09>08: Our current “Economic Crisis” is largely a state of mind, and we can overcome it by working together.
It doesn’t matter if you voted for Obama or not. That is in the past. He is our leader now, and as citizens we owe him our support. I am not suggesting blind, lemming-like following, free of criticism or healthy debate. All I am saying is that if we don’t all act together, we may end up in a real mess.
Obama stepped into a leadership void. Same one McCain would have stepped into. Now he’s there, and it’s up to him to lead. And it’s up to us to work together to make it work.
In business, we do not always initially agree about how to proceed, and we may debate vigorously the best course; but once the decision is made, we stop arguing the merits of one course or another – we simply work together to make the chosen course successful. We must do the same thing as a Nation. Stop bickering and infighting, pull together, and let’s fix this thing.
I firmly believe that the biggest single reason that the economy continues to decline is fear that the economy will continue to decline. Think about that for a minute. Sure, housing values plummeted, but it can be argued that they were overinflated to begin with. Same with some stocks. These “market corrections” are past us now, so why does the economy continue to tank? Fear. Fear of losing jobs, fear of losing future contracts, fear of being afraid. I heard once that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself. And I also heard that courage was not a lack of fear, but instead the ability to act in the face of fear.
Therefore, by that definition, Skycasters will choose to be courageous – we will act in the face of fear. And here is what we will do. Skycasters will keep building and improving. We will continue to develop our infrastructure, improve our facilities, and strive to deliver the best possible service to our customers. We will keep hiring new staff, we will keep buying new equipment, we will keep spending the money necessary to run our business the right way.
Make the conscious decision to not be afraid. Choose to not participate in the hysteria. Be courageous, act in the face of fear, and pretty soon we won’t have an economic crisis anymore.
March 21st, 2009 at 12:46 pm
This is very good advice. I recently wrote the President, Pelosi, Frank, my congressman et. al. and suggested they challenge all of the Senior executives of any company that receives bailout funds to not only refuse bonuses, but to work for an entire year for zero compensation (some are already doing this). It would instill trust and demonstrate that they are committed to the sacrifice needed to “right the ship”. I think this is the kind of action that the American people would rally behind. In the immortal words, “what they could do for the country.”
I don’t think my one letter alone will do anything, but it– along with comments/opinions such as yours together along with millions of other likeminded people will make a difference.
Cheers.
March 24th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I note that Congress is lambasting the AIG and other corporate, wallstreet, financial. automotive institutions over Salaries, Increases, bonus, etc and that is fine. I support that but one that is left out is Government itself.
For one thing Congress increased it’s salaries in 2008 and it did a very poor job, has the lowest approval rating of any branch of government.
Also, I disagree with this state of mind statement:
Loss of jobs and buying power are not states of minds but conditions that exist in the present, past and possibly the future at least for some of us.
The government of the USA failed the people and especially the citizens of the USA by:
1. Congress failed in it’s oversight responsibilities (both in the exercise thereof and the content thereof.
2. The Administration Past and Present have failed in appropriately administering the Eccomic policies, laws and regulatory responsibilities. This may be a bit strong for the current administration in that it has only been in off just over 2 months now. However it is still failing to do much of it’s respnsibilities. readon.
3. Where was and where is the Justice Department in all this mess.
Any person with any intelligience at all can know that 99% of the current ecconomic crises is due to Corruption in Wallstreet, The Banking Institutions, Corporate America and the Government itself.
In the 1930s at least a number of these creatures went to jail?
Who has gone to jail in this crisis?
Some were really ashamed of their failures and misdeeds that they jumped out the windows of high stories on high buildings.
Why is not someone doing that today??
Todays corrupt persons are ashamed of being caught but not of doing wrong just like the judge told OJ Simpson when he said he was sorry. She said no you are not, you’re just sorry that you were caught!
Maybe the likes of some of them should be pushed. Maybe some were in the 1930s too.
When I see people being carted off to jail from all the organizations I named (wall street, financial institutions and government, and corporate America) for their wrong doings and a few of them committing suicide then We and I will all know that America is on the road to healing and righting of this ecconomic crises.
Also in the case of AIG and others:
If they are too big to fail (because they might bring down our financial or monetary systems) then they have to have violated our Anti Trust Laws and should be prosecuted for that. Name changes don’t change the corrupt only people and God changes can do that.
What has happened to our Anti-Trust Law Enforcement?
It’s time to return to the early 1900s and late 1800s in that regard.
Also, I suggest reading of the Bad Samaritans in regard to the Free Trade but one premise in that book is also disagreeable and that is that those who receive USA Taxpayer funds should not have strings attached. Of course they should and if they don’t like them then they should refuse the Cash. Sounds like children who want their parents financial support but don’t want their parents rules.
However Free Trade did not build the ecconomies of the USA, Britain, Japan, South Korean or any other successful ecconomy of tjhe world.
Most practiced protecting key and infant industries/business/ecconomic activities but kicked the ladder of support away when they were no longer needed and were no longer in their infancies. Most families will help their children if they can and if they need it and are trying to act responsibly.. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do like wise.
Building an ecconomy on Consummer Spending is bad. First it is bad for consumers to spend especially for the sake of the ecconomy or spending. I advocate savings and putting aside for a rainy day but don’t put all the eggs in one basket. I also advocate
building the best valued products that you can. Adding Value costs some monies but that is a desirable thing to have so people pay for it as they do when they buy Mercedes Automobiles, Lexus or Toyoto Products.
American Car Companies have failed Americans. It is not the Citizens who have failed them. They failed to offer value for the consumer money! They’d rather hire lawyers than crush a defected automobile in production. Unsafe at any speed is still their practice yet they want the same consumer that have decided to not buy their products (main reason they are in trouble today) because they got a better value for their money elsewhere. to get out of their current mess, they will have to offer a better value in their products that the consumer can get elsewhere.
However (trade war or not), I certainly believe that American Tax Monies should only be spent on American Products when possible and still achieve the recognizable goal of what’s the best way to spend our money for the value that we want and need and to have jobs too.
Thats enough issues for now and I will stick to the economic ones as this article is about the ecconomy.
Thank You,
William Levan
March 25th, 2009 at 7:52 am
I understand your frustration with the situation we find ourselves in, and your desire to “find out who is responsible” and place blame. However, such an inquiry does nothing to move us forward. In any mess there is always enough blame to go around - blame is easy. Leadership and solutions are more difficult.
What I am suggesting is that the way out of this is for everyone to roll up their sleeves and get to work. None of us are happy with this mess - but it is what it is - so we, collectively, must deal with it. For our part, we will continue to improve our business and build for the future - and I invite businesses of every size and shape to adopt the same philosophy. My faith in our nation will not be shaken, and we will put our energies into moving forward.
-MK