Greed

Greed! It's what makes the economic world go round; or is that fall down?

I like to blame the greedy rich people, more exactly corporate fat cats for much of our economic struggles. They, in most cases are hugely overpaid, and get huge bonuses even while they run the company into the ground. Then if they do get the axe, they are given millions of dollars to leave. I was laid off last fall, and I didn't get 10 times my annual salary to leave. Although if they would have offered it, I would have taken it. After all I have a streak of greed in me just like any of us do.

The Boards of these companies pay these huge salaries and bonuses because they expect the CEO to make them hundreds of times what they pay a CEO. Do they care if they are providing jobs and lively hoods to thousands of people? It doesn't seem they do. They move their company oversees to get cheaper labor and maintain profits. They say they have to do this to save as many jobs as they can. Which I'm guessing they are referring to theirs, and their fat cat buddies. Because soon the only thing left in the U.S., is the headquarters, with maybe a few hundred jobs. The other thousands? Well we're sorry we had to save the company.

The message here is, we are all expendable for the sake of the company.

The unions in this country gained huge popularity in big part because companies were treating labor as commodity, to be used up and tossed. The idea was that we should take what we get, and keep our mouth shut or hit the road; there are a lot of people who want your job. They were probable right with this statement, that's why unions came in and organized labor. We all know there's power in numbers.

I could rag on these guys all day, but the truth is, we all have that tendency toward greed if given the opportunity. We will grab as much as we can, even if its more then we need.

Do I need a $25,000 car, a big screen HD TV, a $5000 dollar hot tub, probably not.

I don't begrudge people who have these things, or want these things, I'm just saying that we are all a little greedy. It's when we barrow money we can't pay back, to buy things we don't need, that it is greed out of control. Greed that screws others over, none of us should participate in that, no matter how tempting.

Greed it can make the world go around, or it can make it fall down.

Well spring is here, and greed is in the air.

The temperature is rising, and with the temperature gasoline is on it's summer rise as well. I bought gas last night and paid $2.15 a gallon, that's 30 cents a gallon, or over $7.00 per fill-up more then I paid in December.

I guess Exxon has a goal of bettering last years profits of 45 billion.

With the way the economy is right now I doubt there will be many people going on vacations too far away from home. So to use the increased demand defence is not going to work as well as it has in the past. They're going to have to come up with a better excuse.

Maybe with the banking crises they could use: the bank has called in my mortgage and I need 6 Mill. fast.

Or with the drop in the stock market: My Financial Adviser says, I need to add 10 Mill. to my retirement fund if I want to maintain my current life style at retirement.

Where do we go from here?

You say Recession I say Depression,
Let's call the whole thing off.

In light of the economic situation we find ourselves in today, it seems to me that there is a very real possibility that we could find ourselves in another economic depression. So I thought it would be interesting to research two questions on this subject. First what are the differences between a recession and a depression, and secondly what were the extenuating circumstances that led to the Great Depression.

In regard to the first question what constitutes a depression; former President Ronald Reagan in a speech in 1980 gave a simple political definition, “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours.” This is a very simple definition, but it probably feels true on the personal level. The most prevalent definition of a recession today is; a recession is when the GDP (gross domestic product) declines less than 10 percent for two, consecutive quarters. A depression on the other hand is classified as a decline of the GDP by more than 10 percent. By this measurement we have not seen and economic depression since 1937 when the GDP fell 18.7%. Although these definitions don't really give a total picture of what leads to a depression, they do give an indication as to where we're heading.

Much of the economy and outlook in the 1920's were positive. Things seem to be on a never ending road to continued prosperity. Watch the video depression vs. housing that I have posted on this page and you will see the positive statements made by leaders of that time, right up to, and even after the crash in 1929. The similarities between what was being said then and what's being said now are both comical and a little disconcerting.

In my research I found one of the suspected culprits for the severity of the depression was a lack of confidence and a fear of the future by people like us (consumers). I don't want to be a fear monger and I hope for the best like anyone else, but I think its also important not to make believe that this economy is not going to leave scares on our society. We have been foolish in the way we handle money, and it has caught up with us. What steps we take to fix the problem will determine were we end up.
Depression or Recession?
That’s a least partly up to us.

Greed! It's what makes the economic world go around; or is that fall down?

I guess no one knows the future, read what leaders said right up to, and even after the Stock Market crash of 1929