THE GOOD SIDE OF RECESSION

Don’t attack me when I tell you that there is a good side of a recession. And no, I’m not one of the executives of AIG that got a huge bonus for poor performance. I’m just a frugal stay at home mother who has watched families buy carloads of unnecessary stuff that was bought on credit for years and who is now watching those same people drowning in debt with a FOR SALE or a FORECLOSED sign in the front yard of their homes.

The upside of hard times is that it brings out the "we can do it" attitude that makes America such a great place. Excess has made us fat, lazy and according to the rest of the world, very difficult to love and respect. Oh, and let’s not ignore that many resorted to less than admirable tactics to mound up cash to float their unrealistic, wasteful lifestyles. I wonder if this is the reason that I hear some say that we needed a recession?

Whether it was needed or not, there are difficult times ahead. Anybody who thinks that the economy is going to be fixed overnight is delusional or may be privy to a method of debt reduction that probably would not hold up under close legal scrutiny. For those of us who like to live on the right side of the law, difficult times call for tightening the belt, trimming the fat and working on a frugal household budget or under the worst of conditions, asking for assistance.

One good side of recession is not only the fact that an economic slowdown might give our planet a much needed cooling off period, but that many libraries are reporting a 30 percent and better increase in their book circulation and an approximate 20 percent increase in patrons overall. Nobody wants to lose a job, their home or be without sufficient food and clothing. But when searching for positives in a sea of negative news the fact that our children may be reading more might produce a generation of kids who are competitive in the world’s job market of the future and if we had to suffer a recession to get the job done maybe we will have learned a valuable lesson.

Return to Oooh Baby Baby Parenting and Environmental Issues for more comments on the positive side of recessions.