The Economy

You know, in my opinion, the economy isn't all that terrible. Now, before you lynch me and point out all the people who have lost their jobs, let me point something out. We wouldn't be in this situation IF people had used common sense. Apparently, that is lacking when money is involved.

Let's start with the unions. Were they needed in the past? Absolutely. Are they needed now, I'm not so sure. The unions were put in place to guard people from unscrupulous business owners. However, I'm not sure that the unions aren't what we need protection from now. They chased our companies out of our country. With constant increase in pay, the companies had to increase the cost of their goods to cover it, which then caused the unions to step up and ask for more pay. See the nasty cycle there?

Next step is the fact that the "American Way" got skewed. It used to be that you worked hard for what you wanted. You got it by the sweat on your brow. Since when did loose lending practices that guaranteed a home for everyone enter into that equation? When did credit cards come in and replace our savings accounts? See that nasty cycle there? We started getting what we wanted when we wanted it without any work. With the quick and easy loans for everyone, our housing prices skyrocketed. People borrowed more to own that "perfect" house. Usually with way more space and rooms than they needed. Last time I checked, it wasn't a law that every child needed his/her own room with more toys than they could possibly ever play with in a year.

What's going on now is an equilibrium move. Our economy is righting itself. The ability to buy everything we wanted it when we wanted it killed us. Now, we can't pay our credit card bills. Now we can't pay our mortgages for our expensive homes we didn't need in the first place. So now our homes are being taken from us.

Was our family perfect when all of this was happening? No. However, we "equalized" almost 2 years ago. We now only spend what we earn. We don't have any more credit cards and refuse to get another one. We make every single payment on our home and car every month. We have no threat of losing either one. We can put food on the table and even do fun things periodically, like put our children into the local baseball league for the summer. Now that we're equalized, we need to begin storing as much money as possible into savings. That will take the place of our credit cards. At least that way, we'll be making interest instead of those horrid companies. Yes, we've been much happier since we started living within our means.

And that, my friends, is what the rest of the country is learning now. They're learning what it's like to equalize. Unfortunately, it's going to be painful for awhile. It took us 2 years. How long will it take the rest of the country? I have no idea. Unfortunately, we chased most of our major manufacturers out of our country. We're lacking the jobs that used to support our country. I personally believe that it's time to penalize them within an inch of their lives. Their pockets is the only thing that matters to them. So hit them where it hurts the most. Let them know that if they bring back their companies to the US, it will be better.

As a country, we need to support what companies are in the US still. We might pay a little more for those products, but it's very important to keep them here. I've been squeezing extra money out to buy Huggies or Pampers for a long time now. They're made here in the US. It's just little things like that will help out our country and our fellow workers.

It's time to reset our values and go back in time to when family and friends meant more to us than money. Then, our country's economy will stabilize and we'll be a much better country for it. Money only makes you miserable. Think of that the next time your credit card bill comes in and you're wondering how you're going to make that payment.