What's the impact of the 2009 financial crisis on American culture?

I was recently asked this question by a reader of my blog -- and thought it was such a good question that I'd ask all of you.

My initial answer -- "I don't know" was accurate but insufficient.  I think that this past year is going to be perceived as having a significant impact on our culture. Below are some random thoughts on the question in the title of this post:

• The crisis was self inflicted and could not be externalized that easily. It's a little like a smoker who develops a bad cough.
• The crisis was not bad enough to cause real crisis in the streets -- or more specifically, the crisis wasn't so bad as to unite people in an emotion of grief, frustration, anger.
• The Madoff story gives both an externalized bad guy and a mechanism for uniting people emotionally. 
• People who were conservative with debt are the ones that worked through this period the easiest. 
• Our way out of the crisis includes the issuance of massive amounts of country debt -- the repayment of which remains a question.
• I like the idea of Pres. Obama and Gov. Schwarzenegger as the best bond salesman in the history of the world.

Comments

[Morgan]

Greetings,
Times like these scar the collective mind.

Fear and uncertainty lead us to coping mechanisms to reduce it. Perhaps it becomes chic to save and not spend quite as much (which could have long-term effects on our economy, culture, and foreign relations).

Folks who have the ability spin up side-businesses (or micro-businesses if it's not a side-business) to make their income more under their own control, and this 'ownership' mindset becomes a backdrop for future decision-making.

Young people growing up right now ARE seeing the uncertainty of employment and housing, whether their parents talk to them about it or not, and they are internalizing that lesson. What they do with it in 10-20 years I can't predict (I have guesses, but hanc marginis exigiutas non caperet). There's almost no doubt it will have an impact on their choices though.

Fun question, in a dark way.

-- Morgan