Like many people, I received my electronic deposit from the economic stimulus package this week. Not that it will do me any good. Nor should it. I forgot, when I set up the terms for this challenge, that I had pre-planned a vacation to Boston and Rhode Island for Memorial Day weekend. The flight and lodging are already taken care of, but obviously it should cost more than $2 a day to sightsee in New England, right? My friends and family all assume that I'll either abandon the experiment for the duration of the trip ("It's a vacation, from everything!") or use the stimulus check of $300 as fun money for that purpose. No way. That's exactly what the feds want, and right now, I don't think they should get what they want. I figure if Santa Cruz, the second-most expensive place in America, can be done on $2 a day, so can New England. Kind of. Here's the full explanation:
Any money I don't spend from my grocery budget is fair game on vacation, and any money I earn from selling possessions (clothes, books, whatever) is also eligible to go in the wallet for the trip. Also, if I'm ever making my best friend miserable with this whole deal (after all, I'm supposed to be visiting her to cheer her up, not punishing her with a deadly budget), then obviously I'll cheat a little. But the stimulus money is going straight to my friendly local credit card liege. And I encourage everyone to do the same with it: retire some debt if you have debt, or put it in a savings account if you don't. Or maybe invest it. But for goodness sake, don't run out and make a $325 purchase with the "free" $300. I'm no economist (though I'm hoping to talk to a few before the month is out), but I think the next Great Depression will not look like bread lines and flying stockbrokers. The next depression will be one of debt, and the housing crisis is the first horseman of that apocalypse. Right now, the national debt has gone from healthy to incorribly obscene . China is stockpiling dollars, and could torpedo the U.S. currency at any time , though most people think it won't because it needs our market of voracious consumers to keep it afloat, so such a move would be economic suicide (at least until India or Africa or even Europe picks up the spending pace and starts to foot the Chinese bill). The average American family has between $2,200 and $9,200 of credit card debt (depending on who you listen to, and even CNN doesn't know for sure apparently). And low interest rates have combined with years of official denial to keep salaries from inflating at the same pace as consumer goods and real estate, meaning that today's young generation simply cannot afford the lifestyle of their elders with their earning power. There's some cause to worry that if earning power doesn't increase soon, today's college graduates won't be able to afford any lifestyle at all, other than living at home or in massive shared houses with shared possession. Not that this future would be terrible, but it would certainly be a huge adjustment in mindset. The very kind of adjustment I'm struggling to make. So for the feds to pump cash into our wallets (which is actually not cash but another form of delayed debt -- like a debit card against future taxes) is not only nonsensical, it's irresponsible. Retail and travel spending have pulled the American neck out of the noose before, but that trick only works so many times before the money itself loses meaning. Is there anybody out there who is having a make-or-break moment with that money? It's only supposed to go to those who pay a certain threshhold of taxes, not the very poor ... so if there is anyone out there who needs to use that cash to buy groceries or chase off a creditor for a month, my case is closed. It's not very stimulating to be told, in so many words, that money just needs to circulate to make everything better. Incomes are too strained by the denial of inflation. While it would pummel savings (particularly the about-to-retire Boomers), the only cure for today's crushing debt load is either loosening the recently-tightened bankruptcy laws, or letting inflation take its course. But, like I said, I'm no economist. I'll come back to this topic with the experts sometime later in the month. *** I spent my first 50 cents this weekend. I had to be in mid-county all day Saturday for business reasons at a government meeting (remember this if I ever let slip something about free concert tickets; it's not all ice cream in this line of work), and later wound up in Capitola. The parking gods did allow me to immediately find a meter right by the beach in the Village with 30 minutes still on it. Unfortunately, I needed 60 minutes. So, I began my journey to make change for a $2 bill. After -- no joke -- being pooped on by a seagull and then attacked by some other little angry black bird (it clawed my scalp something fierce), I popped into the Mercantile building to see if I could get quarters. Capitola, as most of you probably know, is no place to be found with an expired meter. I believe the official city policy is to turn you upside down and shake you until change comes out of your pockets if you're caught. The first shopkeeper, in the cafe, smiled the entire time she refused to take my $2, even opening her register to pull out a stack of approximately 15 singles and wave it in my face, saying, "I'm almost out of change, see? Go someplace else." I thought about arguing that a $2 bill works great for change as well, but something behind that smile was vaguely threatening, so I obeyed. The next shop did take my bill, but only after grousing. (It will remain nameless, since I didn't identify myself, being in a hurry and all, so she didn't know she was on the record.) The owner said, "I hate these. They're just the worst," as she slipped it under her credit card slips in the far end of the money tray. Aren't they useful for giving change to someone who drops a $20 on a $6 purchase, lighten the load so to speak? "Too much work. My husband hates them, too. He takes them straight back to the bank as soon as I bring them home." I was sad to have my first $2 going into circulation doomed to zip right back to the cold dark vault, but I needed those quarters, so I surrendered my Jefferson and got back all those familiar Georges. That's the only money I've spent so far, which means I have $11.50 in my wallet right now. Party time! Actually, in full disclosure, I did spend some more of my grocery budget at Shoppers Corner. Since I had $10 left in my allotment for this week's food, I allowed myself the extravagance of non-stale bread ($3) from Sumanos Bakery and a tub of chocolate ice cream ($4) for milkshakes. Still $3 left to go nuts with. Mmm ... nuts.... |
