Planning

Any economy, whether on a personal scale or on a national scale, is a combination of planned events and events beyond your control. You plan how to obtain income and you plan how to spend income and you acquire assets on a schedule. It's all very conscious and planned out, whether you are an individual or a nation. At least it should be. We, as individuals and as a nation, have botched much of this simple equation.

The interaction between individuals in an economy should not be planned out to a great degree. It should exist inside a set of fair laws and regulations, but beyond that, economic interactions should be on circumstances mutually agreeable to all participants, without government intervention.

What has warped our abilities to plan our economic direction has been the steady encroachment of debt and credit into our lives. By allowing people to 'have now, pay over time' we have predictably created a nation where people choose 'have now, pay later' over 'work today, buy tomorrow', because the first path is easier. Now, as a nation, we're a soft, bloated, debt-ridden international beggar. Very embarrassing. I'm glad our Founding Fathers can't see us.