Short term fixes aren't what we need........

As I listen to the politicians talk about what we can do to solve this crisis - I keep thinking your generation can avoid all this. You just need to be educated on how to go forward.

One of the things that just came up is having people take their money out of their retirement accounts without penalty. Which is a great short term fix for them and probably really needed for many people. But what is going to happen to them when they retire? The majority of Americans do not have enough saved for retirement. So by tapping into it early will just exacerbate the problem.

I have worked with many hard working people who have done the right thing only to have their companies go bankrupt and they lose their pensions and the stock. Companies like Enron and Lehman. But the majority of people I spoke with over the years just didn't save enough, didn't understand the principles of investing and now they don't have enough saved.

Another issue the politicians are avoiding is we need to swing the pendulum back. We went from the depression era of scarcity to over excessiveness. I grew up middle class in the 60's and 70's and that was a time that was more balanced. We were green not to be trendy but because it made sense. My mom reused everything, we passed things around - clothes, furniture, cars, and dishes to name a few things. Everyone pitched in to help each other. Then somehow we as a culture became disposable and brand aware. Throw away containers, technology changed so fast that we were replacing at unprecedented rates, marketers convinced us if we didn't have their brand on - we were not as good or cool as others. It shifted our collective conscious and changed our values.

It is time to swing the pendulum back to moderation, cooperation, and our basic values.

Which leads me to share a blog with you! My neighbors are amazing people who embrace these concepts! Mike , Janie and Iyla are the ones that we survived 5 days with no electricity. In their blog The Dragonfly Chronicles they share the fun of family life, enjoying Iyla and just simple pleasures of life.

Stay tuned......