Our semi-rural, island community of a few thousand has been hit hard by the recession. A few stores have shut their doors, and our drugstore, here for decades, consolidated with a branch in another town.

Only a couple of years ago, modest homes sold quickly for half a million dollars. Now, For Sale signs fade in the weather.

Some say the slowdown is not all bad. The development that threatened to pave over the remaining farms and forests of our island with second homes has all but halted. I enjoy knowing that the farm up the road probably won’t be sold anytime soon, and I can continue to walk by and watch the cows and lambs grazing.

I’m concerned, however, for construction workers and others laid off because of the downturn. What can we do to overcome the cycles of boom and bust?

We rejoice when the economy expands and good jobs are available. New housing appears as a sign of a healthy economy.

But arable land to build on is not infinite, and much of the new building erases valuable farm land. Are we expecting the economy to spiral upward forever? To always sell more goods and services?

Can’t someone come up with an economic model that sustains a comfortable economic level without constantly producing more and more and building more and bigger houses?

As I understand it, the last economic boom was fueled by a lot of us buying things we couldn’t afford. Most of that buying was on credit.

Tragedies and unforseen events can force any of us into debt. We’re all vulnerable to such possibilities.

But much of the past credit splurge was for things we could easily have done without, at least until we had saved money to buy them. Perhaps it’s part of the current mentality that infects us. A mistaken notion that because we want it, we should have it and have it right now.

We were blessed in the past few decades in this country to have wealth that had no precedent in human history, spread over a large percentage of the population.

We could have used the vast wealth that accrued to us since the Second World War to eliminate hunger, to build the best school system in the world, and to build liveable cities. We chose to spend our patrimony on three-car-garage houses, Hummers, big screen TV’s, the latest gadgets, and more super highways.

Now we’re paying the price. We bought on credit, and we’re paying huge interest, beyond the value of the initial purchases.

We could change, though. We could learn things like self-discipline, responsibility, and sharing. Perhaps. If we are willing to leave the days of glut behind us. Forever.