I'm Worried…

Yes folks I truly am. First it was the mortgage fiasco and the subsequent bailout. Then came the auto bailout and the digital television voucher program. The bagillion dollar stimulus bill (where are the people who were criticizing Bush for a mere 87 billion now?) that is going to just create a bunch of government jobs designed only to keep the government huge and the public (that’s you and me, bub) at their mercy.

Ordinarily, this stuff would roll off my back. It is after all, business as usual in this bizarre world we live in, right? But here’s the thing that really worries me – the perception of the economy. I’m not saying that it isn’t in bad shape but the perception, the belief that what we are being told about it is stronger than the reality and will break our backs sooner than the economy itself.

There is an old political adage that says ‘perception is reality’ well I’m here to tell you that that is the truth. For years now, the media and any two-bit politician who was powerless and wanted some power has been hammering us with this idea that the economy was in trouble. And it started long before there were the problems we now face. I suppose you could say that these people were visionaries and saw it coming. But did they? Or did they just create a self-fulfilling prophecy for us? Did they just keep hammering away until we all started to believe it and became more and more desperate? Until we apathetically just allowed the government to make funny money to pay for a stimulus that is bound to actually collapse the economy?

What many people don’t seem to understand is what stimulates the economy is business and commerce. And yet what this stimulus package seeks to do is destroy business and commerce. It seeks to make the government the owner of all the major business concerns. Of course Congress will bail-out the auto industry, the banking industry and any other industry that comes along and kisses its ass. What better way to make the government the owner of those concerns? It’s not unlike Jimmy the Loan Shark. Sure, he’ll help you out but man if that loan isn’t paid back you lose your kneecaps and your business. How on earth do we think this is any kind of solution?

I feel like screaming on a daily basis. Yet, what is the point of it? Everyone is already there. They already believe what is being dished out. Businesses are freaking out and letting people go. People are going onto unemployment rather than looking for another job or even starting their own companies or going concern. People are bailing on their mortgages, letting them go to foreclosure and then saving all that mortgage payment money while the bank takes nearly a year to evict them. Nobody is spending any more because they are sure there won’t be any money to spend in the future. We’re sunk, folks. We’re really sunk if we don’t stop buying into this crap.

Contrary to popular belief, the economy goes in cycles – it is simply a fact of life. And if people just knew and accepted that and didn’t try to ‘do’ something to change it by creating bullshit solutions like a stimulus package for instance – the cycles would be much shorter and we’d all be doing better.

I know that my pleas are falling on deaf ears and if anyone even comments on this post I’ll be more than surprised. All I can say is that when the government owns everything, including our souls, it will be too late for any of us to protest. You think things are ugly now? Wait a couple of years, it’s going to make this look like a ferris wheel spin around the amusement park.

UPDATE:

For further insanity on this bailout fiasco go here to read about the latest freakanomics solution. We, the taxpayers are bailing out Citibank? Come on! And all while they are jacking up our interest rates with gleeful abandon? That’s like getting beaten and then set on fire by the same bully. Oh my gawd! Where is this great change that has been touted for the last year? This is supposed to be good? I’m telling you folks, start stuffing your mattresses – unless you want all your money in government banks (the better for the IRS to seize your assets and freeze your accounts????) with no interest, heavy fees and likely bad math. Crap!