Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Trying to grasp an understanding...

I'm sitting here drinking my coffee and reading cnn.com after deciding to forgo my knitting time in hopes of wrapping my brain around the national economy.

It's not working. It's going to take a lot more coffee to get my brain working that well.

I'm a smart girl, but our nation's economy, the vastness of it, all the twisted politics - it's just way over my head. I'm trying to figure out exactly why I'm supposed to really care whether or not a bunch of big corporations get bailed out of the financial disasters they've created for themselves. I don't know all the ins and outs - I know very little about it, actually, but all I can think is that they must be crazy, the people who voted for this thing. I'm sure there are some good points to it, I just haven't gotten to that CNN article yet.

Reading all of this makes me ache for simpler times though. Why can't people just use cash to pay for what they can afford, barter occasionally or work together as families and communities, live within their means and appreciate what they do have? Banks used to be simpler -you got your loan, and you paid it off, and that was that. The Bank actually had the money they loaned you, and eventually got it back (hopefully). Now we've got one bank lending to another to another to another, no one has any idea where all the money actually is, and they're lending over and over again to people who have proven repeatedly that they don't deserve the loan. Criminy, what did they think was going to happen?

I hate economy, probably because I don't understand much of it. I hate how complicated it all is now, and I wish we could just get away from that.

I dont' even understand how it all got this way to begin with, but I sure wish it was simpler again. It just all seems like such a mess.

I'm rambling. Putting these thoughts into words is too hard to do at 7 o'clock in the morning. I'll just got back to reading CNN. Am I the only one who feels a little overwhelmed when trying to really understand the nations' economy?






2 comments:

Kim said...

Andy works in finance (at a bank) and I don't even get it. I was a math major all through high school and college, but economics was not my strong point. Trust me, you aren't alone.

Unknown said...

Hey, I'm with ya on this one. But... if they don't get it fixed, it could mean the end for our small business. Small businesses like ours occasionally have to borrow from our line of credit to meet payroll, for those times when our customers are slow to pay. Right now, we have near half a million bucks out there in receivables, and people just aren't paying. So, this economic mess really is affecting us. I wish this thing would have passed. We have to get the cashflow fixed.

Personally speaking, we don't buy anything that we can't afford, and we have taught our kids to do the same. Save your $$$ for whatever you need, and then buy it. That's really the best way to live. Debt free is good. And if I use my credit cards, I pay it off. Simple, really.

It all gives me a headache...