A(nother) Great Depression

It’s closer than we think.  On September 29, 2008, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 failed in the House of Representatives.  This is just the first step towards approving a bill, but now it will not even get to the Senate or the White House without some major changes.  That’s part of the great system of checks and balances we have in the American government – one branch doesn’t like it, it doesn’t go through.

On September 29, 2008, exactly one month (to the day) before the 79th anniversary of the beginning of what is currently known as the Great Depression, the DOW dropped 777 points.  The greatest drop in one day EVER.  Ironically enough, the number 777 is significant Biblically.  You see, the number 3 means “completion” and the number 7 means “perfection”.  So you could say that 777 means “complete perfection”.  (To give a correlation – the number 6 means “imperfection” so 666 is “complete imperfection” – I think you can take it from there.)

I am afraid.  I am honestly afraid of what will happen in the coming days, weeks, months, years.  Not what will happen to the economy, or even the government.  I’m afraid of what will happen to the people.  We are hurting right now.  We have no confidence in anything.  People will continue to lose their jobs, homes, their lives as they know it.  The soul of our nation is hurting, it’s wounded.  We have been brought low by 2 wars which have little support, but are still killing Americans, Iraqis and Afghanis.  Approval of the US Congress is, at last count, at 9%.  Presidential approval – 20% (if that).  And in the midst of all this, voting has begun in one of the most-watched elections in the history of the US.  An election that, from what I can tell, won’t bring very much “change” no matter who is elected.

And yet, here is my plug for hope.  This is a cycle.  Granted, a cycle that has gone down further than other years.  It will get better.  We, as Americans, as world citizens, have to stick through it.  We don’t really have a choice.  This is life, this, sometimes unfortunately, the way things are.  But it will get better.  The problem we all seem to have is a lack of preparation for the future.  No one thinks, when things are good, that things will go bad, and no one thinks, when things are bad, that they will get better.  But they will.  We must have hope, we must have confidence in ourselves as Americans, as humans.

At the onset of the Great Depression, John D. Rockefeller said “These are days when many are discouraged.  In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone.  Prosperity has always returned and will again.”  It took 12 years and a world war for prosperity to return, but it did return.

And we will prosper again.

The Great Depression . . . Part 2?

There is a growing trend in this country called “Tent Cities“, where groups of people are setting up tents and living in them because they have lost their homes – many because of the housing crisis.  When I read this, I immediately thought of the Great Depression of the 1930s.  I can’t help but wonder if this is just another sign that there is going to be another Great Depression.

The thing about the current economic crisis is that, at a basic level (or maybe more complex), it shows a level of similarity that should be terrifying to anyone who can comprehend what it may mean.  The last few years have been defined by a sense of entitlement held by the American public, stretching from the lower middle class to the highest echelons of society.  It cannot be denied, especially considering the damning evidence, that people were (and still are) all too willing to purchase things they cannot afford.  I will be the first to admit that I have fallen into this trap myself – I think the major difference is that I don’t expect the government to bail me out.  The problem is, with sub-prime lending and an interesting phenomenon called “Interest-Only Loans”, America cannot afford to work it’s way out of the hole that it dug.  We are definitely on the brink of global economic collapse because of our actions.  The global economy is so dependent on our success that if we fail, they also fail.  I firmly believe that, had AIG not been saved by the Fed, we would have seen another Depression as bad as that of the 1930s – worthy of the capital “d”.

The “Roaring Twenties” has been characterized as a time period of great wealth and a great lack of responsibility.  I challenge you to ask yourselves – what is the difference between then and now?  How many people do you know/have heard of who had loans they couldn’t possibly pay off if the economy (like it always does) went down even a little bit?  How can people not understand that planning for the future is so much more important than “living for the present”?  How can we be surprised by these recent events – and why is it shocking that it would occur in our financial sector?  Sure the Stock Market surged over the past few days because the government FINALLY acted as they should have.  That doesn’t mean we are out of danger – not at all.  If anything, this wild roller coaster the Stock Market is on should signal to the average American that things are just as unstable as they were yesterday, and there is no such thing as a “quick fix” or a “band-aid”.  There can’t be.  We need to stabilize the base of the pyramid, not fix the surface wounds on the top.  It won’t work this time.

Those of you who know me know that I am not a fan of government involvement.  Even though I refuse to identify with a political party or even republican/liberal paths, I guess it can be said that I am closer to a libertarian than anything else.  Unfortunately, those ideas may have worked in another situation, a different setting.  Now, there is no choice but to have the government act.  They need to act quickly and decisively to help implement long-term change.  I am not foolish enough to think that I know enough to present an answer; I know there are people who can, though.  There also must be an official investigation as to the practices of the financial sector as well as the people running it.  As much as this is the everyday American’s fault (because it is), there is no doubt in my mind that the people running these companies hold a certain amount of blame as well.

Let us hope that, as the government dumps millions and millions of tax-payers’ dollars into the economy, that we have learned the lesson history tried to teach us almost 80 years ago.

Editing, anyone?

There are sites all over the internet poking fun at appalling grammar and spelling mistakes.  Of course, people are going to mess up grammatically, I don’t think anyone would argue that the English language is one of the most annoying and difficult to learn to speak, read and write.  Plus, the rules change constantly (since I graduated from high school in 2002, the rule on comma usage listing in paragraphs – like in the previous sentence – have changed at least 3 times).  So, yes, there are going to be mistakes, even with the wonders technology has given us, like spell check, grammar check and so on.

But here’s the thing.  When you don’t edit your documents, no matter if they are an advertisement, essay, thesis, or STAMP, you end up in a conundrum like The Fish and Wildlife Service has found themselves, which is described in the following CNN article:

Duck stamp number sends callers to sex line.

Lesson of the day?  ALWAYS EDIT YOUR DOCUMENTS.  Even if you hate it, and even if you only do it once, it protects against absolutely idiotic mistakes.  There is nothing more embarrassing than writing a stunning paper and discovering – after it’s been turned in – that you spelled “their” as “there” or “your” as “you’re”.  There are many other examples I could use, but really, it all comes down to being aware of what you are writing.  You’d be amazed at how much a simple spelling error can cost you – just ask any lawyer.

Oh, and none of this “texting lingo” crap.  “To” and “too” are not “2″!!!

Learn proper English!