Financial Times Are They Worse Than We Think

It seems that although trying to report the facts, the news media is being told to keep a positive spin on the financial world, and focus on the positive as opposed to the negative when it comes to money matters.  Unfortunately, as the end of the year figures become public, there is no where for American’s to hide, we are in some serious trouble.  Unemployment statistics are rising each month, sales in all the major retailers are down, and people who have their money in the stock market are panicking and with good reason.  Yesterday, Barack Obama addressed the country talking about the financial crisis and said that Congress must act quickly to put a plan into effect or things are going to plummet.  I don’t think that Congress knows how to act quickly, and I also think that they are at a loss as to what to do.  I don’t know that the incoming President has all the answers, as a matter of fact, I don’t think that anyone does.  It is like when you overspend for years, and then you lose your job, basically we are up a creek.  All the bailouts in the whole world are not going to stop us from going into a Depression in this country.  You can’t just undo all the mistakes that have been made overnight, and no one should expect that from anyone including the new president.  The one thing that I know is that we need to start tightening the belts on spending all around.  There is no need for spending money like we do in this country, and it is really time for us to look at our “budget” which is far from balanced and stop spending money that we don’t have.  This country does not need small cutbacks, we need to cut back in all areas and start using the excess to knock down some of this debt that we have accumulated.  It won’t happen overnight, but working together with a clear understanding of the hole that we all collectively have created, means we start to put this horrible financial crisis behind us.

It may be a long haul for the American public, but we can all do our part.  Volunteer time, money or whatever resources you have to help others if you are not one of the one’s in need.  You could need help in the future, so keep in mind that what you put out there comes back to you ten fold.  We need to help each other, just like we did following 9/11.  We need to unite and show the world what American’s are made of, and it isn’t money.

Finances Getting You Down…It Could Be Worse

These days finances are on the minds of most American’s and probably a lot of our international counterparts as well.  We are all thinking, how will we make it, will we be able to make ends meet, or are we going to be facing unemployment over the coming years? Well, I know personally many a day, I will wish that I had more, as I am sure is where a lot of people are at.  Wishing that you were one of the wealthiest people in the world, so you just didn’t have to give money another thought…Am I Right?

More money may not be the answer as a recent trend around the globe is showing wealthy businessmen committing suicide due to the tough financial times.  Personally, I think it is very sad that so many men are defining themselves in such a way that without money they are completely useless to their families and to society in general.  Sure we all know that men tend to identify with being the bread winner and that is there primary role in most families, however isn’t it sad that these big wig executives are leaving behind wives and children without even so much as a second thought about.  Perhaps they only seem to have it all, but I can assure you that these children would have been better off to have a father in their lives, even if they had to live a meager lifestyle.  Someone to show them that when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and not check out.

I quite honestly am glad that I don’t have so much money that to be penniless would devastate me or cause me to kill myself.  I have my family and that is where my priorities lie.  Let’s focus on all that we do have in this life and not just the money, after all it is really just green paper…isn’t it?

Obama Economic Stimulus, Will It Work?

Most American’s are thinking that with a National Debt of over 10 Trillion dollars why is this guy already spending this much money when he hasn’t even taken office yet.  Well, on some level, we all are aware that spending is actually what keeps the economy going, but let’s face it, we also know that we need our money right now, and most people are not running around spending all that they have.  So why does Obama think that his stimulus package will work when Bush’s didn’t.

The answer to that is both complex and simple.  When Bush set out to stimulate the economy, he did so by sending checks to individuals and families.  Great in theory, however most American’s who were already struggling used those checks to pay bills or stashed it away for a rainy day.  Therefore, we did not all run out and shop for new items and that in turn did not do for the economy what Bush had hoped.

In Obama’s plan, which does include checks to the American public, it however does not rely on them to be the stimulus.  It is offering a much more comprehensive and multi faceted approach to stimulating the economy which includes sizable tax deductions for businesses for each new employee they hire on.  This will help create jobs, which in the long term seems like it will have a bigger impact on people’s spending.  After all, you can’t be out spending if you don’t have a job at which you can earn some money.

If you look over the plan you will in fact see that Obama’s plan will help stimulate the economy which will not only help the individuals but also the businesses and the unemployment rate.  Overall, this plan is cheap compared to how much Bush has spent on bail outs in the last three months.  At least the Obama plan stands a chance.