By that question, I am referring to the recession of 1980. We could go all the way back to the Great Depression but the people have a very short attention span and an even shorter recall span. The American people do not want to remember the bad from the past, they only want the good and that is why sh!t happens.
I realize that when economics is mentioned most people glaze over and start thinking about what is for the grill on Sunday. But as usual, if we do not understand history we will be destined to repeat it over and over and continue to make the same stupid mistakes.
Guess what? The recession of 1980 had a severe effect on banks and financial institutions…does that sound familiar? During the Great Depression a total of 43 banks failed and a total of 49 failed in 1980 and so far in 2009 the rate is staggeringly more.
The recession of 1980 came on the heels of a wave of deregulation…does that sound a bit familiar? Banks rushed into questionable credit practices, speculative lending and shadowy real estate lending…now does that sound familiar?
Federal inaction worsened the industry’s problems.
As with the recession of 1980, the present one was almost a year old before it was acknowledged by the president as a problem…thus another similarity.
Americans are outraged! But why are they outraged? If they would spend a little time removing their heads from their butts and pay attention they would not find themselves in these situations. Of course you cannot blame the average person individually, the corporate media is the main culprit. These talking heads sugar coat most all economic news with some “good” news, even today in this sucking environment.
Ask yourself, why are the markets going up? There are very little signs of a recovery, but yet the markets continue to rise….why?
Friday completed the biggest four-week rise in the Dow since 1933.
There is undoubtedly a technical correction at play in the rally. There had been indications that the market was heavily oversold and many investors and economists felt that a rebound was probable within the context of the bear market.
However, this by itself cannot explain the rally, especially since it has occurred in the absence of any significant economic indicators of recovery either in the US or internationally. On the contrary, figures on joblessness, industrial production, exports, world trade and overall growth have been almost uniformly grim and worse than anticipated. On Friday, the stock market rose in spite of a new US jobs report showing the highest level of unemployment since 1983.
I want Pres. Obama to succeed. I want the economy to recover. I want the middle class to survive and flourish once again. Unfortunately, I have my doubts. Nothing has been learned by the recessions of the past. Nothing has been learned by the actions of the government to past economic situations.
I personally, think that the recovery is being approached in the wrong direction and that the Wall Street cabinet members are there to protect Wall Street and care little for the plight of Main Street.
To me, nothing could more clearly demonstrate the class character of the Obama administration than Wall Street’s enthusiasm for its right-wing policies. Wall Street is celebrating the fact that it has, in the Obama administration, a completely reliable and docile instrument of its interests. I pray that I am mistaken….I fear I am NOT!
