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.

You do realize that we practically live in a virtual world, don’t you? The fact is nothing is what it seems and what you are being told is probably not the truth, so let’s look at the facts— The crude oil prices are dropping rapidly and the price on gas at the pump has come down some.  Did you know that it can take about 3-4 months for the pumps to have a decrease from a drop in the oil prices today.  Also, did you know that part of the reason for the increase in gas prices, aside from the economy and the war, is that the demand for gasoline has been rising and the supply has not.  The United States has not built even one oil refinery since 1976 which is 32 years of ignoring that we need more oil and not taking any action.  Also, in fairness to the average gas station, they make very little money on their gasoline sales and rake in a much bigger profit from keeping their gas prices competitively low, to encourage you to come to them and buy something to drink, cigarettes, lottery tickets and so forth.  It is the mini marts themselves that bring in the revenue in these places and not so much on the gas.

I still personally see a big difference from region to region on gas prices and in my travels this past weekend found gasoline prices that ranged from the highest price I saw at $3.39 per gallon for regular unleaded to $2.95 per gallon.  A savings of .44 per gallon is not laughing matter.  Especially when you consider, I didn’t go on a massive country wide trip, I only drove down the highway about an hour and that is how much the gas prices varied on a short drive.  I don’t care what they say in the news, I know that some of this must be price gouging, I don’t mind when the prices vary a little but when I can drive to the next town over and spend .20 less per gallon, something is rotten in Denmark!

In understanding the title of this blog one of the most important things to understand currently is that this maniac is spending through this country’s money for what will require about a 50 year payback period. Now, it is not bad enough to say that we are still spending endless amounts of money on this war which to say the least is never ending in a country whose name we don’t even pronounce correctly. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that these people might have needed our help in the beginning (the verdict is really still out on this fact) but the war is basically killing the economy in this country and still we are fighting it and at home people are struggling just to survive. As if the war was not bankrupting us enough, Bush is now running around and bailing out all the big finance companies to make it look in the numbers that we have money that we really don’t have. He currently has a bill in Congress to allocate $700 billion more dollars to failing companies over the next two years. Well, that’s great people but didn’t anyone tell him his term is up in about 3 months. Realize that he is spending money that we don’t have, and where is it going to come from…US. That’s right we are going to be paying off all this debt because, let’s face it, we can’t spend money that we don’t have right? Is anyone really seeing this besides me? I don’t know but I wish when I was running a little short that I could just print up some more money and go spend it with no financial backing. Oh, that’s right, we can’t just print money that is illegal. Well, I guess it isn’t if you are the President of the US then it is okay to make more money if you need it. Don’t we have enough debt already. Making these companies look better is just making our economy worse. Don’t buy into it, you can’t fix this country’s problems by spending more money we don’t have. Don’t worry though, the bread lines won’t be forming until after George W. Bush leaves office, this way he will still look like the good guy and the poor President who takes over is going to be sunk by Bush’s two year plan to bankrupt us. Keep saving those pennies people, we are gonna need them.

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.