David McCoy

When we were all rolling in those filthy-rich, blissful days of Internet summer, all around us, people were saying, “The old rules don’t apply!”  Bricks-and-mortar are dead, clicks are the new currency, the old economy is dead, long live the new economy.  The market only goes up, income only goes up, house prices only go up, the old rules are dead.  Give me more stock options, more web pages, more risk.  Give me more debt, bigger loans and more exposure. If I can’t get in on that IPO, I might just kill myself.  We are on the cusp of a new economy – everything is new and different.  The old rules don’t apply.

Well, the old rules came back, didn’t they? 

Now, we hear the same message: “The old rules don’t apply.”  Stocks only go down, income only goes down, house prices only go down.  How long do beans and rice last in storage?  No one will buy, no banks will survive, nothing works.  The old rules don’t apply.  No one to lend, no one to borrow, no assets, no future.  We are on the cusp of a new economy – everything is new and different.  The old rules don’t apply.

Well, the old rules will come back, won’t they?

They will.  The rules never really went away. We just forgot them.  We just subdued them. We just didn’t grasp the bigger picture of economic cycles and waves and mistakes and remission and recovery and rebirth.

The underlying economic, social, cultural, political and ethical rules are a lot harder to change than we give them credit for.

The rules still apply.  Ride the current economic wave with dignity and with perspective.  The rules are still there, and they are still at work.  We are not the ones who will break the system.  We are not.