You're going to fix the economy? By yourself?

Its been, what, almost a year soon since the presidential elections? I believe they started running ads even before now. As we all remember, one of the biggest issues that was covered in the election was that of the economy. Basically what was promised (by both parties, mind you) was a plan spearheaded by the government, and pretty much solely by the executive branch according to the opinions of the majority of the public. Obama or McCain were finally going to do what the previous administrations failed to do, over and over again.

And guess what.

It didn't happen.

Is this the fault of the administration? Is it the fault of the Democrats that this happened, or rather didn't happen?

The answer is a resounding no. Why, you might ask Dear Old Grimm. Why is it someone else's fault? Or rather, the bigger question is "Who is responsible for the downturn?"

The answer is simple, but the explanation is very complicated. In a nutshell, the fault lies in the hands of the common man, and the responsibility of rebuilding lies with the corporations. The proverbial beaten dead horse of the "crisis" is the "toxic loans" that were put out, or to be more technical, the sub-prime loans that were given to people who had nothing of the credit to be able to get a true, healthy loan. This basically accomplished nothing more than putting large amounts to money to people who have very little self-control. Credit scores exist for a reason, they allow banks, lenders, etc. to judge whether a person will play their part in the loan process. So, yes, part of the blame lies with the lenders that put out the loans to begin with. But that's not the largest part of the debt pie.

The real problem is with the common man, who took out the loans so that (s)he could buy a mansion, a new wife, and a wide screen t.v. off their bad money. These loans were not forced on these people, they actively and knowingly took them out, knowing they could never pay them back. Parallels can be drawn between the gamblers who were "forced by the casinos" to gamble. And the problem is difficult to fix, its hard to "make" money, when so much has been lost in the rough and tumble. Note that most of the people that are the cause of the problem are the same people who are pushing the government so hard to fix the economy, the so called "downtrodden." After all, the government has been their crutch for so very, very long. Why wouldn't they rely on it even further?

Now we must focus our attention on how to fix the situation. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the blame is split between the banks and the consumers, it falls to the corporations to fix the situation. And I don't mean the "Lets give billions to banks to keep them from crashing and completely destroying the economy of the United States", I mean actual fixes. The companies need to stop bending to the will of the common man, after all, they caused this to begin with. They need to focus on real growth, so that we can regain what we lost. Remember, kids, our money is fiat, we stopped the gold standard a long time ago. So, the worth of our money, and therefore the worth of our country, is based on how well the country is doing. When we enter a depression (not something as extreme as the Great Depression, simply any time growth is suppressed) our value goes down. When growth occurs, the value goes up. So, the best way to save the economy is to focus on growth at the cost of all else. (See my previous entry)

A long, long story made short, stop blaming the president for your failures. Stop whining about losing your job, we can't have full employment and growth. And let us think, if you were really that good at your job, you'd still have it. Growth will result in more jobs, and a better country. So let the companies do their job.

The problem with why the populace blames the government for their problems is that the government doesn't have as much power as people think it does. The economy is run by the corporations and their puppets of consumers. The policies of the country are created by the "court of public opinion", the media, and most of all the angry protesters. The government, especially President Obama, is built on a platform of public opinion, their plans hold little intrinsic merit. So, if the lose approval, they will be destroyed before they get off the ground. They are truly puppets to angry citizens with big voices. Funny how that works.

Don't waste your time blaming the government. They're just you puppet. Pull their strings.

As always, with love,
Grimm

Growth or Stability?

Today I read a story in the New York Times about Japan, how it was employing highly trained citizens in tedious, mediocre jobs that are far below their skill level for the sake of employment. So the question became this: what would you rather have, growth or employment? Which, of course, boils down to the idea of you can either have permanent growth for the entire nation, or to help the individual man. What is the better of the two?

The answer, of course, is to favor growth, because growth is permanent. The world is constantly changing, people growing, failing, dying, succeeding, buying, selling, everything. So, when you try to focus on the transient instead of the permanent, then what are you expecting but for your work to be swept far, far away? It is somewhat like the wartime-high of the economy. Back before the first world war, the economy in the United States was relatively tiny relative to what it was afterward. That's because the government had less employment due to the war. And yet there was explosive growth, why? Its because they had rapid growth in infrastructure to accommodate the war effort. But the key thing is that they had the jobs to accommodate the returning soldiers, leading to a huge boost in the economy that lasted through many depressions and wars. See? When growth is favored, in the end, everyone wins.

With love,
Grimm

Its Been A While...

Its been a while, obviously, since my last post. Why? I think this sums it up pretty well:

http://xkcd.com/635/.

Seriously, what is the point of a blog? If I were to post anything meaningful on this page, no one would care. If I posted mindless drivel, and the entire population read it, it got printed and made into a movie, and I rolled about in piles of money every morning, it still wouldn't matter, because its still crap.

Hell, why bother? And yet I do anyways. Why? Because the internet is a forum, and it needs to stay that way. It may be like trying to stem a flood with a pebble, but it's better than nothing. Most of the content on the internet is either utterly useless memes, or some kind of corporate bull. If the internet is a creature, then we need to have a brain. And I'm not talking about posting pictures of Fluffy on a motorboat. I mean actual commentary.

Thus, I appeal to the world. Think, post, blog, get on your roof and scream loudly, I don't care. Just start working. Make this world a little bit louder.

Your friend,
Grimm