Obama’s Stimulus Flawed: Government is Not a For-profit Company

My crisis intervention goes as follows.

The first step is to get a realistic perspective of the crisis.  To many times we tend to make things worse by scaring ourselves and giving the crisis more meaning then it really deserves.

You cannot live in a house that has been hit by a meteor.  A meteor has hit the American economy.  Years of mismanagement in the financial district have led to failures and money drying up.  The reality is that 1% of the real estate market could not cripple the real estate market nor the American economy.  One percent failure in no market can lead to the failure of that market.

The Community Reinvestment Act, which led to home loans for low-income families, did lead to some failures.  It has been reported that the majority of these loans have failed and were been held by Hispanic families.  When I was an over-titled social worker in a head start school program some real estate people came in to give a seminar in which they guaranteed that if a family earned $9 an hour they could qualify for a home loan even if they had troubled credit.  I quickly did the math in my head and concluded there was no way a 40-hour employee earning $9 dollars and hour could afford a $100,000 dollar home.

Today, with all the talk of the Community Reinvestment Act I realize what they were peddling. It is obvious to me know that they were offering low-income families home loans with little or no proof of income or credit worthiness.  It is my opinion; these defaulted loans did not ruin the American economy.

For my BLOG Preserving Life at joeuser I was tracking the economy.  Leading economic indicators were looking good up until September.  The American dollar was even gaining ground.

Then October came with the bad news of home loan defaults drying up credit.  Again, 1% of any market does not control any market.  Therefore, what is the real problem?  I suspect business leaders being creative with how they managed their corporations money had to do with the down turn in the American economy.

Therefore, the reality for the average person is that business leaders screwed up and jobs and investments will be lost.  I, today, am stuck in a reality where I earned a B.S. with a major of psychology that I cannot put to work in the city I live in because of the lack of opportunities and the bad attitude of office staff.  Part of this reality is that I have lost 50% of my income in the industry I am involved in today. 

However, I can move to a bigger city.  I can look for work in other industries not related to my studies.  I can even use my highly sophisticated brain on selling merchandize over the Internet.

This is the next step in the process.  Once a person has a realistic view of the crisis then I suggest a person take a realistic inventory of their personal resources in order to see how they can meet the challenge of the crisis. 

I met a crazy guy.  He told me he lost his leg in a car accident and because of his mental status he is on SSI disability.  When I mentioned he could work as a self-employed computer repairperson since he said he had worked at Hewlett-Packard building computers he respond “ No, because they will take away my SSI”.

Now, I am not picking on a person down on his luck by mentioning him here.  What I am doing is making a suggestion.  Many people acquired skills and material goods during good economic times.  People have trucks, lawn mowers, weed eaters, and other lawn care products they could use to tend to other people’s yards.

Not everyone is hurting.  By the two million that have lost their jobs I estimate about 1% of the work force is struggling.  This is means there are many people with cash and in need of services.  Okay. Watch.  There are 300 million people in America.  We know the average family is composed of 2.5 kids.  Therefore, there are 2 parents and 2.5 kids.  If you divide 300 million by 4.5 you, get 122 million adults and 178 million kids. 

Among the adult group the population is diverse.  There are those physically and/or mentally incapacitated.  There are retirees.  There are lazy good for nothings who will not work no matter what.  There are the criminals. There are the uneducated.  In addition, there are those working.  Two million people have lost their jobs since October 20008. 

Two million of a possible 107 million workforce is about .018% of the possible workforce.

This is not a crisis.  The number of bank closures and major industries in trouble are better indicators of the economy.  However, the point is that even though that major industries are suffering it has only effected 1.8% of the workforce.

Now this is bad for those who have lost their jobs.  However, if you clearly define the challenge, assess your resources, and establish a plan of action you can meet almost any challenge.

Obama has not clearly defined the present economic crisis in America.  His stimulus plan is nothing but social spending on things that will not build industry and/or put secure income in the consumer’s hands.  Only a job can put secure income in a person’s hand.

Obama has not clearly assessed the resources to manage this economic crisis.  Government is not a for profit industry.  Not everyone can work for the federal government.  Businesses and industries are needed.  Consumers earning a living and making purchases are also needed to grow an economy.

Therefore, Obama’s plan of action is flawed.  The free market economy has served America for over 200 year.  There are challenges.  However, businesses restructuring their capital management, hiring, and selling again will grow the economy: not a bunch of liberal social spending. 

People are well able to meet this challenge.  We live in country on many opportunities.  We all have skills and material resources we can use.  Among our resources is ability to clearly define the crisis, asses our resources, and build a plan of action.