Everybody knows the economy is in the crapper. As it relates to Corporate America, you can expect layoffs, and for those who aren’t laid off, you can expect smaller bonuses and salary increases for the New Year (if you get one at all). Most families are cutting back and hoping for a better tomorrow. However, when it comes to our national economic policy, we’re doing the opposite. We’re spending trillions (the Fed won’t even state where the money is going) like there’s no tomorrow. Sure, it might create a quicker turnaround, but at what cost?
As consumers, we have to ask ourselves if we really need that new car right now, but this is the opposite of our national fiscal policy. We’re spending irrationally to save the very companies who broke the system. This is somewhat ludicrous in my opinion. The money isn’t going to the families that need it, it’s going to corporations who have a proven track record of greed and mismanagement. The few individuals who are getting help are the very people who bought too much house out of greed—how does this make any sense?
Older generations can remember making sacrifices for the good of the nation. Just look at the rationing that took place during World War II. In this age of entitlement, we can’t expect that we should have to go through a down period—officials who advocate this kind of policy would never be elected. So they spend like crazy, so Americans can get a bigger house, a morel luxurious car, and a better boat now. But what about when we have to pay the bills for all these frivolous items? Who’s going to pay for it? The crooks we’re helping now?
In the end, American corporations are being re-defined. Industry is being taken over by the government. Financial institutions are now owned by the government and foreign backers, and it looks like the automobile industry will follow suit. What’s next, will the government step in and back all the private industries that are folding?
My wife and I have taken measures to ensure that we can survive this kind of economic downturn. We bought a very affordable house, much less than most of our peers in the same economic bracket. We don’t own luxury cars, but many of our friends do and they make significantly less. We’ve made sacrifices so that when it comes time to retire, we will be able to do so, with or without social security. Why are our tax dollars going to help those who didn’t make the same kind of sacrifices? Wake up America. We put ourselves in this situation and we need to get ourselves out of it through perseverance, not through frivolous government spending that will cripple America in the future.