EuroYankee

I’ve been feeling like an endangered species these days. When did frugality become so uncool? It seems there aren’t many Americans who live not just within their means but below them.

I am not advocating that people become stingy misers who undertip waitresses and can’t enjoy a gourmet meal or splurge on a beautiful pair of not-on-sale shoes…or two…or three… But it’s also not necessary to max out four credit cards for stuff you don’t need, nor is is prudent to take out second mortages for a Carribean cruise, nor should one be buying a $200,000 house on a teacher’s salary nor should 20-somethings be going $80,000 into debt to become librarians.

When did what people make no longer match up with what people spend? And when did this excessive spending become the cornerstone to American economic wellbeing? Is anyone else worried that our economy is based largely on people buying things they don’t need with money they don’t have?

Why don’t people save money, even if it’s with some unaltruistic goal such as buying a BMW or getting a pair of those fantastic $635 black patent leather Manolo Blahniks or going on annual vacations to places which require passports? I’ll let you in a little secret: there’s a whole country over here of people without massive credit card debt who still have relatively nice lives. You should come and check it out for yourself. If you work me into your itinerary, I will splurge on the best bratwurst and beer that Germany has to offer. You can bet the bank on it!

While researching an article on a copyright lawsuit against Google, I was surprised to find out that it is used for 8 of every 10 searches in Germany. And it’s definitely true that Yahoo Germany turns up a lot less hits than the Google version. Yet some Germans are skeptical about Google’s respect of copyright, among other things. Want to read more? Check out my Deutsche Welle article here.

So I’m flipping through the NYT most-emailed list when I come upon a commentary by Gail Collins talking about how nervous the Dems and Republicans are and how scary it is whenever Bush says anything about the economy because he’s very likely to be wrong.

And then there is this mysterious Spokane reference which I frankly can’t make heads or tails of:

Everybody knows that anything our president says is very likely wrong, and certainly won’t happen. If he announced: “I’m sending government agents to Spokane to arrest the looters,” we would expect that the officials would get lost, nobody would be arrested, and the looters probably never existed in the first place.

What’s that all about?

In my ongoing effort to document the arrival of foreign foods in German supermarkets, I present Yogi Chai concentrate in a carton. Just mix with milk and *presto* chai latte. Of course, it’s no Oregon Chai, but it’s a start. And now that I’ve found a recipe for chai white russians, watch out world!

(photo credit: jk5854)

How does a The Breeders’ tune end up becoming a theme song on NPR? I hear it at least once a week on Morning Edition. Yes, I can listen to NPR even here in ja-ja land. It’s all thanks to an ingenious device called Noxon, which allows me to listen to internet radio and my digital music over the stereo. I love staying up-to-date on the Seattle music scene thanks to KEXP and to hear all my classic rock favorites on Radio Haruaki. Who thought that someday New Zealand radio waves would be rocking my world?

A shout out to This American Life which has done two fantastic shows explaining the financial crisis. First, there was The Giant Pool of Money. Now, they’ve done Another Frightening Show About the Economy. I finally feel like I’m getting my brain wrapped around some of this.

Summer is over. And yet I forgot to post this bucolic window display courtesy of my local undertaker. Here it is, replete with fish, seagulls and seaweed. The only thing missing is a wicker urn.