Government Bailout, Companies' Poor Judgment and the Public's Lack of Personal Responsibility

Although the stock market has rebounded a little bit over the last couple of days, there are still significant worries with the overall picture of stocks. As the rest of the world is attempting to follow the lead of the United States Government, it is becoming very clear that the money will only last for so long and the problem will once again happen in our future. Despite this, the one thing to remember about recessions is the rich usually become richer. Why is this? It's because they still have money to spend and can usually buy stocks at a lower rate; realizing that the stocks usually will go up at a later date. Recessions also give them opportunities to ask the government for assistance in their corporations. We have found that out with the $850.00 Billion they gave to companies on the bailout package (which they keep claiming 700 billion, ignoring the fine print on the bottom) along with additional tax breaks with a variety of companies that weren't hurting for money.

Companies will never learn, because they realize that government will always bail them out. It amazes me how often they disagree with Socialist principles and yet are bailed out by the government using socialist principles. Companies, like people need to be held accountable for their decisions, only then can they learn and grow. In my opinion I don't believe the government should be bailing them out of anything. The decisions these companies have made, including sending jobs overseas have caused havoc in America from higher unemployment to having a huge role in the problems surrounding the current economic fall.

Corporations are usually the first ones to complain about lack of money, they love to play the victim role; like they can do no wrong. The government usually saves them, for example Chrysler was bailed out years ago and now they, along with General Motors are asking for bailout money again; this after poor decisions from both companies lacking to produce environment friendly vehicles. Everyone is asking our government for help. Small Business have been assured money to help pay employees, Banks are now getting the Government to buy stakes in their business, Wall Street and companies are now having the government purchase stocks and mortgages; the list goes on and on. To be fair we have to notice that the Government as promised people that they can keep their houses, and pay a lower amount with lower interest rates, yet so far they have not done anything about it, they have only talked about it, there so far has been no plan of action yet; the governments focus appears to mostly be on companies at this point. The government did in fact increase unemployment benefits which will help people unemployed, and yet they have been very reluctant to make changes so jobs stay here in America and won't move overseas. If we are to get back employment, we must have jobs to do so, and that won't happen until we bring jobs back into the United States.

What affect does a recession or depression have on society? In some ways it could help the United States, for example in the 80's and early 90's, house payments were considered to be no more than twenty five to thirty percent of people's income. In late 90's and 2000's, people's payments were often around fifty percent. Far from that safety number in case something happened rather that be an illness, laid off, or fired. It could teach us not to over extend ourselves.

When people were able to get away with buying a house they really couldn't afford, they started using this in their daily life and structure. They bought fancy cars, or leased them for another large sum; they invested in their credit cards to save them, although it only would create a mess later on if financial circumstances were to fail. They never looked toward the future, only in the here and now. Although the cards had interest, they thought better of paying them off and throwing them away, so instead they collected even more cards and soon found that those cards could buy many great things, vacations, eating out, fancy clothes, jewelry, and even groceries, they could even use one card to help pay off another card.

Soon they may have realized they didn't like to cook, so if they are not eating out running up their credit bill, they went ahead and bought pre-packaged meals that cost twice as much, but takes less time to make.

Spending and Spending, and making poor judgments.

If the house payment was too much, they took out a second mortgage, they told themselves they would use that to pay off the credit cards, and some of them did, but then they went back to using the credit cards again, or maybe they decided the money would be better spent on a new HDTV, after all that is okay, at least didn't charge it they thought.

The habit of spending kept building on itself, almost like a cancer that spreads. They believed that the more stuff they had, the more special and above others they were. They found stores like Home Depot, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart to be awesome, here they could buy more stuff they didn't really need, but they got more for their money, so it was a great deal. They never questioned themselves, or even thought about if they needed it or not. So they continued. They bought Lattes at Starbucks daily for $4.00; they didn't pack a lunch, but instead ate out. They bought toys like boats, snowmobiles, the best computers, and an additional car just in case, they kept spending and spending. They didn't save any money because they couldn't; with all these credit card payments, house payments, and car payments, they couldn't save money; that was okay they thought, after all, freedom is just around the corner.

They also didn't realize the impact of their buying decisions, when they bought something that said made in China, they didn't see how them purchasing the item contributed to a higher unemployment rate within the United States, besides they thought, who cares, it isn't affecting me (at least not yet), so despite all of the warning signs, they couldn't break their habits, it was too great, even when they started to realize things were not well, they had never heard the word no or understood what the word meant to them financially, it appeared to them they never had that inner voice asking them to stop and think about what they were doing. So they never questioned their current or past decisions, they blamed everyone and everything else but the one person that is most responsible; them.

They continued to use their vehicle instead of using mass transit, but this soon changed when they couldn't afford gas because those credit card bills had increased beyond what they planned, all of a sudden pay increases at work became less or none at all, many jobs were terminated, insurance supplied by the company cost more out of their check and they received less benefits.

The average American even in this crisis, still can't figure out their role in this whole mess. They blamed the financial institutions for giving them a loan for their house and car. They blamed the credit card companies for their irresponsible spending, and they blamed their employer for not giving them enough money to save. After all, if they just could get a pay increase they could save money they thought, unfortunately with lack of personal responsibility they soon just used that extra money to spend more on things they didn't need

"When your there becomes a here, you obtain another there that still looks better, you can never achieve there"

The average American was so stuck on themselves, they took little interest on things outside their little consuming circle. They decided to ignore politics, unless it hurt their pocket books and their spending habits or something personal like the vacation they had planned could not happen due to gas prices, than all of a sudden they took interest, but once again they blamed outside sources, forgetting they put that person they now hate in office, via their vote or lack of voting, either way. They ignored him/her until something personal happened than they cried foul and felt like a victim.

I believe that a recession will in fact bring Americans back to the life of simplicity. I have not heard anyone say that maybe a recession is something the United States could use in order to bring responsibility back, not only from Corporations, but from personal responsibility. If I spilled something on my counter, it is my responsibility to clean it up, not others. Here are some of the benefits of a recession or possibly a depression.

We would use more alternate ways of commuting; this includes things that could be healthy like walking or riding a bike.

We are the most obese country in the world, eating out less can contribute to becoming healthy and losing that extra weight. It can also teach people to learn how to cook from scratch once again.

You can learn how to do chores you may have given up, things like ironing instead of taking stuff to the dry cleaners.

People would become more aware of their money and where they are spending it.

People would take more interest in their government.

It would teach people how to save money and stop using credit.

People would stay away from check cashing places that had a higher interest rate for a cash advancement on their income check.

People would distinguish the difference between a want and a need.

If you are one of those people addicted to consuming, I have five words for you. Start saving and stop spending. Don't take the governments word that things will be okay so you should continue to spend. Please for once, take responsibility and ask yourself, do you need this? Is it worth the price I might have to pay later and please be honest with yourself, was it the financial institutions fault or was it yours. They after all they didn't force you into your decision; you did.

I'm going to introduce a book for you, please either purchase this used or check it out at the public library. "Your money or your life" By Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin.

But let me get you started on the first chapter. Go around your house and list all the items you own and how much you purchased them for, now think hard, how much can you resale them for? If you look at the value, you will probably see that you lost money you could have saved. Maybe it is the cool kitchen gadget you purchased for a couple of hundred dollars and used only twice, but would be lucky to sell it for twenty dollars.

In order to save the United States you must be involved in being part of the solution. So I'm asking you to live simple, question your thoughts before spending, and realize there is a tomorrow with consequences for today's decisions.

Here are some little tips that can help you save.

The average American eats too much, learn to cut down on food intake. There are plenty of books you can reference that will tell you the healthy weight for your height. Instead of a daily latte, maybe cut it down to once a week. When you buy things like vegetables, attempt to buy at the local stands in your area, they can often save you money. If you purchase meat, maybe share the expense with another family and split the cost of a cow or pig to be slaughtered and freeze extra so you can use it later on.

Do not shop when hungry for groceries.

Learn to be frugal on various things, compromise, you don't always need the best, instead of buying new things, attempt to repair things at home, shop at second hand stores, not only does it save you money, but it helps a charity as well.

Get rid of extra stuff you do not use. Have a yard/garage sell, maybe sell things on EBay.

Save money by doing things at home, make bread; make candles, or bath salts.

Do not go to the movies, instead rent a DVD and enjoy time at home. Limit spending on sport activities like golf or skiing, learn to find things that cost little to no money.

Limit your spending on sporting events like going to basketball games or concerts.

Shop at dollar stores or if you have a canned food grocery outlet they are often times cheaper than most stores.

Use mass transit, if you have an extra vehicle you really don't use, sell it and save money on the insurance.

Save energy, keep lights off in rooms you are not using, buy environment/electricity saving devices for shower, light bulbs etc.

Pay off all credit card debt, if you can't afford to, call consumer credit counseling and set up plans to get them paid off at a lower interest rate and lower payments.

Get rid of cable TV; instead maybe rent DVD's once or twice a week. Netflix has many great deals, spend the remainder of time, doing outdoor activities, reading, or playing games with the family. If you have internet there are several sites that you can watch free TV. Espn is one example, plus if you have Netflix, they have thousands of movies and shows you can watch on line for free instantly with your subscription; you do not have to wait for DVD's in the mail. If you smoke or drink, think about stopping or cutting down. Attempt to save at least ten to twenty percent of your income. Make a budget and stick to it. Be accountable.

Use coupons and make a game out of how much money you saved this week. See if you can beat it the following week. BE FRUGAL - there is even a yahoo group that deals with suggestions on being frugal, they cover a variety of topics. All you have to do is search under groups and type in frugal.