Paying back $2.7 trillion!

There's no doubt that the world has changed a lot over the past 50 or 60 years. Things today are not the way they were back then.  This week I've been learning about two things that have changed dramatically in the US over the past several years: finances and food; and I must admit, I'm blown away by the numbers. 

Did you know that in 1929 only 2% of American homes had a mortgage? By 1962 only 2% did not have a mortgage! In 1980 there were about 500,000 bankruptcies. That number changed to 1,500,000 in 2002! In 1980 consumer debt was at $1.3 trillion. (1) Today that number is over $2.7 trillion!! (2) 

(4)

This is crazy! How awful to see that when it comes to finances, we probably changed for the worse! Sure it's easy to get a home, a car, pay for college, but it can come at a terrible cost: debt. And debt is like a prison. A financial prison.

But finances is not the only thing that has seen a drastic change. According to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this is how some food has changed over the past 20 years: "Hamburgers have expanded by 23 percent; A plate of Mexican food is 27 percent bigger; Soft drinks have increased in size by 52 percent; Snacks, whether they be potato chips, pretzels or crackers, are 60 percent larger." (3) 

A study by Penn State University's College of Health and Human Development discovered that the more food is put in front of people, the more we eat! (3) Hmmmm... makes you think, doesn't it?

(5)

Do you think these changes came with negative results? What about the rate of suicide caused by financial stress or the high percentage of marriages that end in divorce because of financial problems in the family? And what about the high rise in heart disease, diabetes, and stroke that so often result in poor quality of life and families being deprived way too soon from the company of their loved ones?

I don't really know why things have taken the direction they have. Maybe in the end it's a financial issue since there are a lot of people getting rich at the expense of the ones who keep borrowing and the ones who keep eating big food. It could also be because we've gone from a society that cared for each other to a society that cares only for "I". I don't know. What I know is this: it's time for a makeover!

It's time to go back to the basics. It's time to go back to living a simpler, healthier, and more abundant life. It's time to pay back the $2.7 trillion and gain back our freedom! Freedom from the financial prison, freedom from bigger waists and poor health. 

But how do we do that? Looking at the big number can be daunting. Consumer debt is off the charts. We step on the scale only to find out we have graduated to overweight or obese. How do we gain our freedom back? Well, just like we didn't gain the weight and poor health over night, we won't regain our freedom overnight either. It takes small, but extremely important, steps. Just like with finances you need to know where your money is going, so with health you need to know what is contributing to the weight gain and disease. You need a budget!

You could stop drinking soda when going out to eat. Water is cheaper and lets you enjoy your meal more. Play more with your children, walk your dog, don't have dessert every single day, strive to eat a salad daily, increase your amount of fruit intake, consume more fiber, cut down or eliminate caffeine, go to sleep early, read a good book instead of just watching TV. Those are all small changes that will pay big dividends.We may not have control over how much the total consumer debt is, but we can control our own spending. And we can't control how big the food offered is, but we can control how much of it we put in our mouth.

And just like taking control of your finances will help you slowly but surely leave the debt prison, by taking control of your health you will leave behind a life of disease, depression, and poor quality of life. Let's do this! Let's take control of our lives. Let's pay back the $2.7 trillion! We can do it! Let's start today!

(6)

 

(1) Financial Peace Revisited, Dave Ramsey
(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/07/us-consumer-debt-record_n_2260457.html
(3) http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=129685&page=1#.UYs0RoL187A
(4) http://www.genengnews.com/media/images/AnalysisAndInsight/Feb14_2012_13473732_DollarsIncreasing_BudgetFY13FDACDC_II1072658836.jpg
(5) http://www.ergo-plus.com/healthandsafetyblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/portion-distortion-visual.jpg 
(6) http://weightloss.mashangel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/quick_healthy_weight_loss_tips.png