The country is about to face critical times once again. The last time we witnessed an event this dramatic was the Great Depression in 1929. Today, in 2008, the signs are staring us in the face; collapse in the housing market, increase in gas prices, and sudden decrease in the economy. The unemployment rate is higher than it has been in a long time and most leading economists are saying we are closer to being in another recession than we have seen in many years.
So, did we learn our lesson after the Depression, or for that matter, from any other economic "disasters"? Of course not, and that is why industries, corporations, small businesses, and the general public are in a panic. Maybe the government should do some brainstorming before it gets too bad and we cannot get out of the hard times.
One key factor leading to this economic crisis is the high price of oil. The country is very dependent on oil. With so many innovative and creative inventions developed by leading scientists, why haven't we discovered an efficient alternative way of transportation, heating costs, and other needs for this high-priced commodity? Tue, the government has decided to spend more money to drill in other less know areas of the world such as the Arctic. But that doesn't solve the problem that we need to depend less on oil. The increase in oil has had a trickle effect on the economy. Many are spending more of their earnings on gasoline and cutting back in other areas such as basic living necessities which now have had a dramatic effect on the country's overall economy.
It makes me wonder why we don't come up with back up plans or a plan B when we see our country walking down these troubled and familiar paths? I think there would be file after file of fool-proof plans. Unfortunately, we continue the same mistakes time after time.
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It’s quite apparent by now that our nation is in a recession. Although, what are the causes of this slump in our country’s economy? In Whitney’s blog **Stars and Stripes** she addresses this issue fairly well, concisely commenting on the nation’s troubled economy while forming a solid argument for the possible causes of the nation’s ill-fated debacle.
In reference to the points she makes about the reasons for why our economy is in a recession I certainly agree. But when it comes to her solutions for solving these problems I definitely have different ideas. She argues that one of the major factors contributing to the nation’s slow moving economy is the ever-increasing price of oil. Furthermore, she points out the fact that the extremely high oil prices have a negative “trickle-effect” on the economy. These are very well chosen statements that I certainly agree with. The United States is without a doubt much too dependent upon oil. Also, the consequences of the high cost of oil are endless, considering every single thing you purchase is affected by transportation costs, which is obviously affected by the price of oil. In addition, as Whitney has stated the housing market crisis and increasing unemployment rate are definitely contributing factors to the nation’s stagnant economy.
The part of her blog I disagree with is her commentary upon the situation. She says that she wonders why the government doesn’t have a backup plan, and thinks by now there would be file after file of fool proof plans. That’s not a very pragmatic outlook, and unfortunately the solution isn’t that simple. There is an accumulation of different reasons why the economy blunders from time to time; and each reason is complicated and difficult to resolve. In essence, there really are no “lessons” to be learned because the situation is so different in each case. For example, the causes of the Great Depression in the ‘30s were dramatically different than the reasons behind our current economic crisis.
Even though I don’t particularly agree with some of Whitney’s statements, I still believe she has written a well constructed weblog. She developed a well thought commentary on a leading issue in politics and structured it nicely. It’s an important issue that does need to be dealt with to the best of this country’s ability in order for our nation to re-attain an economically prosperous society.
Original editorial by Whitney Lapier
I read this editorial and I agree with the author’s position. We are the beginning of a new and big recession and I hope it’s not going to last many years, Usually recessions last between two-three years, but this could be a major one. I don’t know if we have to learn from the Great Depression in 1929, because we live in different year and different century where the economy was much stronger than before 1929.
All the problems have started since America invaded Iraq. The government is spending too much money monthly for a cause that we will never understand. Maybe sometimes we pretend to do not understand because this war is all about making money on oil! I remember when they said that this war was initiated to protect us against Saddam Hussein who had biological and nuclear weapons, but in fat I think Saddam Hussein extracted too much oil and some of the big companies in America including our government and of course the Bush family lost a lot of money! Too much oil on the market means less money in the pump not a lot of profit! Why are big companies like Exxon, Chevron still making so much money? I just read that, “the company reported Friday that it beat its own record for the highest profits ever recorded by any company, with net income rising 3 percent to $40.6 billion, thanks to surging oil prices. The company’s sales, more than $404 billion, exceeded the gross domestic product of 120 countries. Exxon Mobil earned more than $1,287 of profit for every second of 2007.”
No American business has ever scored a higher profit! So my question is how many people from our government are involving the oil business? It’s obvious why our economy is bad! It’s obvious why our tax money is going to Iraq! Why would they change something? Why would they want to find efficient alternative ways of transportation, heating costs, and other needs for this high-priced commodity? Because oil brings them BIG money! I hope that the next president and next government will think more about the people of the United States and would come with a “plan B” to put this country on a good path! Because, in fact, this recession is not only our problem, is a world problem! If America goes down, unfortunately the economy of many countries will go down and there will be huge chaos in the world!
Whitney has commented about the risk of going into yet another depression in her Original Editorial posted on “**Stars & Stripes**”. I do agree with her in a way that the current economic condition of the country is not in a good shape. As we heard from Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke that the overall economy is slowing down and we are very close to get into recession. But I do not believe that High energy price is the main reason for this cause. It is, in fact, is mainly caused by mortgage market failure. Many banks like Citi Bank are in big trouble for not getting payment from consumers. Records numbers of houses are going out for foreclosure. Many financial companies and banks are laying off records numbers of employees. Therefore, I believe that the mortgage market failure is the main reason for the US economy downturn and then comes the rest.
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