Thoughts on Debt

Officially now in a recession, and looking down the path at a possible depression makes a lot of the nation’s elderly reflect back on their younger days.  One man spoke of his experiences from being a child during the Great Depression.  He told of the bread lines and the pan handling.  He said that people would go door to door looking for food, and no matter how hard the times were, his mother would always provide food for anyone that asked.  He said if someone came to the door needing food, his mother would prepare them a sandwich and usually they would eat it right there.  When they would leave they would put a mark on the curb, letting others that came by in need know that this house provided him with food.  He says that the tough financial times of his youth made it extremely difficult for him to spend any money, even after the Great Depression was over.  Now he worries for his kids and grandkids as he can see the trend moving towards another Great Depression, and wonders about the impact that this will have on the future of his family.

Although, our government is working very diligently trying to avoid another Great Depression, I am afraid that it is only a matter of time before the bread lines begin to form.  With more and more people facing unemployment and no new jobs on the horizon, we can only hope as we move forward that the changing political climate, can bring some new hope to our failing economy.

Today it was announced that Bush and the government are bailing out Citibank or Citicorp, because they are in debt and in danger of going under.  I just need to ask one question, how far in debt is Bush going to leave us when his reign of terror is over.  Seriously, I can’t really understand why they are continuing to allow these bailouts over and over again.  What is going to happen is that we are going to crash harder than ever before with the way he is going, and then there is going to be no one to bail us out.  We can’t keep pretending that there is not a problem here, nor can we keep pretending like these companies didn’t put this on themselves.  After years and years of giving too much credit to people, now they are surprised that they can’t pay it back? I think that was probably foreseeable.

I guess my biggest concern, which I think is a genuine one is being with how simple it is to get Bush to give out money, how many more companies are going to jump on this band wagon before January, and how many more bailouts are we going to let him do?

My fear is that all these bailouts are just holding off the inevitable depression we are heading for and are going to make it worse in the long run.  I really think that all Bush is trying to accomplish is to save face and hold off the depression in this country until after he leaves office.  Then that will make the Democrats look like they are the ones who did it and will more than likely guarantee that the Republicans will be back in control in four years.

The financial pains of our country are being felt in every household across the board. Money that used to be spent more frivolously is now being spent on the necessities such as food, clothing and gasoline. I have heard many people ask are we in a Recession? A Depression? Well, financial analysts are referring to this as a financial slow down, but is that just a way of saying that what we are going through now has yet to be experienced by those before us. Well, it doesn’t seem that having the correct term for it is going to help us any. We all seem to think that they would tell us that we were going through a depression, even if we were, they can’t say that. To say that would bring spending to a halt, and that would further slow down the economy, so to put it bluntly, they won’t tell us either way.

As I see it, it is a time to buckle down and save anyway that you can. Reducing the extra expenses is one way to cut back spending. Entertainment is an area that we as American’s spend a lot of money on. With the average adult movie ticket going for about $9 and the cost of a soda and popcorn reaching about $8 per person, isn’t it maybe time to sign on for one of these online DVD delivery services. That would not only save you gas, but they also don’t have any late fees and they pick up and deliver at your door, how’s that for convenience? Then you can buy your own soda and microwave popcorn and the whole family can go to the movies for about $8. That is an amazing savings.

Actually, this economic “slowing” as the experts like to call it, may be the best thing that has happened to us in a long time. It will cause most of us to find ways to cut back, have less waste, and to stop living completely above our means. Also, by less spending companies will have to drop prices on non-necessity items to stimulate buying, so in the long run we may actually get the deals. Also, with the rising prices of gasoline, we will all need to stay closer to home and spend more time with family and friends and less time out spending. This will be a good thing for the moral fiber of our country as well.

I guess there is so much negativity about the economy, that I just thought it would be nice to hear some of the positives about the rising prices.