Well here we are on the last day of 2008. Many are saying good riddance to a bad year and let’s hope 2009 will be better; the usual New Year’s Eve mind set – but will it be better or even can it be better?
For me it was OK. My 401(k) dropped 50%, my home value tanked, my business did not turn a big profit like it usually does but hey, my family is alive and well, I have a job and prospects are relatively good for 2009.
On the other hand, Christmas sales were way down which means people are and will be hoarding money and not spending it, especially on big ticket items. As demand slips, supply must drop and that means fewer production jobs needed and with people out of work, spending and demand go even lower and this is the vicious cycle that creates depressions.
Obama has great FDR type plans of putting millions to work fixing up our infrastructure, schools and government buildings. Just as in the 1930’s, FDR’s economic stimulus actions did not end the Great Depression, only WWII and the great demand for products it created ended the depression.
I will be delving deeply into economic issues throughout 2009 to learn what needs to be done to turn our economy around. I don’t think anyone, right now, has any concrete answers as to what will or will not work to stimulate our economy.
I do know that Wall Street needs to be cleaned out and regulated. I am a free market capitalist but what those idiots on Wall Street were doing was not capitalism, it was pure invention and trickery that should have been illegal and now MUST be illegal with dire consequences to pay if caught.
Internationally, the world is still a tinder box ready to flame at any time; Obama will have his hands full.
On the bright side, I will vacation in IXTAPA, Mexico in February and hope to explore the Badlands of South Dakota in the early spring. A week in Chicago in July and maybe fall colors in Maine for the fall. I plan on staying active, exercising and studying and commenting on the passing scene.
See you on the flip side…
For me it was OK. My 401(k) dropped 50%, my home value tanked, my business did not turn a big profit like it usually does but hey, my family is alive and well, I have a job and prospects are relatively good for 2009.
On the other hand, Christmas sales were way down which means people are and will be hoarding money and not spending it, especially on big ticket items. As demand slips, supply must drop and that means fewer production jobs needed and with people out of work, spending and demand go even lower and this is the vicious cycle that creates depressions.
Obama has great FDR type plans of putting millions to work fixing up our infrastructure, schools and government buildings. Just as in the 1930’s, FDR’s economic stimulus actions did not end the Great Depression, only WWII and the great demand for products it created ended the depression.
I will be delving deeply into economic issues throughout 2009 to learn what needs to be done to turn our economy around. I don’t think anyone, right now, has any concrete answers as to what will or will not work to stimulate our economy.
I do know that Wall Street needs to be cleaned out and regulated. I am a free market capitalist but what those idiots on Wall Street were doing was not capitalism, it was pure invention and trickery that should have been illegal and now MUST be illegal with dire consequences to pay if caught.
Internationally, the world is still a tinder box ready to flame at any time; Obama will have his hands full.
On the bright side, I will vacation in IXTAPA, Mexico in February and hope to explore the Badlands of South Dakota in the early spring. A week in Chicago in July and maybe fall colors in Maine for the fall. I plan on staying active, exercising and studying and commenting on the passing scene.
See you on the flip side…
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