Ok, I have been thinking about this for a while. Not sure quite how I wanted to frame this but bear with me.
However, I do have to say, these are my opinions, and if I am wrong, I am wrong, but I think I got a good path, but I am open to discussion of this.
Now. Everyone is talking about how the DOW is down and the economy sucks. Ok, I’ll give them that. But the DOW and stuff have had an AMAZING run for a few years and it was higher than anyone thought it would be. That right there should have been a sign it was going to pop, like the dot com bubble of sorts. SO!! Now it’s all bad right?
Well, wrong.
See here is what I think of it. Good. Let the companies fall. Yes yes people will lose a lot of money, retirement, etc. This I all understand. However let me riddle you this. If you as a smart, functional human being, lived within your means all those years, why would you be bad off? If you were dumb and invested all your money somewhere, then, well, you dumb. If you didn’t setup an IRA or a Savings Account or put money into CD”s and more stable things that gain money, albeit small amounts, then you have only you to blame. Did you need the 300k house? Did you need the boat and the cottage and the new car every 2 years? No you did not.
That’s what I’m getting at. These companies just used the hell out of you and took all your money and made their riches, and you gave it to them. Yes you can blame them for the scam they ran, but you can also blame yourself for not investing in yourself smartly. If you had paid off your house instead of re-mortgaging it to buy a boat and a new car saying “oh, with my overtime next year I’ll pay it off” then you’re retarded. You did that to yourself.
Yes this economic recession is hurting a lot of people, but how many of them deserve it? How many of them did it to themselves? And why is it that now, I as the responsible person. I as the one who bought an affordable small house, pay all my bills on time, drive an 11 year old car with almost 200K miles on it, why do I have to now pay for your mistakes?
Yes, the economic downfall does suck, but let’s take one more look at another perspective. If the bankers had worried about the people and not other bankers, if the lenders had watched the market and not lent to people who obviously would not be able to afford it, if PEOPLE looked out for PEOPLE and not just for THEMSELVES this would all be different. If everyone worried a bit more, the market WOULD have grown, and it would be a little higher then where it currently is, but it would be STABLE. Businesses would have good foundations and good business plans, money in the bank, and be able to do some R&D, and not have to do layoffs.
It all boils down to the people in general. Everyone wants to be a rock star and doesn’t care who they step on to get there. Well this is what you get.
Maybe, just MAYBE, if we had NOT bailed these companies out, good wholesome foundation companies would have emerged and perhaps this down market would be GREAT to invest in, in new companies, that have good practice. Instead we have a down market with the same cesspool of companies to invest in. yea, that sounds GREAT to me. That is EXACTLY what I want to invest in. Can I have my mason jar and shovel please, I know a safer place for my money.
Sorry, all these people bitching is pissing me off. My money is down yes, however I am smart, I have diverse savings in different areas and while I lost some, it has not been a lot.
And I’m just a guy who invests in the basics in life, so I can retire happy. And guess what, I can afford the new car, and my house, and my bills, and STILL be able to live off unemployment if it gets that bad. Yes it is called living within my means,
It’s also called a good lesson from my parents.
Ah well. All we can do is move forward cautiously. Where do we go from here? Well first off, I suggest being smarter about your investments, and start living within your means. It’s called smart living, and farmers did it for years.
Overall a very interesting fiscally responsible entry, but it really doesn’t address some of the things government could do. There is a problem with our implementation of capitalism. I love capitalism from a conceptual take, but what we have is not that. We have a feudal capitalism system where the “lords and barons” are the CEOs and other C class executives of major companies and they have created a separate rule system for themselves. Instead of being beholden to stakeholders, they are beholden to board of directors which are other CEOs. The voting set of stockholders are not the majority of folks in a company, but instead a more elite group of individuals.
So as much as I hate government regulation of my businesses, the rules of business need to change. The power monopolies need to be broken up. I wish I had a good plan for this, but almost all things that come to mind feel heavy handed and big-brotherish.
Yes, I am pissed that I bought in my means and now feel that I am being forced to pay for those that bought outside of theirs. But the problem is so deep and broken that this is the best we can hope for is to pin the recovery to the blood and sweat of the middle class while the upper class reap the rewards through various evasive techniques.
Why not a flat tax for all making more than $48k? Why not simplify other tax codes (property, sales, etc)? Mostly lobby groups that will make it so that we can’t do this. We aren’t doomed, but we are fairly broken.
I agree with you on many of those points. and yes i know i didn’t get into the government role in this, but i didn’t really want to. They really are not to blame as much as the people who run the companies. But yes, i completely agree with your ideas on the board of directors and such, they do need togo away and people do need to be held accountable to the people of the company.