Is the Economy Really That Bad?

I'm not an economist but I do have to know some things about the economy. I cannot help but wonder if things are really as bad as we're being told. The mortgage industry in the US collapsed and the auto industry has been hit hard, but that's it. Granted, they are vary big but they still don't make up the bulk of GDP in North America by themselves. A lot of the problem businesses out there; notable failures like US electronics chain Circuit City and Canadian telecom firm Nortel have been circling the drain for years. However, every day we keep hearing about companies who were doing just fine just a few months ago now "tightening their belts". Is this really warranted? Are people loosing their jobs needlessly? I say yes. Two things rule the markets: greed and fear. I think a lot of the current crisis is being driven by fear alone rather than actual numbers. There is a reason people used to call economic downturns "panics" before the Great Depression.

The markets are down because people panicked and pulled all their money out, allowing the high rollers to play games with your money, as they still are. Billionaire Warren Buffet has proven that you can be one of the world's richest men but still be a complete and total idiot. Each time he panics and shoots his mouth off, it makes things worse. Of course the bigger dummies are the ones that listen to him. A lot of it is poor management by people with the same mentality as Buffet who are simply too lazy to search for the root causes of their problems and instead just lay people off. The real victims are those who have just left school who cannot find work because these idiots keep playing games over who can get needlessly scared the most. These youths just starting to enter the workforce are not eligible to collect EI and if they can't find jobs, they're essentially screwed. Just stop, this is not another Great Depression, far from it. The economy is not as bad as they keep saying. People are still buying, trade is still going. The truth is, that if you have a job, you have nothing to worry about. This whole recession has been artificially created by fear and it needs to stop.

Now, I'm not a fan of government intervention in the economy but something needs to be done to stop these needless layoffs and to ensure those entering the workforce can obtain work. A solution would be to offer tax incentives to companies who hire, especially those who hire recent highschool and university graduates. If things are tight, there should also be tax incentives offered that encourages employees and employers to adopt programs such as job sharing to ensure people can at the vary least keep working and keep earning an income. While Liberals have balked at how much such incentives would cost, it would save a significant amount of money in the long run by keeping people paying taxes and not collecting EI and welfare. If that fails, governments should consider imposing tax penalties on companies laying off large numbers of non-seasonal workers unless they can prove it is absolutely necessary to ensure the business's survival. It's not a step I would want to take but it may be necessary to stem the panic. Sometimes we all need a little tough love.