Rebooting into Safe Mode

Who hasn’t been talking about cutting back lately?

Sharp declines in confidence and spending are rippling through nearly every area of the economy, though there are some recent winners: Walmart, Autozone and Netflix, who all report higher sales and earnings. From these we can draw some basic behavioral conclusions: Americans are watching every dollar, fixing not replacing cars and we’re staying home.

We’ve rebooted. Into safe mode. You know, like Windows safe mode; that place that your PC takes you when it’s been compromised by some Godforsaken spam attachment. In safe mode, you can’t do much of anything: no wireless, no hi-res monitor, no media or email, no multi-tasking. Just a barren desktop waiting for someone to resolve the underlying issues.

There are two ways to look at this.

1.) My first response is to bitch about why there has to be a safe mode to begin with. If they (we) hadn’t turned the operating system (the banking system) into a monster, then safe mode wouldn’t be necessary.

2.) Then I breathe deeply and admit that, yes, I’m in safe mode. We all are, whether the programmers (banks and borrowers) screwed up or not. So what’s next?

• First, I take stock: Do I have all my files? (Are my family and friends still here?) Yes, mostly.
• What did I do to compound the situation? Which freeware was it? (Did I borrow too much? Did I ignore the risks?) Uh-huh
• Can I contain the damages? (What’s important? What can I control?) That’s clear.
• Now, what can I do to correct and prevent the problem? (How can I save more? How can I waste less? Who can help me? Who can I help? What votes do I regret? How will I vote in the future?) That’s clear too.

The question isn’t if will we reboot into normal mode again. The question is: “What is normal?” Folks, normal isn’t Walmart, Autozone and Netflix.

Normal is buying from people we know. Normal is sharing rides and neighborhoods. Normal is playing cards, or reading or going outside. That is how it was for thousands of years, and it is the way it will be again. It is only when we stopped doing these things that we skidded out of control.

Looks like either we’re going to be in Safe Mode for a while, or we’re going to start acting like humans again: cooperating, sharing and making sustainable choices. Operating systems can’t do what humans do; we can simplify, and it's always better when we do.

- Nicholas Hayes