Recession or Sanity?
Personally, I’m calling the recession media hysteria about marketers woes.
If you focus on the dire straits of marketing professionals then Houston, we have a problem.
But if your concern is with the consumer, otherwise known as the American People, then this recession looks more like a return to financial sanity.
Wasn’t this whole housing - slash - credit problem created by wanton spending with no foresight into the consequences of such behavior? Welcome, back to Planet Earth!
Was I the only one watching houses sky rocket over the last few years with jaw dropped wondering how an average family could afford to buy one and have the luxury of eating?
Was I alone in watching people buy houses they couldn’t come close to being able to afford and wondering, why is the bank loaning them so much money when they know they can’t pay it back?
I see all the price of homes come back down to earth with a sigh of relief thinking, thank you God, maybe I’ll be able to live somewhere decent.
When I read that it looks like people will stop financing a car every other year I think Thank Goodness consumers have come to their senses and realized a car shouldn’t be going in and out of fashion between 2007 and 2008! That trend really had me worried.
When I hear about retailers not showing growth, I breath a sigh of relief that consumers have started to realize that all those credit cards have to be paid back - with interest to credit card companies that have become much like loan sharks.
When I read that President Bush and congress have resolved to send us all “free” money with a stimulus package designed to keep us spending I think , What the hell is wrong with you? Isn’t that how we got in this mess in the first place? Telling us to pacify ourselves with spend, spend, spend retail therapy? What kind of economic policy is that?
Haven’t we learned that just because we’ve found more and more ways to spend money that isn’t ours doesn’t meant that we should? This kind of spending should not be confused with a sound economy.
Consumer spending shouldn’t be our barometer for whether our economy is strong or not - not when most of what consumers are spending is borrowed at extremely high interest rates! Hello!
When I hear recession I’m thinking - finally, people are starting to listen to the likes of Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey, and others (like myself) who have called for a halt to the kind of foolish borrowing and spending that’s marked the last few years with a kind of financial delirium.
This recession in that light - is the best thing that’s happened to consumers in a long time.
In other words, It’s about time everyone started listening to me!
Tags: , blog fabulous, consumer spending, credit cards, depression, free money, housing crisis, recession, retail therapy, so sioux me, tracee siouxRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Fabulous Culture, Fabulous Politics, Fabulously Cheap
13 opinions for Recession or Sanity?
Jen
Jan 30, 2008 at 7:25 am
“When I read that President Bush and congress have resolved to send us all “free” money with a stimulus package designed to keep us spending I think What the hell is wrong with you? Isn’t that how we got in this mess in the first place? Telling us to pacify ourselves with spend, spend, spend retail therapy? What kind of economic policy is that?”
AMEN!!! Seriously WTF?!
Oh, and the CHIP veto over ride fell 15 votes short last week, but here’s 145 billion dollars to piss away America!
Oh, and this is not “free money” middle class America will pay out the nose for it. Trust.
IF we do get a check ours will surly go to the debt we racked up the last three months when NO ONE would insure my special needs kid. We had an $800.00 hole in our budget every month just for his basic needs. Thank you God that there was no hospital stays, and we were able to scrape by.
Ifsolitude
Jan 30, 2008 at 8:06 am
Absolutely! The *only* bad thing about the “recession” is that the interest rate on my savings account just got cut.
Tracee
Jan 30, 2008 at 8:31 am
That’s my advice America - don’t put the “free money” into the spend, spend, spend economy - put it towards your debt or save it at a good interest rate in a tax free retirement account or for your kid’s college or something.
If you do spend it - spend it on something you’ve been saving for, but didn’t want to finance like a used car or something worthwhile.
Tracee
Jan 30, 2008 at 8:31 am
I know right Jen - we can’t afford for everyone to go to the doctor, but we can afford to dole out billions of dollars to encourage everyone to go to the MALL?
Violet
Jan 30, 2008 at 10:17 am
Meanwhile the deficit grows bigger every day. How stupid do they think we are to be pacified by a $600 check, barely enough to make a difference in anyone’s life. What a scam! I also wonder how much it will cost to administer these checks - printing, accounting etc. I’m disappointed that both parties are backing what amounts to an election gimmick.
Tracee
Jan 30, 2008 at 10:28 am
Yeah, how are they paying for this?
Oh, I know - let’s just put more on the federal credit card!
crystal
Jan 31, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I know! Isn’t giving everyone a little bit of spending money the same analogy as a family with starving children and you give the kids a lollipop? What good is this going to do in the long run?
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John
Feb 28, 2008 at 5:58 am
Why not drop the price of all products in the US that is over two dollars by one dollar to boost the economy? Do it and see how much more buying power consumers have.
Tracee
Feb 28, 2008 at 7:15 am
Good point John. But, then that would interfere with the almighty profit and the government would never in a million years want to interfere with something so sacred.
Ashley
Feb 28, 2008 at 7:21 am
Crystal is right. Our economy is running itself like one big Enron - looks good from the outside numbers..who cares if 90% of that spike is being purchased on credit!!? It’ll be the one thing Bush can brag about after he’s out.
Tracee
Feb 28, 2008 at 10:04 am
Good point Ashley - CREDIT isn’t the same as spending economically.
Recession Arguments on B5media
Mar 31, 2008 at 1:40 pm
[…] lots of takes on it. You should check a few theories out cause well, it effects you. My theory? Recession or Sanity? Tags: blog fabulous, depression, empowering women, empowering-girls, kelly philips erb, Politics, […]
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