The American Nightmare

The economic crisis touched the dreams of American families and provoked changes that came to stay.

Economy is a temperamental science, if it can even be called a science. But it is certainly temperamental. Without asking for permission, it invades our households, and it takes our lives away in unusual ways.

In Brazil I’ve been watching the charitable Ms. Economy. In the last 10 years, many Brazilians finally had the opportunity to get that first house, a brand new car, new appliances and even the ability to go on vacation to Porto Seguro.*

In the United States, their Ms. Economy is going through a hard time. She’s always in a bad mood and shakes up the American family structure.

In the past two years, the recession, the destruction of trillions of dollars in wealth and 8 million lost jobs have forced Americans to adopt new habits, including holding off on moving out of Mom and Dad’s house, searching for educational institutions closer to home, waiting on the changing of cars, and in some cases, packing and working abroad in order to have better opportunities.

Unfortunately for American girls, there were fewer weddings in the U.S. over the past year. Americans are tying the knot a lot less than last year. Everyone knows that weddings are expensive. With fewer jobs and less available credit, the brides are waiting for better days, or [couples are] even choosing to move in together, the cheapest way to go now, instead of the traditional route of signing papers, wedding receptions, dresses, cakes, etc.

Also, if you think getting married is an expensive event, wait until the visit of the stork and then diapers, school, after-school activities and so on. The number of births also decreased as a precaution. The additions to families are now left for a “later-on-in-life” moment.

So is it right to say that with the recession the number of families and also their size are decreasing? Not necessarily. With this kind of economy, nothing is too simple.

There is also another fact that could cost families as much as weddings, honeymoons and even babies — the possibility of a divorce. The number of divorces has dropped, too. Better to put up with him or her than to pay for divorce expenses. It seems like that’s how a lot of Americans are thinking these days.

They also think that this recession is something temporary, and that soon enough, it will be gone, just like many others. Everything will go back to normal in no time, this new tendency will also be gone, and everything will go back to normal.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the same faith. During almost three decades, families, financial institutions and the government got into a lot of unnecessary debt just to support a lifestyle where consumption was superior to that of their own income. [It was inevitable that] one day this whole recession would happen.

If I am correct, it is possible that the long period of mediocre economic performance was the major factor in the permanent changes in the American family structure. Marriages, children and relationships were all sacrificed for financial reasons. Poor American dream.

*Porto Seguro is a famous vacation destination in Brazil.