This is Part 1 of a letter from our good friend, IRENE, an American living with her family in Australia. She makes some very strong points, and we would love to have all you readers of these words contribute to the discussion by commenting on them.
BIRCHES intends to run Part 2 tomorrow.
======
I am really struggling with this financial crisis. I hope the bailout doesn't go through - because if it does - I can't see any fundamental changes being made to what is a dysfunctional creation of greedy people - that is, unregulated capitalism.
Sadly, even if the Democrats win in November - there is going to be no money left to spend on education, health, infrastructure - all the necessities of a good society. Just when the US needs to invest in its people and its society in order to maintain its standard of living and "compete" in the globalised world against the likes of China and India, the government plans to invest instead in bailing out people who with their greed and short sightedness have destroyed the US
economy and ruined the prospects for future generations.
These rotten people deserve absolutely no support. If there is no bailout and the economy goes into recession even depression - well, there's still no money to spend but perhaps there will be fundamental and long-lasting changes to the market system.
People's lives might stop revolving around Fox News and Britney Spears latest antics, and they might recognise that they've been had and take some action. I apologise if I sound patronising - but people here and in America have been living in a dream where all that matters is what mass produced junk they can buy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
In the mean time "we the people" are kept so busy with paper work,jobs, no time off(to think, running us around in phone tag because in no organization does anyone know enough about the parts of the operation to be of any real help. Now McCain wants to postpone the debate tomorrow night and has suggested that it be re-scheduled for the evening originally planned for the veep debate. No Sarah again! I'd rather her Sarah and Joe the McCain and Obama if there does indeed need to be a choice. Alice
I’ve watched my retirement accounts drop in value over the last couple of weeks. So, I too am struggling with this financial crisis. However, I hope the bailout goes through. The thought of the US economy, which vastly depends on credit, continuing this downward spiral of institutions filing for bankruptcy as they realize their balance sheets are absent of adequate liquid assets is grave. No credit means the borrowing between institutions ends, consumers’ ability to purchase large ticket items end, and shortly after (if not already) the retail sector suffers leading to layoffs.
The scenario quickly takes shape showing beyond sustainable unemployment rates, folks abandoning their homes, no confidence in the market creating little stock market activity. These compound the problems as the baby boomers continue to retire…but with a lot less money. Less money means less spending, and there won’t be any credit to borrow against!
Although technically, the US isn’t in a recession, but for most Americans…it is a recession regardless of if the “recession” definition is validated. If, we, as a nation can avoid a depression, wouldn’t it be worth the $700 Billion? The US already has a $9.7 Trillion debt.
One should also consider this is a business transaction the government will be making with institutions. The last time the government creates a trust to bail out the economy, the government actually made money back (aka profit). It’s quite possible the government will turn a profit again.
As a nation, we all had a voice to express concern about this mounting problem. This didn’t happen overnight, and yet no one spoke up during the times when folks were getting zero down jumbo mortgages. If anything, the people were just as greedy as the corporations…buying bigger houses on the back of unsecure credit, charging their cards to the max, buying gas guzzling vehicles, and not saving a penny for an emergency. Can we blame the corporations for behaving any different than the majority of this nation’s people behave?
Even capitalism requires adjustments, albeit this will be a big one. I don’t like this predicament, but the sooner the adjustment is made, the sooner prosperity will return for all.
I think Anonymous Alice hit it right on the head with McCain wanting to reschedule tomorrow's debate to replace the Vice presidential debate.
In two short weeks Sarah has gone from great pick to first twit.
My dear departed father spent his life preaching the dangers of unrestrained credit, maintaining it would catch up to us someday.
I sure hope we guess right.
There is a lot of speculation as to the seriousness of this crisis, but failed banks and financial institutions send out some clear warnings.
Still, throwing good Chinese money after bad may not be the solution or it may just be postponing the inevitable.
I don't think anyone really knows for sure if what or anything needs to be done, and what the consequences of that action or inaction might be.
I sure do hope we guess right.
Bravo, Irene, you said it well! As far as credit goes--- the whole country lives too much on credit. My mother always said "if you can't pay cash for it, you shouldn't have it". The thought of saving to buy something has gone by the wayside many years ago. And I'm as guilty as anyone else. Maybe It's time we went back to the days before credit. This could be our wake-up call.
Post a Comment