Confessions of a Shopaholic

I'm not one, but I play one on tv...LOL! Actually--I'm really not a shopaholic, most of the time! When this movie first came out, the NY Times ran an editorial suggesting that in a time of economic crisis, perhaps this wasn't the best movie to run. Now that I've actually seen it, I personally disagree. Ü

I think that this movie portrays the bigger symptom of our economy. We got into this mess because we couldn't find it within ourselves to say no. We were drawn in by the lure of pretty things telling us that we deserved them. Hell with the finances--that's what credit is for! And damn it--just like those evil credit card companies that keep sending out pre-approved credit letters to everyone and their brothers...well, the mortgage industry started to do the same thing. And we started to believe that we really could afford those huge mortgages on our meager salaries. We were being taught to live beyond our means--and being applauded for it.

It's been a long time since the depression. Many of our grandparents who lived through it aren't around any more--they are no longer the voice of reason telling us that we have to work for what we have--we have to earn it. That voice isn't the loudest anymore--the loudest voice has been that of the bankers...insisting that we can afford this loan, that we can afford this credit card.

Apparently we need to start listening to the quiet voice--the one that tells us that we can have whatever we want AFTER we have worked for, saved, and earned it.

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