Dima was born and raised in Russia and he lives near Moscow with his new wife. They traveled to Spain for their honeymoon and seem to have had a great time. So, what did Dima say that got me thinking?
Here is a portion of his e-mail.
"We didnot feel any crises in Spain, but when we came back to Russia - the TV says every day that Europe is in very poor situation. Some countries - like Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain are very clouse to defoult. What do you think about it?"
I responded later in a general way, but I have been thinking much about it. I wrote:
"The default issue is a concerning one. Too many countries have spent too much money. The world financial situation will be a challenge for this generation."
But, I think I have more to say on the topic because I finally know why Dima's observation seems so illuminating to the issue. It would take non-Western eyes to see what would be too normal for me to notice. Spain, by Dima's account, looks beautiful. He complimented the architecture and called his trip fantastic. So, why does Dima's question illuminate the issue?
Because Europe and the rest of the Western world has brought itself to the knife's edge financially to maintain an obscene lifestyle. So many countries are ready to default because they were willing to borrow not just to fill emergency needs or invest in itself, but to finance an unsustainable standard of living without long-term sanity.
It would be like discovering that a millionaire went bankrupt. The thing is, though, that millionaire's go bankrupt all the time. When I learned that former Denver Nugget player, legend and coach Dan Issel went bankrupt, I was surprised. The newspaper listed debts of a lavish lifestyle. Horses, a leveraged mansion, and more vet bills than should be incurred in 10 lifetimes (in a related note, horses will ruin even the very rich... I've seen this particular thing happen many times).
Yet, if I were to have visited Issel the day before he went bankrupt, I bet I would have been impressed with his estate. I cannot know what it was like for sure, but it seems fair to guess that it would have seemed fancy. Mr. Issel aside, I bet some millionaire somewhere paid for the house cleaning service while skipping house payments. And, the place would look wonderful!
It seems to be the side-effect of having too much.
I visited Dima in 2003 and had a great time. While there, I took detailed mental pictures of the little differences. Russia seemed like the burgeoning capitalist society everyone says it is. It was rough around the edges and looked like a country trying to make its way. Much was similar, but it was wilder, unregulated (I do not think regulation exists there) and rugged.
Dima once complained about seat belt laws while a student here in the states. I remember him saying, "and you guys say you are so free!" We all laughed about that one. As I think about it now, it makes me think of the Internet comedy sensation "First World Problems." These pictures feature people who look absolutely miserable, sad or frantic and feature saying like: "I poured a bowl of cereal before checking to see if we had any milk. We didn't."
The point is that his perspective makes this "crisis" look so much different to me. When someone is going broke, we think of that person selling the extra toaster or downgrading vehicles. What Dima showed me was that broke people can also go down the drain while lighting cigarettes with $100 bills. Russia looked like a country trying to upgrade to own its very own toaster. Meanwhile, Spain and much of the West in general is "supposedly" going broke without selling any of its 10 toasters.
We bitch. Things are comfortable, but we bitch. And we can't give up any of our 20 toasters even though we can't pay rent. In fact, we "consider" giving up one toaster even though everyone should know that won't solve anything. Seriously, have you listened to our political discourse on this? We don't want to give up ANYTHING of any actual value. Fighting a 3% tax hike on the wealthy is like saying we shouldn't give up ONE toaster even though that wouldn't help much anyway.
We won't even go down the drain lighting $50 bills instead of $100. So, we look a little too much like Dan Issel's house probably looked before he filed the bankruptcy, complete with stables and spotless banister.
In short, we all must look like fools.
I responded later in a general way, but I have been thinking much about it. I wrote:
"The default issue is a concerning one. Too many countries have spent too much money. The world financial situation will be a challenge for this generation."
But, I think I have more to say on the topic because I finally know why Dima's observation seems so illuminating to the issue. It would take non-Western eyes to see what would be too normal for me to notice. Spain, by Dima's account, looks beautiful. He complimented the architecture and called his trip fantastic. So, why does Dima's question illuminate the issue?
Because Europe and the rest of the Western world has brought itself to the knife's edge financially to maintain an obscene lifestyle. So many countries are ready to default because they were willing to borrow not just to fill emergency needs or invest in itself, but to finance an unsustainable standard of living without long-term sanity.
It would be like discovering that a millionaire went bankrupt. The thing is, though, that millionaire's go bankrupt all the time. When I learned that former Denver Nugget player, legend and coach Dan Issel went bankrupt, I was surprised. The newspaper listed debts of a lavish lifestyle. Horses, a leveraged mansion, and more vet bills than should be incurred in 10 lifetimes (in a related note, horses will ruin even the very rich... I've seen this particular thing happen many times).
Yet, if I were to have visited Issel the day before he went bankrupt, I bet I would have been impressed with his estate. I cannot know what it was like for sure, but it seems fair to guess that it would have seemed fancy. Mr. Issel aside, I bet some millionaire somewhere paid for the house cleaning service while skipping house payments. And, the place would look wonderful!
It seems to be the side-effect of having too much.
I visited Dima in 2003 and had a great time. While there, I took detailed mental pictures of the little differences. Russia seemed like the burgeoning capitalist society everyone says it is. It was rough around the edges and looked like a country trying to make its way. Much was similar, but it was wilder, unregulated (I do not think regulation exists there) and rugged.
Dima once complained about seat belt laws while a student here in the states. I remember him saying, "and you guys say you are so free!" We all laughed about that one. As I think about it now, it makes me think of the Internet comedy sensation "First World Problems." These pictures feature people who look absolutely miserable, sad or frantic and feature saying like: "I poured a bowl of cereal before checking to see if we had any milk. We didn't."
The point is that his perspective makes this "crisis" look so much different to me. When someone is going broke, we think of that person selling the extra toaster or downgrading vehicles. What Dima showed me was that broke people can also go down the drain while lighting cigarettes with $100 bills. Russia looked like a country trying to upgrade to own its very own toaster. Meanwhile, Spain and much of the West in general is "supposedly" going broke without selling any of its 10 toasters.
We bitch. Things are comfortable, but we bitch. And we can't give up any of our 20 toasters even though we can't pay rent. In fact, we "consider" giving up one toaster even though everyone should know that won't solve anything. Seriously, have you listened to our political discourse on this? We don't want to give up ANYTHING of any actual value. Fighting a 3% tax hike on the wealthy is like saying we shouldn't give up ONE toaster even though that wouldn't help much anyway.
We won't even go down the drain lighting $50 bills instead of $100. So, we look a little too much like Dan Issel's house probably looked before he filed the bankruptcy, complete with stables and spotless banister.
In short, we all must look like fools.
