Attrition

The economic model of the “Developed” nations on this planet is based upon a single overriding premise. This premise is, in a word, “Growth.” As long as everything within an economy is growing, then all the debt can be serviced (I.E. interest paid) and the house of cards may continue.

History has proven that there is another side to this model and just as the ocean tide ebbs and flows, economies also ebb. These “Ebbs” are called “Recessions” and, in case you didn’t notice, the world is in one right now.

I was not being cute with the bit about your noticing. Certainly you notice. You notice extremely well as of now, unless you are a big banker, big government official, or big business owner.

If you are one of these three, you are able to ignore the effects of “recession” by printing money, voting yourself a raise, or outsourcing your production costs to the third world.

For the small guy, however, especially those getting buy on fixed incomes or unable to find sufficient work, the recession is felt daily on a personal basis and this effect is termed “Attrition.”

No! This is not an economic term in Uncle Milton Friedman’s Chicago School bible; this is a reference to that empty hole where lunch used to reside within the 30% of Americans afflicted with obesity.

To be fair, most of us are not actually hungry yet, but there are subtle events of Attrition that are giving little vampire kisses to our cash flows. Most noticeable probably is when filling the gas tank. Even though great effort is ascribed to keeping oil prices down, somehow, when the oil becomes gasoline, the price curve bends upward.

By planning fewer trips to the store, this Attrition component may be somewhat relieved, at least in the short term, but it does not go away. The next subtle bits of Attrition are results of mortality, as in the death of labor saving and helpful devices.

The weed eater croaks. No problem, I’ll use the hedge trimmer. Oops, the hedge trimmer dies. Ok! I’ll just mow a little closer to the edge and try the machete. Forget the machete, after twenty minutes my arm is falling off. How can these undocumented immigrants do that for eight hours straight?

What is missing is the money to buy a new replacement, and forget “repair,” unless you can ship it to Egypt where they still are able to rewire something.

Next goes the stereo. Well, the TV has speakers, but no more surround sound.

The microwave is now a lovely, shiny with black glass door “Breadbox.” Fortunately, all those warm up items may be dealt with on the stove or in the oven just like mom did in the 1950’s. It is actually not too difficult to tear open the microwave popcorn bag, scrape off the yellow goo into a big skillet, and shake it until the little white things miraculously appear.

This process only takes half the time of nuking the bag but the skillet and lid must now be washed.

Within three months, two reading lamps decided to go permanently dark and since they both utilized “Green” type light bulbs (requiring a transformer in the base), it is goodbye for good. The switch on the kitchen ceiling fan half died so to light up the room, the fan continues to always turn, even when we are shivering. That’s fine!

We have other lights in the kitchen, at least for now and the sum total of all these “Attritions” are merely inconveniences, readily circumvented with a bit of common sense.

Then it was the vacuum cleaner.

Uh! Oh! That is a real dilemma. It stopped sucking. Oh yeah! The roller brush thing continues to spin and vibrate all over the floor, but no more suck, and the only way for a vacuum appliance to really “suck” is if it doesn’t.

The moral herein seems to bring this little discussion full circle. If the economy sucks, but the vacuum doesn’t, “Attrition” governs. OK Alfred! Where is the prize?

[custom_script adID=97]

Written by VIP Members Larry and Cindy Windes. Larry is a retired architect who has designed and built projects in dozens of countries around the world and Cindy was a computer teacher and administrator for a semi-conductor design center and they both now live in Costa Rica.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.