My Hope for 2010: David Loftus

I suppose I could hope for something really wonderful and earth-shaking (in human terms, anyway) like an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a world treaty to stop the production of greenhouse gases, or a dependable alternative energy source that replaces petroleum, but none of those seems to be within the realm of possibility within the next year. There are also things I wish to achieve personally in 2010, but those are mostly in my hands; I regard them as closer to plans than hopes.

So my hope is that most Americans will clear up their consumer debt and stop buying things they don’t really need, especially on credit. In the past, about 70 percent of the Gross Domestic Product has depended on consumer spending, but we have to stop measuring economic health this way. It’s become a big, unending, breakneck cycle of production and consumption, mostly for their own sake. One of the great ironies of the past half-century is that corporate America has managed to sell the notion that spending money is an expression of freedom . . . so that citizens overspend on credit, and succeed in losing their freedom to banks, lending companies, and sometimes even the sheriff.

If Americans were to break out of that rut, they would discover subtle but deep psychological and spiritual rewards. Once free of the accumulation-of-debt-in-order-to-keep-consuming cycle, fewer folks would feel tied down to their particular jobs. They’d be more likely to devote their energies to activities -- even work -- that they love, less likely to cling to neglectful and abusive partners, more likely to spend time with their children, and less likely to turn to drugs (from aspirin and shopping and television to alcohol and heroin) in order to get by. And little by little, the world will become a better, happier place. That’s my hope, anyway.