by Gary Sacco

Created on: May 05, 2009

It is interesting that many assume the recent recession will lead to indelible changes in people's lifestyles. Undeniably, people are budgeting and making adjustments. One personal example involves shopping. I now buy at least 90% of our groceries a Sam's Club, a discount store affiliated with Walmart. Our area's highest quality, most dynamic grocer, Wegmans, is just too expensive. Across the United States, and probably around the world, consumers are eschewing new cars in favor of their neighborhood mechanic's magic. Even corporate studs, Microsoft for example, are dismissing thousands of workers. While people certainly have cut back, one wonders if they will become more financially savvy, in the long term. Based on the materialistic society we live in, the cyclical nature of the economy, shorter memories and a pathetic sense of history, people will eventually return to their old habits.

Surely, some are convinced that people will absorb the ramifications of this difficult lesson and actually learn something. Proponents will point to the Great Depression as proof. The era really indentified that generation. It produced an incredible resolve in our grandparents who, after the most horrific economic crisis, possibly ever, fought, then won, a World War. They also became great savers who protected their money and watched every cent. Our parents' parents loathed throwing anything away, unless the item was unusable. They abhorred food left on dinner plates. That generation would be contemptuous towards the colossal portions offered in modern restaurants. "What a waste," they'd think. The stories of hiding money in mattresses or carefully stored shoeboxes are plentiful. This generation never relinquished a distrustful attitude towards banks!

Unfortunately, these values will not transfer to the big spenders of this new millennium. This recession certainly is potent. No less than Warren Buffett described conditions as "an economic Pearl Harbor." Most experts predict that this recession should start breaking sometime in 2010. The Great Depression devastated the country for more than a decade, finally subsiding during the boom sparked by the war demands. Current unemployment stands at 8.5%, a nasty number. During the bleak 30's, jobless numbers ranged between 15%-25% yearly. This current downturn will fail to leave a significant enough psychological scar to change behaviors.

There are tremendous generational value disparities. Then, homebuyers intended to purchase houses

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