What you see displayed to the left is $6/US of red grapes destined for the freezer. Each grape is approximately 4 calories.
Combined, you’re looking at about 960 calories. That’s a bit less than half the healthy FDA daily recommended caloric intake for an adult.
But you wouldn’t eat them all at once, and even if you did, you’d know it wouldn’t be a balanced consumption of nutrients.
We live in a consumption-oriented society. Consumption has driven our economy for years.
Problem now is that while we could have afforded to eat each consumption grape, paying 4 calories at a time, we chose to charge the whole 960 on plastic, figuring that before we ate them all, we’d be able to pay for them.
Looks like it didn’t turn out that way. Apparently, those 960 calories of grapes weren’t satisfying enough, so before we paid them off, we called Pizza Hut and ordered that deep-dish pepperoni with everything on it and put that on the card as well. And it didn’t stop there.
The feeding frenzy blew itself out of proportion and expanded, much like our distended boilers until the natural order of things stepped in and our fragile world of debt-grapes contracted with a bang. Welcome to today.
The Media loves a fall from grace, doesn’t it? Do yourself a favor and turn off the TV. Use the local newspaper to train a puppy. There is no need to panic, especially on Tax-Man Day.
We all know what we need to do to get our houses in order. We are in a period of required contraction. Embrace the lessness and know that the unworthy and greedy are being weeded out by the natural process of elimination.
Meanwhile, enjoy life, one frozen grape at a time. Heck, they’re only 4 calories each!
Your analogy is correct. The media has created this panic of “we are going to hell in a hand basket” attitude that permeates everything in our society. I run a new start up and at the end of our second year we were in the black. Despite all the forecasts of doom and gloom we continue, one day at a time, to build a profitable business. Every day I choose to focus on the positive not the negative. I don’t watch the news, I don’t read the paper, and I don’t engage in discussions about the economy. I believe you get back exactly what you put out there. Kudos to you for your exceptional insight! I couldn’t agree more….
By: Tracy on April 16, 2008
at 10:30 am
so no tv, no credit cards, and no delicious deepdish pizzas bc now im losing sleep over the stress of these items affecting my waist and hairlines… if only they would legalize weed to help me sleep. but then all americans would smoke it and consume all the worlds food, and eventually turn to cannibalism til there was only one human left to starve to death… all i know is if you give me grapes, im makin’ wine. hooray for alcohol!!!!
By: Truelove on April 16, 2008
at 9:07 pm
Re: “The media has created this panic of “we are going to hell in a hand basket” attitude that permeates everything in our society…”
Yeah, the media efforts do seem to result in lots of people becoming terrifies, resulting in panic.
(Then again, this country is hardly in the best shape of our lifetimes – the media notwithstanding.)
Some of the latest news (admittedly, NOT on the front page) has to do with violent wars around the globe over the lack of basic foodstuffs.
I guess people are reading about it:
“Sam’s Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080423/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart_rice
You say: “We are in a period of required contraction. Embrace the lessness and know that the unworthy and greedy are being weeded out by the natural process of elimination.”
… and people are worried in this economic climate about how they’re going to feed their families…
Hmmmm…
Fun fact:
Did you know that deer and squirrels almost became extinct during the Great Depression?
“Natural process of elimination” Indeed…
By: We Need New Government on April 24, 2008
at 12:53 pm