In This Recession

Update: Well, things aren’t too much better four months later. Oh, the papers say that unemployment has leveled off…so now it’s now only as bad as it gets, rather than getting worse all the time. Yay. However the Wheel of Fortune Slots turns, or something like that…

The dollar is in the crapper and the stock market keeps having fits. Doesn’t seem to keep the rich from getting richer or the corporations from pumping out new disposable useless consumer goods. Oddly enough, there are plenty of people who seem to raise the money to buy these things…either they’re gambling online much more successfully than I am, or perhaps the economy is doing okay after all? Well, for some people, it’s no different than it was five years ago…

Anyway you want to see it, things aren’t getting any better for most of us in the near future. There is some good news: good ol’ Barney Frank is one big step closer to clearing the way for online casinos US players can go to without worry about their money, and that’s what I call a Very Good Thing!

You can complain about it, joke about it, worry about it, whatever you like. I’m going to enjoy this recession to the bitter end.

How does one enjoy a recession? Well, think about it this way: unless you’re Ben Bernanke, you’ve probably got no control over the economy. It’s either going to get worse or get better, or stay the same. What can you do? Might as well enjoy it. Play some online slots or something.

Or you can enjoy the fact that the collective efforts of politics, economics, technology, and human society have led us to the brink of worldwide catastrophe…and all anyone can think to do is figure out how to get us ‘back on track’. You know, because it worked so well last time.

Personal crises are perfect times to get a good look at your own life. National or global crises give all of us the same opportunity on a larger scale. Most of us (individuals and nations alike) have dug a pretty deep rut and it takes a big jolt to remind us that we can actually steer this vehicle after all.

Also, let’s face it — most of us enjoy really looking at ourselves as much as we like going to the dentist (and much less than going to an online casino USA). Many of us have simply lost the ability to see ourselves as we truly are; only the most serious of situations can give us a shock of identity.

The same is true for ‘the economy’ (a simple term for a complex system, much of which has little to do with economics). When faced with recessions such as the current one, we can treat it as shabbily as we treated the better days — with sound bites, knee-jerk reactions, and an overall status-quo herd mentality — or we can actually bear down and think about what brought us here and what opportunities we suddenly have.

This could be the best recession ever.