oh by the way - they pick up the recycling AFTER they've watched the baseball game, which they own season-tickets to see. That's right, the two of them paid nearly $1600 for 40 Dodger games when they are struggling to pay off their mortgage. At $40 per game, it looks as though the recycling gig is a good one, helping to pay for their pastime as well as a little extra. But when you look at the cost of owning and driving a vehicle, cost analysis shows that this isn't the case - they are losing money by going to the baseball games. At least they don't buy the $10 beers or $5 hot dogs when inside.

But these two aren't alone. Major League Baseball says that attendance figures are up this year compared to last (which saw 2007 set an all-time attendance record) and there is no sign of slowing down, despite the tough times people are complaining about. The average cost of taking a family of 4 to a baseball game - $200 (tickets, food, drinks, souvenirs, gas, parking, etc.). If you take the family to one game a month for the season - that's close to $2000. For some families, that's a mortgage payment. Alas, baseball isn't the only drain on the American pocketbook and I shouldn't pick on just that.

Americans are currently complaining like crazy about the price of gasoline and they have no one to blame but themselves. No one has demanded an energy policy out of a President ever and no President has had one since the Carter Administration. Remember Carter? That guy in the 70's who saw the future of America being tied to oil and tried to change that path. He installed solar panels on the White House, he tried to push through legislation that would require car manufacturers to increase gas mileage, and he provided incentives for those developing and using alternative energy resources. And then came Reagan, who dismantled the solar panels (his first day in office), vetoed the legislation, and spent the incentive money on arms to fight the Cold War. Sadly enough, no President since - Democrat or Republican - has tried to ween America off of oil.

Before we all attempt to blame a select few in the government for not watching out for our best interests, let me remind you that we all share the blame. As consumers we dictate the marketplace and the car manufacturers will make cars that we demand and we've demanded large SUVs that have huge amounts of power but suck down the gas. We ignored the common sense that has been staring us in the face for the last 30 years (technically more but I'm only going back to Carter) and always figured that there would be an unlimited supply of cheap gas. Everyone knows that oil is a non-renewable energy resource and there is only so much in the ground. The more we take out, the less there is and the higher the price. And the cars we've been driving use A LOT of that expensive resource. Americans knew this was coming, we've been told this since we were kids in grade school, but we shirked the responsibility of telling the car industry what to make and got "security" with the SUV market. Our own damn fault...

If America truly is in a recession and there is a need to cut back, we are going to need to take a look at the "essentials" of life and seeing if they are truly essential. Cable/Satellite TV is not a necessity of life, you can do without the mindless entertainment that is modern television (I've been doing it for the last couple of years). You don't need to drive everywhere - try riding a bike or walking. Not only do you save gas but you also get exercise which could help with the obesity epidemic, a topic I won't go into here and now. Professional sports events are nice but you do realize that the money you spend makes the elite richer and you, the average consumer, poorer - right? Is anyone who plays a sport really worth $25 million a year? C'mon, its just a game. How about we value the truly important people of our society and pay them the big bucks? Aww, just a pipedream.

So America, take heed and start taking stock of the true essentials of your life. You need a house, food, and basic transportation to get from home to work and back. Meet those needs first and then see what else you can afford. Turn off your Dish Network, ride a bike to work, spend time with your family doing something rather than sitting at a game and watching someone else have the fun. There is a way out of the recession and it isn't on your Visa or American Express card...