We've all heard the old adage: "History repeats itself." Though that isn't quite entirely true, the arrival of certain manmade or man-influenced events, such as economic depressions or wars in the Middle East, show that no matter how human beings act, history appears to repeat itself.

The problems of yesteryear are in fact today's problems. Why does it seem so? Human nature doesn't change, it remains a constant. We are all predictable as a species.

When it comes to the question of an economic depression, recession or what other treasury ailment have you, each are caused by the same or similar things. Though some are better or worse than others, these economic maladies that nations face from time to time can be broken down to the root cause, the institution and continuation of spending what one does not have, in other words Credit.

What caused the Great Depression and numerous panics of the 19th century can all be related to consumers spending on credit. Economic depressions and recessions were once called "panics" because of the nature of the buying and selling of stocks during one of these falls. But because "panic" seems like too big of a deal, people decided to refer to the stock market crash in 1929 as the start of the Great Depression. It just sounds a little bit less like pandemonium and worrying to Citizen John.

Sure it's nice to have things right now and pay for it later and in some instances that is feasible. But when a majority of consumers spend on credit anticipating for the future without thinking about the worth of things to come, like in the 1920s, a domino effect can occur in the business world that will shatter the economy.

Say you buy things on credit from a service provider (grocery store, department store, utility, car dealership, real estate agent, etc.) you're buying things at the lower level.

Eventually these things, bought on credit but not paid for officially, yield nothing for businesses seeing fewer sales or lack of buyers in their market. Those small time establishments take a hit when people don't have the money to pay for what they anticipated for. Franchises fail, chains fail, enterprises fail. All of these then begin to seep into the whole market taking some banks and related businesses with them. Then all hell breaks loose on the stock market -- a panic.

Then there are tremors of panic, such as when President Barack Obama outlines long-term plans during his inauguration speech and during his first State of the Union address that cause stocks to subsequently, not coincidentally, drop. Though he is not the initiator of the problems facing the market, spending on credit was, he is directly responsible for anything he says that sounds harmful for American businesses in the long run.

Everything that's happened in the last year to the stock market is a direct result of more people who become all of sudden more aware of the future and now realize the consequences of spending on a budget in a tight economy. These people, not anyone I would call forward thinking. What is it Benjamin Franklin said? "An ounce of prevention weighs more than a pound of cure." Or something to that effect, I'm paraphrasin' here.

The federal government, Kansas state government, Fort Hays State University and the good ol' city of Hays decided to gamble away taxpayers money in the fair times without anticipating lower tax revenues from job losses and industry/businesses relocations out of state and overseas in the future, which incidentally all of a sudden crept up to the now.

That housing bubble nationally was our own fault, not the Big Business, not Big Government, the Big Consumer. We bought on credit, we broke the greedy bankers, we broke the car companies, the airlines and everything else because we couldn't afford to pay for all the amenities when the bill came due.

Take a step to the local level: Bingo houses, lotteries, casinos are all places that only breed destruction for short-term revenue gains. What happens to those places when people aren't willing to a job, any job, and money isn't thrown about like a deck of cards in a game of 52 pickup. That was rough, and somebody had to answer for it. Gambling houses, lotteries -- are they a sin for a reason? I should think so, and we shouldn't gamble on the future.

Still think that gambling house in Dodge City is a good idea? All that equates to is more bankruptcies and social services for the addicts.

And those addicts live in Hays, America, the same as they live in Washington, overspending zealots spending our country into hell. This time the blame is cast on you for moving forward too fast beyond your means, America!

There's too many farmers of all sorts out there who just seem to crawl out from under a bankruptcy like worms after the rain. Bailouts of any kind are never a good solution to preventing future addiction. A steady hand on a steady shovel in an uncertain time is the soundest industry. That's all mine, and you can take that to the bank.

Adam Conkey, an Edmond native living in Hays, is the son of a Kansas farmer and a graduate of Fort Hays State University.