Sign Of Times

Times have changed definitely in the last year or so. I have been reading a lot of stories on how the current crisis has affected people's behavior and how businesses are struggling. Below are some links to news that show the signs of our current times.

A 99cent store goes bust by a 98cent store across the street. More Here.
Increase in Vasectomies as couples find it difficult to raise kids. More here.
Couples putting off their divorces to stave off tough times. More here.
Counties charging fees to respond to accidents to cover shrinking budgets. More here.
Driving Tickets on the rise as municipalities try to raise revenue. More here.
Increase in adults moving in with parents/relatives on loss of jobs/homes. More here.
Doctors see increase in patients seeking help with anxiety and stress. More here.

The above are news clipping from here and there. On a personal level, the sign that times have changed can be seen in the picture below. A old saying says 'A picture is worth a thousand words'.



This is the picture of the refrigerator at my work that I took recently. I wish I had taken a picture of it a year ago. This would have conveyed the story I am trying to make. If few six, seven digit earning analysts could predict that the house prices can go down causing this bubble, how could I predict that there was a story in my work refrigerator. For lack of a picture, I will resort to words(in less than thousand words).

Nothing has changed, my location is same and the refrigerator at work is the same old one. But just a year or year and half ago, half of the refrigerator would be empty. There were very few people that were bringing food from home. Nowadays, almost everyone I know around me are bringing home made food or left overs for lunch.

Lunch is not the only thing that is occupying the space. Breakfast too is being brought from home. The fridge is being stacked with all kinds of 1/2 gallon milk cartons - non fat, low fat. 2%, whole, Soy-milk, over the moon(milk that tastes like whole milk but is low fat milk). My colleagues are bringing breakfast from home or buying them at a retailer like Trader Joe's, Whole foods etc in bulk, instead of on a daily basis at the cafeteria or at any retailer on their way to work(Dunkin Donuts, Wawa and Starbucks or roadside vendor close to work were most popular).

I am not sure if this change to more prudent living is here to stay. I believe, it is not from a conscious thought process that frugal living is good for them. it has to do with the insecurity brought over by the bad economy. There are wild speculations that this recession has created a new paradigm, a change in the way people look at their way of living and how they spend money. Some of these analysts are worried that the economy will see a lot more savings, thereby causing the recession to recover slower.

I am not sure about that latter part. But savings need to be increased a lot more to have a stable, secure households to which they can fall back on in times of crisis. The current model of consumer spending driven economy has produced more recessions at a alarming increasing frequency. Back in 2000 they used to tell that economy goes in cycle and a recession comes once ever decade or so. The period between the current and previous recession is only 4 years. This increased frequency of uncertainty is definitely not a good sign.