Auchtoon!Subprime Quicksand…
Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, August 27, 2007
There is a story in my extended family about a young man who had recently graduated high school, but was seemingly making no effort from that point to move on. No career path, no job, no further education, no source of income. When another relative challenged him on this, he replied (in complete sincerity) that he did in fact have a plan: “I’m buying lottery tickets every day!”
While not always that naïve, we Americans have demonstrated with disturbing consistency an enthusiastic willingness to suspend reasonable expectations to mortgage the future. This subprime loan crisis is only the latest example. So it only figures that with a government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” it, too, can be found sinking into the quicksand of debt.
See? I told you last week that I’m hoping to be a frumpy irascible curmudgeon….
