Recently, I read an article entitled, Stay or Go? The Lasting Effect of the Staycation. It centers mainly on the itemizing and scrutinizing of your vacation costs and the new habit of calculating return on investment (ROI) from the things you do on said vacation. In the worst part of the recession, travelers had pared down their vacations to only the most important things. And it claims that, as travelers add some things back, they will continue to scrutinize and add them back in order of highest ROI. Wow, that means that Americans learn from their experiences. They remember and adjust accordingly. It sounds right, but is it?
Michael Lewis’ book, The Big Short, chronicles the credit default swaps and the banking machine that almost brought down the entire world of finance and capitalism. However, it isn’t the first book that Mr. Lewis has written on the follies of Wall Street. I would venture to say it won’t be the last. I’m pretty sure there are creative financial wizards thinking up the new disaster right now. Will we be buying into something else we don’t understand in three or four years looking for that elusive return on investment? I’m thinking we will.
We forget things. Remember Vietnam? It’s part of our optimistic makeup. It’s what got us here in the first place. I know I really can’t afford a house ’cause I barely have a job, but I’m gonna buy it anyway. By the time the payments are due, I’ll be discovered by Spielberg, my ship will come in, a bag of money will fall on my head, an uncle will die and leave me his fortune, I’m due, my luck is going to change, I’ll pull myself up by the bootstraps, I’ll get that job at the nuclear reactor – so today sucks, but tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow, it’s only a day away. OK, I can’t make this first payment, but by next payment, I’ll be discovered by…
It’s the American dream. And the American dream has rules.
Rule 1: Everyone should be able to own a house.
Rule 2: Everyone should have hope for a more prosperous tomorrow.
Rule 3: There are only setbacks to the American dream. The actual dream does not end until you die. And even then, it lives on with a flag.
Rule 4: Everyone who is an American, and some who are not really Americans but work hard and happen to be in America, is entitled to live the American dream, even if they might not be legally American dreamers.
Rule 5: Everyone should be able to enjoy a vacation with their family where they waste money on pina coladas, expensive hotel rooms, room service, massages, crazy dinners and souvenirs because we’re not all rich and deserve at least a weekend where we feel like we’re rich.
6. Everyone should be able to start over at the end of the year with a Mulligan.
OK, those aren’t the real rules. We have this thing called the Constitution where there are rights and such that mean the same thing but it’s written in old-timey Jeffersonian. I know that Jefferson meant those rules, though. He would take trips to France where he would buy tons of wine from all the châteaux he visited. It was like a trip to Napa that took a year.
My point is that we want what we want. And, sometimes, the only way to get it is to forget. If you forget, you can do the things you want to do.
For instance, you can have it all for at least once a year. You can’t have it all if you remember the bad times and cut out anything that doesn’t have the right ROI. The very meaning of having it all is not worrying about ROI. That seems to be what vacations are for as well, forgetting stuff.
What’s the gangster say to the guy he loans money to, “Fuhgeddaboudit,” until he sends the guy to break his legs.
“Honey, what’s the ROI on that crab cake? Send it to me in triplicate with a side of mango salsa chutney so I don’t forget.”
