Now and Then: Economics and Direction, by Charles Laws.

We are living in an addict's world. We make our pleasures, now, and pay by going into debt, which we think we'll pay, then. The more debt we accumulate, the greater the rush of pleasure and the sense of accomplishment -and life-, with a touch of anxiety that helps fuel the addiction.

Economists tell us one person's debt is another's investment. But that equation is balanced only when the interest paid to the investor ultimately results in a benefit to the society in which the debtor is an integral part. The interest payments to pension fund investments are given as an example. We have been led to believe that our world is better by keeping up the flow of money, filling our lives with disposable materials, being occupied with incomes and work. Some would say submitting to the system.. becoming a slave, by choice. We have created a system which tells us-- Buy now, (someone else will) -Pay later. Play that thought back starting about 1950 and we find ourselves headed toward the highest standards of living ever recorded, about twenty years ago. What was possible then was realized by investing resources that were to be generated in the future -the then, but that's by us, -the now. The concepts on which our system is based were used by economic and national leaders to sustain economic growth and "national direction". The resources dedicated to the cause were drawn from what we have to generate or depend on today.

We must admit to having the expectation that our children will not be better off than we are, and that we are probably not better off than our parents were. This is our society's inheritance. We can consider that we are better off, only if bigger homes, faster cars, more locks, and less "free" time are the measures of advancement. Our parents, or their's, knew a depression, in some cases a drought and total losses of livelihoods and place. But they had a faith in family and survival through hard work. Faiths and abilities which have been significantly eroded by choices and events of the last sixty years. We have allowed ourselves to enter an era of debt, or politely expressed- investment. The difference between being a debtor and investor, of course, is that one puts life and labor at risk while the other risks surplus capital and wealth while obtaining security from the commitments of those laboring.

With the personal debt we now hold, and the debts we have accumulated by making "improvements" in our communities, states, and nation we, in our society, devote more work just to pay the interest on our debts than any people, ever. Why ? For the pleasure of having "it" now and paying for it by imagining that "tomorrow" we will be working without knowing what to do with our income. We assume that we'll have more disposable income, more time, next month, next year. This assumption may be based on the expectation that our labor and effort will be worth more, then, when we finally have to pay. The thought that we will need the higher income to pay for the higher priced goods and services we will want, is not considered. So we buy and borrow and end up with less time, less choice, and a lower proportion of our income for our personal needs and community wants.

This is a perspective from the view of the taxpayer who pays with time and labor. The view from the investor's perspective is quite different. And that of the speculator, or gambler, is different still. At this time of elections the point is to consider and act to direct society toward goals which we genuinely believe will benefit the society as a whole. What we may sense as a rush of achievement in the excitement of electing someone who seems to say what we want to hear may not be sustained as the effect of what we think we want to hear collides with what is possible.

There are hard choices before us. Our debt structure and the philosophies which place us in this state must be reexamined. Those who personally benefit from the present system must not be permitted to control the evaluation or directions which must be found. Money must be removed from the political process. Our economic system is clearly unsustainable, and must be changed. The present type of legislators and bureaucrats can not do it. Only the people can!