Long Time Coming

This financial mess has been a long time coming. Some of us recall when the Dow was at 803 in 1982. Before the stock market fell apart in the fall of 2007, it was up to 14,165. All kinds of bells should have gone off. Between those periods, the share of disposable income each homeowner spent on mortgage and consumer debt increased by 35%. In 1982 the average household saved 11% of their disposable income. In 2007 that was down to less then 1%.

Each year since the turn of the century the US economy has grown more slowly than the global economy. That too should have been a red flag.

It's true...everything suddenly has changed. More than a year into this recession, we still aren't sure if the end is in sight. Most of us have lost 30% of our retirement income. Jobs are hard to come by. There are thirty people applying for each available position.

For years, greedy capitalists and even he past president and at least one political candidate for president insisted that the economy was strong and healthy. But now we have to endure the shocking and terrible pain of realizing we were just fooling ourselves and being fooled.

We'll soon see how well the new president copes. One thing is sure. Long before he was elected he clearly sensed the nature of the historic moment.

We have brought on this crisis by going through a quarter century of self destructive financial excesses. We have been overly dependent on credit and dependence on oil, both as a nation and as individuals.

China, on the other hand is the one economy that has saved money. And that is a good thing because now we are dependent on borrowing from them to run our economy.

On the other hand, we can have universal health care and public schools that succeed. But we must tax fossil fuels and develop the power of wind and sun to do it. We must impose sensible regulatory mechanisms on banks and markets again and yet also promote free markets and free trade. We have to grow our military to protect ourselves and others on the globe without fighting needless wars but as a powerful deterrent. But we also have to eliminate pork barrel weapon systems that do not work but waste billions of taxpayer dollars.

Congress must pass some kind of carbon taxing bill that can help pay for the alternative energies. The infrastructure, which has been deteriorating for years needs revamping and needs to be restructured and rebuilt.

Right now we are all still in a state of shock. Half the stock market is gone and half of all wall street wheeler dealers are gone. It's a terrible time and yet it is a time of opportunity if we learn something from the experience. Yes, we must spend money to pull ourselves out of this predicament yet we must not overuse credit to do it. We must get ourselves back on a basically cash basis as families and individuals and begin saving again.

Let's not panic but work together for the recovery. Let's give the president a chance to let his program work. It won't recover overnight. He's only been in office less then 90 days.