Riding out the storm.

We are in a hole or should I describe it as a Well with steep perpendicular walls, smooth, very difficult to climb out, a blue sky at the top seems so inviting, yet so distant. There are people peering down at us. There's a Chinaman, and an Indian, a German, a Brazilian, someone who looks like they are from Malaysia and a the ubiquitous Texan simply staring at the once mighty, now fallen .
We have just had a budget review. The picture is grim, not in the way it is for a Somali or even someone living in Greece but grim enough as we say goodbye to growth and the opportunity we had taken for granted, that things will always get better. 
If we stop growing or we stagnate we will have to return to the mind set of the 40s / 50s, thankful for the simple life. We will have to exclude the lure of the credit card, the replacement therapy, putting off immediate gratification and learning to live within our means. 

Holidays will have to submit to a budget, one a year of no more than a fortnight and the flat screen will have to do without the full Sky package. We have become addicted to growth, growth of our pay packet, growth of the houses we live in, growth of the car we drive, growth in our persona through the improvement we have come to expect. It is difficult to sell the concept of living within ones means but in my youth the concept of having to save before the purchase was ingrained.  Debt was unacceptable, if you were in debt you kept it to yourself. How we have changed.  Of course the economists insist on growth to power the system, the markets are in thrall of growth, no growth, there is no confidence no confidence and they baulk at investing. The idea of taking the long  view is an anathema to the stock market and we have to realise that without growth in our main trading area, the EU, we have to batten down and ride out the storm !!