Saturday, May 10, 2008

Economy Depressed?

Factor number one on the minds of most Americans today is the economy. Lets just clear something up to start with. We are not currently in a depression. We might be heading for one. It may be inevitable, With out a doubt our economy is slowing down. We are not in a depression. Yet.

I have a couple of theories on this. First is the election cycle. In my theory the election cycle causes economic slowdowns through self fulfilling prophecy. Polititions on both sides of the aisle berate how the other side is going to hurt us financially. When that happens americans pull closed the purse strings.

Second, we have as a country and individually borrowed ourselves into oblivion. At some point we must pay the piper. Whether or not you agree with the recent wars on terror, we have spent alot of borrowed money to finance it. We spend money as though there is an endless supply. There is not. It comes from the pockets of hard working Americans. Our leaders would do well to remember that.
So, other than end the war, how will our democratic candidates fix our economy. Through healthcare, through allowing more immigrants into the system, through government subsidies on stem cell research, and research into alternative energy sources. All I have heard are options that cost money.
On the other hand I'm not sure McCain has a sure fire solution to the economic situation either. The one thing I know is that spending money in the form of loans to the Chinese that our children must repay is not the answer.

3 comments:

Mookie said...

Okay, not only are we not in a depression, we haven't technically by definition even hit a recession (2 fiscal quarters with net loss). We're closer to stagflation than anything, which is a stagnating economy which has little net change if any at all, yet rising inflationary costs. PArt of our economic issue is, as you said, we're spending money left and right, we're printing unsecured money out of thin air, and none of it is going to pay down our debt, nor reverse trade deficits. Until we as a government begin to reverse the last two, the dollar will continue to weaken itself within its own flooded market, and inflation will continue to rise. And of course, as individuals, we have greater control, but we also learn from example pretty well...and our government operates in a way that would land us in jail if we used the same accounting practices. Not that many havent tried to borrow themselves into oblivion.

Anonymous said...

Lot's of questions. Not many definite answers--at least not answers our leaders will accept.

Here are some that would really help:

*Allow for the drilling of oil.
*Eliminate certain taxes and reduce others.
*Stop managing the agriculture, transportaion, and banking industries.
*CUT OUT spending for local pork barrel projects. Let the local governments come up with revenue for them.

Anonymous said...

If you follow our leaders...we are just a few band-aids from getting better...yea right.

Few more to add to Renaissance...

*Forget the Gas Tax (look for real solutions)
*Flat Tax
*Invest in Education (they are our future)
*Stop excess government spending

Godfather (theslowbleed.com)