Recession Journal #5: The Calm Before the Storm

Marcus Varner — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:17:46 +0000

The last six months have been a wild ride for our economy. We had our official financial meltdown at the beginning of October. The first bailout came and went. Insurance and banking giants continued to fall. U.S automakers teetered on the edge of failure propped up only by the government. Millions of jobs have been lost since the start of the year. A second bailout (er, stimulus, I mean) was approved. Bailed out companies have continued to post dismal results. And all throughout, economists, financial gurus, and conspiracy theorists alike have been prognosticating such calamities as the collapse of the U.S. dollar, the Second Great Depression, food shortages, and civil instability. Journalists both fringe and mainstream are becoming more comfortable with revolutionary language. And yet, with so many storm clouds on the horizon, why does it seem like we have just stalled, like we’re just sitting on the precipice looking at the view below?

True, real life change does not happen at the pace of a TV disaster miniseries (gosh, I miss those). But for all the bad stuff that has happened and the harrowing stuff that’s being foretold, it feels like we’re in limbo.

Please note, I am in no way happy about our nation plunging into an economic hellhole. I like peace and plenty. But I’ve done enough homework to know, and I’ve listened to enough credible voices to know, that we are not going to get a free pass on this one. I would like to believe that we dodged the bullet and it’s time to rebuild. But that belief would in no way be built on logic or reason. It’s time to pay the piper and our credit cards are maxed out.

In my opinion, that leaves only one explanation for the current state of limbo in which we find ourselves. This is the calm before the storm, the deep breath before going over the falls.

So, ask yourself: what do you do when you’re about to go over the falls?

Do you make sure your seatbelt is on tight? Do you get ready to scream your head off and wait to hit the bottom? Do you bail out and swim for shore? Do you just enjoy the view, the cool mist of the falls? Do you just close your eyes and hope you’re still alive at the bottom?

I like to think that I and my neighbors would get out and start swimming the other direction. By the looks of things, however, most people are looking around, enjoying the view, hoping against hope that someone will turn the boat around. Yet others are taking a deep breath, preparing to scream their lungs raw.

Which one are you?

It’s Not Working!!!

Marcus Varner — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:33:35 +0000

Meddling. That's what it's called when people poke around and toy with things that are not theirs to toy with. That's what it's called when people come in and try to force things and end up breaking them. That's what our government leaders are doing, and for what?

Free market economies are, in essence, like forces of nature. They react to their environmental conditions in a way that will bring them back to a state of equilibrium. When things are overinflated, they let off some steam. When things are lacking, something moves in to fill the gaps. But always just to bring the system back into balance.

Our government leaders, at this very moment, are meddling with our economy in ways that are both extreme and extremely dangerous. Perhaps most frighteningly, they reflect an attitude of greed and unrealistic expectations. The fact is the people of the United States could not have continued their streak of consumerism. It was impossible, a virtual house built on sand. Unfortunately and strangely, our leaders are frantically trying to restore this house built on sand. Instead of making the hard, but mature, decision to move our house to a more solid, rocky foundation, they are trying to patch up the house, neglecting the receding sand underneath.

COMMON SENSE ALERT, WASHINGTON: IT'S NOT WORKING!!!

Just today, GM announced it had "burned through $6.2 billion of cash in the last three months of 2008," posting a quarterly loss of $9.6-billion loss. The rest of the U.S. automakers aren't faring much better.

AIG, bailed out just a few months ago for billions, is going down the tubes.

Citigroup and Bank of America are on their way down.

It's time to consider the sobering possibility that there is nothing we can do except grow up and learn to accept the consequences of our overspending. It's time to accept that we cannot avoid a deep recession any more than we can keep winter from coming. Driving our nation farther into debt will only prolong our suffering. As much as saying so would damage lawmakers' poll standings, it's time to just let things take their course.

Education & Careers » bailout

Recession Journal #5: The Calm Before the Storm

It’s Not Working!!!