The other day I made a cursory review of my current, and most recent, reading material and realized that I am beating myself up needlessly. My nightstand is filled with economics and political books, selected to try and get a better handle on the state of the country today. My realization is that the reading material is depressing.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. The books in question are not political tracts. They are not written by politicians or political gadflies seeking to draw attention to themselves by endlessly bashing their opponents, or perceived opponents. My economics books are written by economists, such as 2008 Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman. A recent book about “wingnuts” skewers both the leftward and rightward political mouths. It is the “wingnuts” book that reminded that there is much more to life than hand-wringing. Unfortunately, there is a lot of that going around these days.

Our main problem, as I see it, is ourselves. We all want bigger, brighter and newer things, whether we need them, or not. Some see this as the American way. Granted, it is part of our makeup to improve our lot in life by moving ever upwards in the food chain. But, like a buffet meal, sometimes our eyes get a little too big and we start grabbing for everything.

How many cars did your family have when you were a kid? One? Two? Most families did not have four or five vehicles crowding the driveway. Sure, it is convenient for everyone in the family to have a vehicle. It is no longer cool for siblings to share a vehicle as the banker’s sons did when I was a teenage driver. I am as guilty as the next person. We have an extra vehicle and there is massive indecision as to which really should go.

Many of us live in bigger houses than our parents did, and there were probably more children in our childhood homes. Somehow, we managed to get along. Our parents want us to have better things, but do they often question whether we have overdone it?

My parents lived through the Great Depression and survived World War II when goods were rationed. The only rationing I have seen was gasoline during the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970s. My generation has not been deprived of much.

For all the hand-wringing going on across the country, we don’t have it that bad, and most of us are living better than we did as kids. And, our children are living better than we did when we were their ages.

How many times do you eat at a restaurant today? How many times a week, or a month, did your parents take you to a restaurant? For us who lived in smaller towns, a trip to a McDonald’s in a bigger place counts as a trip to a restaurant.

Sure, the Great Recession is a catastrophe for those who have lost their jobs. For most folks, though, it is an inconvenience that makes it difficult to afford new toys . . . that extra car, a boat, a week’s vacation at the beach.

But, things aren’t going to get better by complaining to everyone who will listen. The complainers, or hand-wringers, always seem to be better at pointing out problems than they are at offering solutions.

As for me, I’m going to the library to check out a spy novel, or a humorous book. It’s too tiresome to wallow in gloom and doom all the time.