State of the Economy, 2/09

With an economy in shambles, people are going to be distraught— it’s unavoidable and many of them have the right to be angry— they’ve fallen victim to a poorly managed economy, irresponsible corporate leadership, and predatory banks and lenders. But let’s keep the big picture in perspective and remember a few things before we start pointing fingers. Just a quick reminder: the Obama administration has only been in control a few weeks. They never said this would easy. Granted, there are those who are going to be angry with the president no matter what he does. There are those who will blame him for the entire world crashing down on their heads, even if it’s self-inflicted. And there will always be those anarchists who blame government for everything, even though they don’t participate in or understand the process. Many are out there already peddling for the next third-party run, built on the premise that there’s no difference between the two parties, when we know there surely is (see 2000). And of course right-wing radicals are out there spinning their web of confusion and doubt, getting people riled up over a national debt that they have been building. Suddenly they are so concerned about the economy, the one they have been trashing with an unnecessary war sucking twelve billion dollars a month out of our economy. And then for some reason, Conservatives have no problem granting American-paid free universal healthcare to citizens in Iraq and Afghanistan, while healthcare for our own Americans citizens it’s considered “socialism.” How come, in the last six years of reckless war spending, none of those Republicans complained about mismanaged contractor fees, missing funds, and the rebuilding of a nation we probably shouldn’t have destroyed? Our policing of other countries is just one of the major root causes of our current problem.

But for the sensible person of logic and reason, they will remember that Barack Obama did not cause this mess, and that Barack Obama cannot clean up this mess in a couple of months. This has been a disaster in the making.


This crisis is essentially the result of “there’s no difference between Gore and Bush” voters in 2000, but more directly it is the result of the eight year Republican president with no economic compass, no regard for the welfare of America, and more interest in repaying his oil, mining, and defense contactors who contributed to his campaigns than helping the average American. Our parents have been neglectful for eight years, letting the rich and powerful throw all the house parties they want. Now the house is trashed. What responsible family member should balance the budget? None, according to the “no regulation” slogan-pumping philosophy of the Republican Party. Now we’re left with a recession, a mountain of debt, and an assortment of other troubles.


The two term president isn’t alone. We have a Republican Congress to blame as well. You don’t already forget that, do you? Reminder #2: Congress was controlled completely by Republicans for the last twelve years— fourteen if you consider the fact that anything the slim Democratic Congress of the last two years tried to do was or would’ve been vetoed by President Bush.


Republicans are not alone though. While President Bill Clinton cut the debt in half and left Bush a $3 trillion surplus, some of the trade and business agreements of the 90s were not as beneficial for the U.S. in the long run. Trade has its benefits, but there are many drawbacks as well, especially when dealing with nations that use slave labor and violate human rights. The outsourcing of American jobs and corporations for cheaper labor and lower overhead is the other big problem. The politician-corporation relationship is just one more prime example of what went wrong with America. With Hillary as a board member and Bill as governor of Arkansas, the two helped their hometown corporation Wal-Mart rise to the top. Now as the biggest corporation in America, Wal-Mart can proudly boast that it has put out thousands of small businesses and replaced hundreds of thousands of secure jobs with lower paying ones that offer little security and no benefits. Wal-Mart has ultimately leveled entire communities and then enslaved the people there with only two choices: shop (and even work) at their store or leave. Add on the fact that the overwhelming majority of their merchandise is imported from foreign nations, instead of American made products, and you have one of the major causes of the economic crisis we are in now.


The Wal-Mart effect of monopolizing non-U.S. merchandise in gigantic stores designed to wipe out small business competition has demolished America. Politicians, and voters alike, are not the only ones to blame for our economic mess, so are shoppers. But how could we blame them? Wanting products for dirt cheap prices? Especially when times are tough? We are now seeing what Robert Greenwald calls in his documentary film Wal-Mart, “the high cost of low price.” The American consumer has contributed to our economic mess without even being aware of it. The materialistic mentality that took shape under the Reagan administration in the 1980s and originated from what historians call the “me-decade” of the 1970s has lead us into the ground. Why would we even think we could maintain the massive consumerism that we indulged in? Giant warehouse stores to pack our giant gas-guzzling vehicles to pollute our way back to our giant homes with more rooms than people, more materials than people, more “things” than we know what to do with. We want it all, we want it now, we want it all cheap, but there’s a price and in the process of acquiring an abundance of empty possessions, we’ve lost our moral compass and polluted the planet at the same time.


I drive around even the most affluent areas of northern Virginia, where unemployment is much lower than most other regions, and I still see stores closing their doors. Some of these stores are small businesses, but some of them are major corporations that have been around for over 50 years. Why didn’t anyone know that stores like Wal-Mart would put out so many other businesses? What is even democratic about having only one or twos stores provide all of your necessities? But again, necessities aren’t exactly the problem. The problem is our over-indulgence in consumerism, the very thing that now fuels our holidays like Christmas and Valentines’ Day. While people starve in other countries, we’ve been too busy boasting about our giant cars, giant houses, giant TVs, and our giant bellies show it. But now the starvation has hit home. Our own neighbors, our own family members, our own friends cling onto whatever they have left, losing their jobs, their cars, their homes. The American suffering is not pretty and while many don’t see it, at least not yet, it is right under our noses.


So as much as we’d like to blame it all on George Bush, he’s just a part of it. It seems our capitalistic pride has gotten the best of us. While many will try to blame President Obama and the much needed yet surely imperfect stimulus package, we’re all a part of the problem. The president can’t do it all alone. We all need to change for change to happen. Whether we are ready to accept our responsibility is another story.

- W. Lawrence 2009