They say there is an economic crisis.  That we don’t have much disposable income.  That fewer people are in a position to make significant purchases.  That gas will be $4.00 a gallon soon.  Five dollars by summer.  But we can’t get tables at our favorite restaurants; theaters are full; sporting events and concerts where the cheap seats are close to three figures are sold out; there are more Escalades than Smart Cars filling the highways.  How did 2 + 2 get to equal 87?  We think we have it figured out.

If you have the right memories, roll back 30 to 35 years.  Gas was getting close to $2 per gallon and there was real outrage about it.  Tickets for a ball game were for the first time more than $10 for the good seats, more than $5 for the bleachers, and fans were righteously upset.  Ten dollar entrees on a menu meant you were at a restaurant requiring jacket and tie and a very serious relationship or an expense account.  Proportionate to what salaries are, we were actually in better economic shape then.  Yet then we economized, today we spend.  The difference between then and now is the difference between paper and plastic.

No, we aren’t referring to credit cards as plastic.  We mean debit cards.  Thirty years ago we had two choices when it came to making purchases.  Credit cards which nobody used unless planning a vacation and the travel agent needed paid that night or forget about the advanced purchase discount.  Or cash which everybody used but everybody also wanted to keep as much as possible in their pockets or purses.  Cash then meant cash.  When we filled our gas tank and it cost $20, we had to pull a twenty dollar bill out of pocket and watch it disappear into a cash register.  Those tickets for the ball game cost real folding money passed through the iron gated window opening at the ball yard and they were replaced by jingling change.  We even used money, sometimes only coins, at fast food stands.

Today, a sixty dollar gas tab paid with “cash” means swiping a card at the pump and maybe gathering the receipt after filling and really maybe recording it into a checkbook register.  Concert tickets are purchased on line with debit cards.  Even fast food restaurants have card swipers on the counter to eliminate the need to carry cash.  Chances are pretty good the balance gets checked once a week on line and maybe a second look to see that there aren’t more stores listed than actually shopped.  We seriously doubt there is much attention paid to the column with the $ followed by some numbers.

Today money seems to not mean terribly much to many people.  Make your selections.  Swipe a card.  If you happen to swipe more times for more funds than you have money in the bank many bankers have overdraft protection pulling funds from savings accounts or automatically debiting lines of credit.  Yet it’s all “cash” even though none of it folds.  So while mortgage rates stay low because ire was vented over high rates and people refused to buy and thus buy into the inflated charges, bacon costs more per pound than lobster two years ago but nobody is calling for pig boycotts.

Out of sight.  Out of mind.  Never actually seeing cash get handed over person to person has clearly kept rising costs out of sight.  Not recognizing the consequences of this lack of concern has clearly put us out of our minds.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?