When Should We Worry About The Economy?

When should we start worrying about the economy?

This is quite a polarizing question and yet I have many an answer. If you are well off or even qualify in the ever shrinking middle class, you’d be surprised to know that I think your answer will be the same as everyone elses.

The answer is always.

We should always be worrying about the economy as we should always be worrying about and looking after others. Mindfulness is not a hard thing to achieve and yet it is so rare to come by. I often wonder why it is that the people who have the least are willing to give the most but the ones who have so much give so little?

Why is it that the cries of the middle class over the price of eggs is heard louder than the cries of mothers looking after their starving children? Why is it that we as a society are willing to ignore the struggles of the lower class as long as it does not affect our day to day lives?

Why do we look down on the homeless even when they are not physically below us on the street? We should not have to justify our caring about them because they’re veterans or someones relative; we should care because they are someone they are people.

This question has been thrown around a lot in articles now at days, ‘When should we start worrying about the economy?’ and my answer to you is that not worrying about it or refusing to worry about it is a clear sign of ignorance and privilege. Even if a problem has yet to reach you (Much like the first class on the titanic) does not mean that it isn’t a problem; It means its a problem that you simply don’t care enough about to look into.

We are currently falling deeper and deeper into a modern gilded age and while the name sounds decadent and appealing in all the ways that glamour generally tends to; I’d like to remind you that the exploiting of children and the working class was so bad at the time that people had to strike and die to fight for basic workers rights that we now take for granted.

Those same rights that corporations and capitalists would love to rip from our cold dead fingers. So while we’re on the subject of workers rights and the other 99% of the world that do not happen to own private jets, I’d like to remind you, the reader, a member of the majority that we do not owe corporations anything.

We do not owe them our loyalty if we’re being mistreated, We do not owe billionaires any more of our hard earned and even harder to come by money and we certainly don’t owe celebrities any more of our time which in recent years has become capital.

Its time that we worry about the economy because its the decent thing to do to worry about one another. Humanity should never be ruled by the monetary and human decency should not be something that only exists in those who can barely afford to have any, let alone afford to breathe.

When we are children, We are taught that ‘sharing is caring’ and yet somewhere along the way that lesson has been lost- dare I say, obliterated. Why is it the billionaires have gained monopolies and the ability to squash small business owners or the better question would be; Why have we allowed them to?

Why is this a conversation that needs to be had?

How have we gotten so lost in our need for instant gratification that we have allowed the middle class to be eviscerated so severely? People who used to be able to afford to live can now barely afford their groceries and those who already couldn’t afford groceries can now no longer afford their homes.

The question is no longer ‘When should we worry about the economy’ , the question is ‘How did we let it get this bad’ and maybe even ‘Why haven’t we put our foot down sooner.’

We should not allow a capitalistic society to step on the 99%’s necks and then villianize us for not spending as we so often see in the news. The answer is that we the consumer are not the problem. The problem is very clearly the corporations who raise prices to exorbitant rates and then get angry when their customers can very clearly no longer afford it.

Dare I say, These companies went and got big heads.

Meanwhile everyones pockets have shrunk and their bank accounts have closed.

‘When should we worry about the Economy?’

In my opinion, that is a question being asked decades too late and maybe, just maybe, we should be worried about how to fix this economy instead.

*Disclaimer - This is an opinion piece based solely on my experience living through this current economic crisis.