It's not only Mr. Big, of "Sex and the City," who's got wedding panic. It's Mr. and Ms. Big, Medium and Small, too. If your dearest darling is suddenly noncommittal about commitment, blame it on the Congress. This dreary, droopy, poopy economy is gradually turning even passionate lovers into procrastinators and commitmentphobes. Even the gay marriage excitement everyone expects to be such a big deal may get a cold chill when the couples look at each other's savings account balances in the cold light of the ATM.
My household certainly isn't jumping into any big financial commitments in the near future, how about yours?
A story in the most recent issue of the national forecasting magazine called The Futurist, says the money is really making us nervous. That's not "crystal ball" people talking, it's accountants. Talk about the jitters:
Concern about the economy's future is compelling 41% of American adults to delay making major life decisions, such as buying a home, marrying, or even undergoing a medical procedure, according to a Harris Interactive poll for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. This response is 11 percentage points higher than a year ago. A lack of savings is the main reason cited (28%) for delaying life decisions, while 18% pointed to concerns about the overall U.S. economy. "It's alarming that so many more people are choosing not to get married, buy a home, or further their education because they don't have the money," says Carl George of AICPA, which has developed programs to promote financial literacy and personal savings.
"...in the cold light of the ATM." Good stuff Gail, Last Saturday, was the Bee having a little a little fun with headlines? on the front page's photo pictureing a long line of unemployed "suits" desperate for a job, under the headline; "Economic outlook glum". On the first page of the local section, (no picture), the headline reads, "Homeless to get $500 to $5000 apiece". I suppose the homeless were among the first Americans to find out about our re/de/downturned/pression, but when the New York financial district workers stand in a job-interview-possibility line that is so long it fills an entire fish-angle lens, THEN, by Bernake, it's front page news.
I learned that the seemingly never-ending roll down chain of comments is called a BLOG.
To my ear that is no more of melodious pitch and timbre than is slob, glob et.al. but BLOG it is.
But I am astonished how numerous the comments are, responding to any topic that contains homosexuality; and how few are the comments to the topic "Putting love on hold"; dealing with the quality (or the Bush administration's lack thereof)of the people's economic life. Just 1 comment(beside my own.)
Collectively, we sure have screwed up priorities. Posting comment, does that make me a blogeress?
Wow! Imagine that.The media telling us how rotten everything is,that EVERYTHING is the fault of Pres.Bush, with Izzy and Swifty piling on.I look forward to this media generated economic slow down thinning the ranks of the media itself.It would be fun to run into one of the editorial board of the Bee doing some real work. I have chosen not to participate in this media driven prophecy other than to score on some good deals and donate more to deserving charities.Blog on Izzy...whayever that makes you or you want to call yourself.