Think Peaceful Thoughts. It's Just A Nest Egg.

I’ve just landed in the middle of a TV studio and can’t believe what I’m hearing. A financial guru is pacing the stage, exhorting audience members to live in the moment. Forget about plummeting home values, she says. It’s just a phase. Forget about vanishing savings accounts. Forget about being laid off.

Forget how you’re going to get by.

All that matters is now. Today. This moment.

The past is past, baby.

Thin applause. A middle-aged man stands and talks about his hard-earned money being lost in the wind while corporations and banks made out like bandits. Yes, he believes things will eventually right themselves. But his hard-earned money. The money for his retirement.

It's almost gone.

Everyone on the set looks uncertain now. Even the talk-show host, who stares vacantly into the camera.

Harlequin Cat appreciates Guru’s focus-on-the-future message. People shouldn’t regret what they’ve done or haven’t done to avoid financial disaster. They should move forward. And yes, they should think about what they “have.”

But that’s probably not a good argument to use with families living out of their cars or cashing in their 401K accounts.

When Guru dropped to her knees to repeat that the past is past (which looked so desperate, not to mention she’ll have to get those slacks dry-cleaned), I found myself thinking about George Santayana’s remark: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

I also found myself wondering how much Guru got paid for appearing on the show and what kind of car she drove home.

But maybe she took a limo.