Random Thoughts

It’s going to be a bumpy ride

Another day, another ride on the financial roller coaster. As I type, the local talk radio station has been trumpeting the market’s closing figures, along with dismal forecasts for retailers, home prices, and in general offering a “THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE!” mindset. Regular programming has been interrupted so that the morning host, an attorney/talk show gadfly, can discuss why things are the way they are financially in the US today with various guest financial experts.

You’d think the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor.

I realize that bad news sells. Really bad news keeps people glued to the TV and the radio; the one thing going up will be ratings. Obviously the country’s–and the world’s–financial markets are in upheaval. We all know that. But is it really necessary to hammer home the idea that every penny we’ve ever saved is going to disappear, and our homes are going to be worth 20-30 percent less tomorrow than they were last month? What purpose does it serve to make us all feel as though we’re not only on the Titanic, but the deck chairs are sliding toward the bow?

I’m not a Washington Post fan, but Robert J. Samuelson has valuable insight to share there today.

We need to remind ourselves that economic slumps — though wrenching and disillusioning for millions — rarely become national tragedies. Since the late 1940s, the United States has suffered 10 recessions. On average, they’ve lasted 10 months and involved peak monthly unemployment of 7.6 percent; the worst (those of 1973-75 and 1981-82) both lasted 16 months and had peak unemployment of 9 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively. We are almost certainly in a recession now, but joblessness, 6.1 percent in September, would have to rise spectacularly to match post-World War II highs.

Samuelson warns that the economy will get worse, and that consumers and businesses will feel the pinch, but cautions against assuming the worst.

The Great Depression resulted from the mix of a weak economy and perverse government policies. If we can avoid a comparable blunder, the great drama of these recent weeks may prove blessedly misleading.

If we can avoid a comparable blunder indeed. Given the fact that we’re on the eve of a presidential election, at least one candidate believes we ought to pay more taxes (isn’t that a great thought when your investments are drying up?!) and they try to blame each other for the current situation. I’m not sanguine about the immediate future.

What got us here? Greed. Individual greed. Corporate greed, yes, but at the core it’s the greed of individuals, wanting to buy on credit houses they could not afford, and individuals wanting the profits from selling the mortgages on those homes. And then there’s the greed of politicians who pushed for those sub-prime mortgage deals.

Lest we throw stones, are any of us free from that greed? Do we not buy things using credit, assuming we’ll be able to pay the bill when the bill comes? We’ve lost the ability to say no to our desires, we’ve lost the ability to be patient, to wait, to postpone gratification until we’ve truly weighed the cost, and come up with the fee for it ahead of time. If nothing else, the current situation is forcing us to “tighten our belts,” and this is not a bad thing at all.

The Anchoress suggests we embrace this time as an opportunity to pray and fast, saying “no” to our appetites (metaphorically and literally) with a higher purpose.

Prayer and Fasting: If you cannot “fast” in the classic manner, consider fasting in a different way. Give up a cigar, or chocolate or a particular treat you’ve been looking forward to. Make a sacrifice - but a real one, even if it seems trite to you; offer it up for the triumph of good over evil in this battle that you know is being fought all around us. Yesterday I really, really wanted oatmeal for breakfast and my husband, noting how badly I wanted it, said “if you want it that badly and you’re fasting, perhaps you should give it up.”

He was right. I offered it up and had something I did not want, instead.

That sounds silly, doesn’t it? But the truth is, this is all a part of the “training exercise” that I think we’re being called to with our fasting and prayer: to try self-abnegation instead of self-gratification, to deny ourselves instead of instantly answering every desire of our hearts. In this way we start to separate the wheat and chaff that have accumulated in our own lives, indeed within our very souls. The oatmeal is a good example. I wanted it, I craved it; I did not need it. I lived without it. I said “no” instead of “yes” to myself and I survived.

It’s a small thing. But we may find ourselves, soon, being asked to do with less and less, and to give up more and more - to increasingly turn away from the world, in all of its illusions, and toward The One who Is and Was and Ever Shall Be (curiously enough, that is not Barack Obama). Best to train for that, and discipline ourselves a bit.

How we view the financial roller coaster really is a matter of perspective. If we see only the track immediately ahead of us, and we forget that it’s only a ride in an amusement park–just one aspect of a much larger universe, a far greater reality–we run the risk of ending up in despair and confusion. When we focus beyond the finite, temporary ride, and we remember that there is a Creator and an eternal reality beyond the park, the burden of fear is lifted.

To that end, prayer and fasting certainly can’t hurt, might help.