March 1st, 2009

Reality check?

The recession is horrid. And yet Americans still lead lives of staggering material abundance. That’s a point driven home in this TV clip, which everyone and her brother has sent to me this week. 

 

Category: Economics | Tags:

Get a Trackback link

6 Comments

1. Helen on March 1, 2009

   Great clip. Who is he?

2. Mike Sporer on March 1, 2009

   My wife and I loved that video. Great lesson in perspective.

3. beth on March 1, 2009

   I love this, saw it the other day on facebook.

4. jeffbrantley on March 2, 2009

   Dan,
   Thanks for sharing… Louis CK really puts things in perspective with a good and funny reminder! I was thinking what will be the “next” big whiny complaint mantra? In 10 years will it be “My Gosh! I waited 10 minutes to fully recharge my car for the week! … and the internet didn’t work.”

   Regards,
   -jb

5. Katy on March 5, 2009

   Perfect. I think about these things frequently: like with email. Sometimes we’re mad there isn’t an instant response, when only a few decades ago it took a guy on a horse running at top speed to get mail from point A to point B in what? A week? Several months? Now “snail” mail, which takes a couple of days, max, isn’t good enough: we need to fed-ex it, or fax it, or instant message it.

   What would our great-grandparents think of us? Or, how would we explain this “need for speed” to them? It is truly amazing. No wonder we all need a break.

   Thanks -

6. Suttkus on March 6, 2009

   This video made me laugh, All true. It’s all relative though. When the guy on the horse became obsolete due to the “telegraph”, the next generation was making fun of the guy on the horse for being slow and obsolete because they had the newfangled telegraph. The same went from the telegraph to the phone, etc. Let’s also be honest with ourselves. We have all complained when technology has broken down. Lets dispel with the fantasy that we don’t react when our internet is slow, or video won’t load fast enough or ” I’ve got no bars on my cell phone…dammm!”. It also has to do with the next generation and what they are accustomed to. Everything is speeding up around us,yet we still process information the same way as our forefathers. Younger kids are being exposed to better, faster tech. They are responding to their environment. Thankfully we have our parents and grandparents to say” I remember when you had to….”. It’s nice to have the “truth” thrown at you once and a while. Hopefully it will put things into perspective for the next generation.