We live in a microwave society.  We want everything yesterday.  We buy on credit today, that which we cannot afford until tomorrow (maybe, not even then.)  We buy more house, more car, more TV, more washer and dryer, more of just about everything than we can afford.  Then we work and work and work –  under a stress load that our forbears would not even be able to comprehend  –  to pay it all off.  And if we don’t get it paid off, hey, there’s always bankruptcy.

I remember when I was young, if you filed for bankruptcy you might as well have had a big red “B” tattooed into your forehead.  Everyone in town knew you, you were the recipient of the scorn of all, and you were looked down upon with disdain and disgust as one who wouldn’t, couldn’t, or at the very least didn’t, carry his (or her, of course) own share of the load.

Then somewhere it all changed.  Enough people started failing that it became impossible to keep up with everyone who had filed bankruptcy.  As it became more and more common, it became less and less undesirable.  There wasn’t the stigma attached to it, and it ultimately became an acceptable and viable means of resolving your unwillingness to bridle your out-of-control need for “things” — especially things you can’t afford.

Businesses are not immune to this state of affairs either.  Businesses that used to pay as they went got caught up in the easy money syndrome with the same catastrophic effect.  I remember when I was young, if you wanted to say something was bomb-proof solid, you said, “This is solid as Sears.”  Sears Roebuck and co. was the epitome of a bedrock solid business.  What happened?  Does anyone consider them solid today?

If you want to read a good article about what caused our current situation and where this is all leading, I direct your interests to Pat Buchanan’s blog entry of Sept. 19, 2008.  The title is “The Party’s Over.”  It talks about how we got into our current financial mess and where we’re headed.  Don’t miss this one!!

At any rate, businesses that are going to flourish in the “new” economy (meaning working through the economic difficulties we have right now and in the future) are going to have to learn (or re-learn) fiscal responsibility to survive.  Those who pay as they go, are true to their word, carry their own weight, and the like will be largely immune from the problems in the coming months and years.  Those who succumb to the lust of easy money and who live fat on easy credit will reap the whirlwind.  This is a time to move forward boldly, to be sure –  but conservatively.  This is not a time to move forward recklessly.  When your bills are paid and you have a healthy “rainy day” fund, you have a lot of options.  When the bank is breathing down your back, you have virtually no options and life is not pleasant.

You are in control.  What will you do?