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Saturday, April 19, 2008

What Gives About the Economy?

I don't have time for a longer post so I will come back to this later, but what gives with all this carping and whining about the economy? Everyone is acting like it's terrible. It's not. Historically, it's terrific. The stock market has gone up significantly in the last five years and I can't remember the last time unemployment was over 6%. 5% is considered full employment and we've been hovering around that for a long time.

A 5 year chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average

What we've discovered in the last several years is what wise people knew all along. If you borrow money and can't pay it back or lend money to such people, you're in trouble. If you spend more than you earn, you're in trouble.

The current discussion of the economy in the media and by the politicians has an underlying assumption that everyone's life should be stable and pleasant all the time no matter what stupid things they do to themselves. That kind of attitude is what brings on the problems. Pandering to voters through the coddling of failure has always been around, but it seems much more pronounced now than ever before. If that keeps getting worse, it won't matter who is elected because those expectations will drive us right into bankruptcy.

2 comments:

  1. Exactly. I get so worked up when I hear bout people who took "high risk" chances (in order to get high return), then when the risk actually appears, they want to be bailed out. So what they are asking for is to get high return, without the risk. They want to have those of us that understand that sometimes a lower risk, lower return, can be good pay them off.

    They want "their cake and to eat it, too".

    I seem to recall a fable about an ant and a grasshopper. We understood it. They didn't. The pandering politicans didn't (or at least pretend not to so they can buy votes with my money).

    Enough already. They "made their bed, now they should lie in it".

    (Maybe all these old sayings and fables have stuck around for a reason?)

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  2. You're a hopeless reactionary. This is the new economy. All dessert, no spinach.

    :-)

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