Seduced By Debt #
June 10th, 2008 | In Worth Considering
Sounding a tad more conservative than usual, David Brooks laments America’s spending well beyond its means:
Over the past 30 years, much of that has been shredded. The social norms and institutions that encouraged frugality and spending what you earn have been undermined. The institutions that encourage debt and living for the moment have been strengthened. The country’s moral guardians are forever looking for decadence out of Hollywood and reality TV. But the most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money.