We are being told that the economy matters most. Various Republican figures seem to think that it would be better to let the old and infirm die, better than put the whole population at risk than have the Economy suffer. The Economy! We would be nothing without it, or, Trump would be nothing without it, for the “booming economy” is the solitary boast of Trump and his Republican minions.

But how booming is the economy? The national debt is $23.3 trillion as of February 2020, and we would now have to add the vast sums being paid out as a “stimulus package.” Closer to home, the average credit card debt for American households is $5,700; the average debt for households that carry a balance on their credit cards is $9,333, and the current average interest rate on credit card debt is 16.14%. Last year the total home mortgage debt was $9.4 trillion. The total auto debt was 1.3 trillion. Student-loan debt was $1.48 trillion.

We are all in debt up to our eyebrows. And the guidance we receive from politicians and from the advertising industry is: Don’t stop spending spending, support the economy! They tell us this because if Americans became frugal, stopped buying things they don’t truly need and started paying the entire price in cash at time of purchase, the Economy would collapse because it is built on hype and sand.