I'm going to imagine that I am not alone in feeling utterly clueless about the economy. I mean, I feel confident when it comes to managing my personal finances--I use a budget, am debt free, have an emergency fund, and do my own taxes. However, when it comes to understanding what's at work behind the current financial collapses, freezes, mergers, and bailouts, I'm hopelessly confused.
However, I heard a very good explanation this morning from a CNBC panel regarding what will happen if no bailout takes place. Housing values will go down, our ability to borrow money (including the use of credit cards) will be greatly diminished, credit limits will be cut. Looming foreclosures will result in a drop in revenue generated by property taxes. This means that your community will either have to raise your property taxes or cut services or both. The most dramatic impact of this trend will be seen in the arena of public education.
Now, I realize that my cold-hearted conservatism is going to come out here, but I just have to say that, given all that, I would rather take my chances with no bailout. The sad fact of life is that bad things happen and I think it is a mistake to adopt the attitude that we should do whatever it takes to avoid hardship no matter what the cost. I have been hearing a lot of financial experts and political pundits telling us all that we have no other option. There is always another option. What happened to "Give me liberty, or give me death!"? If we could have avoided the attacks of 9-11 by giving up our freedom, would we have? Should we?
We have enjoyed such a long period of national prosperity, that I fear we have lost some of our fortitude and, therefore, our ability to choose the tough choice for the sake of preserving our ideals and our liberty. Let us not become so afraid of hard times and struggling that we will sell our very souls to avoid it.
I agree Jen. I don’t know if you read my blog recently but I have expressed how upset I am with one of the explanations given as to why republicans did not vote for the bailout yesterday. There is a long list of reasons they should not have voted for that bailout the fact that Nancy hurt their feelings should not have even been in the top 10. We Americans have become spineless in our overall good fortune. I believe it will be ok. We can weather whatever comes by this bailout not passing. It won't be fun but we can do it and by not bailing the banks out they will learn that they are responsible for the consequences of poor business management and not be so quick to let it happen again. And we, the tax payers will learn the importance of staying out of debt and being responsible for our own finances. I believe our representatives will be doing a great disservice to all involved by agreeing to an expensive bailout...Then again...What I know?
ReplyDeleteI am agreeing with you. I still don't know all the details, but it just does not feel right. We will see soon - especially with the Presidents urging.
ReplyDeleteIf we follow the warnings of the prophet we will not fear. My fear is for those who are living on investments. What if this were us in 35 years? Wise to invest and then all the sudden it is worth nothing- scary. My suggestion is make sure you have your food storage, as few debts as possbile, and some cash saved up. I don't like the bailout- my reasons can be seen on Michelle's blog. Life is tough but can we really trust giving the government even more control over our lives? Please do well tonight Sarah!
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