Nov 21 2008
My Opinion: Why We Need a Recession
I have been watching the goings on in Washington D.C. and on Wall Street with a great deal of interest over the past few months and I have come to only one conclusion - we need a recession. Before you set your phasers on “stun” and leave terrible comments allow me to explain myself.
After giving money to this company and that company, after $700 Billion dollars have nearly been spent and the Dow Jones is still plummetting, after the “Big 3″ American auto makers flew their corporate jets to beg the government for money (at a cost of over $100,000 for the trip), we’re still in a huge financial mess and the future doesn’t look bright.
CEOs and execs are still taking huge bonuses and lavish vacations while unemployment rates are going up. Just two days ago American Express called my partner to explain that we are only allowed to make one payment on our credit card bill per month (we usually pay it 2-3 times a month). The same company that just became a bank holding company and asked for $3.5 Billion is turning down the money that we want to send on a weekly instead of a monthly basis.
As for the auto makers, the average hourly cost of an American car company is more than double that of Toyota, and Toyota has the best-selling vehicles on the market. There’s something wrong with that picture that no re-tooling of an assembly line is going to fix.
Let the Big 3 fall. Let people lose their jobs and let the CEOs take the blame for what they have failed to do. There are thousands of illegal immigrants in this country who work long hours every day of the week doing jobs that many Americans are too good to do. I know because I have seen unemployed people refuse those jobs and I have seen the immigrants doing the work. Heck, I’ve probably even hired them to do work.
Our economy is in dire straits because of a failure to be realistic. Our country needs to learn to live within our means instead of attempting to be all things to all people.
The time has come for We The People to stand up and take responsibility for our country.
Everyone now days goes to college, they really believe it is beneath them to work anywhere like a gas station, grocery store, or manufacturing facility. I see so many unemployed people that won’t take work, I don’t get it, something is better than nothing, then they end up losing everything. I realize times are tough and many people are going to lose there jobs and not be able to get jobs that paid close to what they were earning before. They will need to downsize and look at other things they may have not considered before, I think you may even see movement of more parents staying home with there kids because it actually costs more to work outside the home than it is worth. Who knows where this is all going to go, people definitely are going to have to re-look at the way they have been living and make some hard changes.
I’ve already had to quit my job because it was costing me more for gas and day care than I was making. It is going to get a lot worse before it is over for the people who are not capable of dealing withit.
I totally agree. To be quite honest we are already in a recession. The time has come for us to get tougher, not to allow the words of panic to opt us to make emtional decisions. It really can’t get worst. We have already passed a 700 billion bailout, that has yet to be used for the purpose it was requested. Now there’s the Big 3 and I just saw on the news that the transit authorities stemming from New York to San Francisco are requesting a bailout also. This bailout stuff is really getting old. In order for us to see clearer we all have to go through the storm, not just the middle class Americans.
I kind of agree with this. That’s why some people call economic downturns “corrections.” For example. We could bail out the auto industry. Or the big three could file for bankruptcy. If that happens, yes, it will be tough. Yes, there will be layouts. Yes, there’s the risk that they just fail all together. They will also be given an opportunity to restructure their businesses. They will be allowed to renegotiate contracts. Hopefully they adjust and CORRECT so that we can avoid another meltdown like this any time in the near future.
Michael, I’m adding your link to both of my blogs. Please check them out, and feel free to link if you’d like. Thanks!