A new mindset will develop in the face of growing debt

I concluded this week’s column by saying, “Just as Englanders will learn they are running out of room for the dead and must share limited space, Canadians will learn the time for excessive lifestyles is over and must learn to live within their limited means.”

I admit ‘Englanders’ is an odd term, but I just wanted to emphasize that mindsets do change, and should.

Okay, Englanders won’t be burying all their dead double-decker style in great numbers by the end of next week but eventually will be. And Canadians, who have had it so good for so long, won’t enter a permanent age of austerity overnight either.


["Rust is tough to hide": photo of Edsel by GAH]

In fact, if government stimulus cash turns our economy around and we go back to work (at something, anything) in bigger numbers and spend our paycheques like there’s no tomorrow and rack up debt as we did in the past, we might enjoy an age of excess (again) for a few years before another economic or recessionary bump comes along.

And why not spend, spend, spend?

That’s what we’re trained to do, expected to do. That’s what our governments and businesses want, and - in general - Canadians tend to be a very co-operative, helpful and compliant people.

We just want to get along. And keep up with the Joneses and that other new family (What’s their name again?”) that just moved into the big house down the street. And have the latest new thing.

But the mindset related to frugality will develop. It has to, for a variety of reasons most Canadians well know.

My recommendation: Practice frugality now so that it’s easier to do in the future.

Don’t let your frugality skills get rusty.

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Rust is a terrible thing, isn’t it?

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