Advice for hard times: kiss fannie goodbye

By the way, I am not referring to you wife or girl friend whose name happens to be Fannie. I am referring to YOUR fannie, as in, your butt.

You see, the conventional wisdom about economics and personal finance happens to go something like this: during good times, save money. During hard times, suck it up, decrease expenses, burn up some of your savings. Guess what, the conventional  wisdom was not demented, though we all treated it as if it were.

How many loans are you carrying? Mortgage, check. Cars, one two threee check. credit card balance, check. Second mortgage, check. Was there a recession when you did that? I rest my case.

I am sitting here typing away post-gin-and-tonic with dinner served thinking why am I venturing this uneducated opinion about modern economics. But look, you do not have to be Ben Bernanke to get this. Throw away money in good times, repent in bad times, how could it be otherwise. So my suggestion for most of us on dealing with our current recession is simply get ready to bleed. Popular culture said hey you can have it now & pay later, and foolishly we agreed.