Since Jeff and his wife moved here and opened Fixx coffee shop, I had been in love with Fixx moca. It is like a drug for me. “Good morning”, Jeff greeted, “as usual?”“Yes,” A smile welled up on my face. Both my hubby and I are his frequenters with good tips. “The little one is in school already? ““Yes”, Jeff loves my boy. He taught him how to play on the game machines without pay.Jeff was in a good mood for talking. I was in my last vacation week. Why not?Jeff used to own a family business producing parts of the automobile. Sadly, he had to sell it last year ……We were talking about everything under the sun: holiday, weather, family, business, economics, China, politics, America……somehow Jeff brought up a topic – debts.Jeff’s parents came from Germany. I was surprised to find that he was raised the same way as we Chinese. No debts but savings.“It’s crazy that most of Americans are living on credit cards. They have no savings! But they drive fancy cars.” Jeff looked serious, “My wife and I both agree that we won’t have children till the day we have enough money in bank. I wanna provide my kids a decent life.” I can’t blame on him. Take a moment to consider one of the most common but mysterious forces at work in our daily lives: money. In American culture, money is ironically viewed as the primary means for being self-sufficient. Americans have a go-it-alone model of problem solving entrenched in the American way of life that glorifies a loner mentality for getting things done. Moreover, they’d rather borrow money from bank than their parents and siblings. Unlike Americans, we Chinese get all sorts of help from family including financial help and we do not regard it is embarrassing. The big trends are propelling more and more Americans into debt, overwork, and fear about their financial futures. American debt levels are up, savings rates are down, and average credit card balances are over $7,000 per household, more than double our consumer debt of a decade ago. Why is this happening?Materialism is certainly part of the problem. Americans like to shop. Americans like big stuff and lots of it. I always see a cute American woman drive a huge SUV. According to Warren and Tyagi's research, between 1970 and 2000, median family spending went up by 81 percent for mortgages, 74 percent for health care, 47 percent for cars, and 116 percent for taxes. Although a second income - the mother's - has offset some of these financial burdens, it also adds new expenses, such as childcare, and doubles income volatility. When families depend on two paychecks instead of one, they run twice the risk of encountering layoffs or other job-related problems.Perhaps the most serious issue driving families into debt is the rising cost of health care. I personally think that American medical service is ridiculously expensive and poor.Both Jeff and I agreed that the United State was marching ahead along the path -- the middle class group was shrinking currently. Someday it would be exactly like Great Britain. The debts made the English middle class group disappear. The survived upper middle class group is being overtaxed while the poor class group is being expanded with more and more bankrupted middle class families joining in.Let’s see what the US government could do. In October, 2004, the Wall Street Journal published a story describing a new method of measuring a nation's progress--"gross national happiness." It's hard enough to make everybody more prosperous, educated and healthy, but imagine if the government was responsible for keeping you in a good mood. Pray for the United States. It’s time for me to say bye to Jeff, “Great Moca! Ciao!”
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