The Economic Crisis

[Jocool]

on its own? on its own? its been on its own for 5 months and its been on a steady train to pigeon. thats why we need to do stuff now like the stimulus thing

5 months. Big whoop-dee-do. You do realize that economic cycles last years, not months, right? There's no way we're going to get out of this in a year...it'll take a few years at the least.

The "stimulus thing" as you call it may or may not help. But it won't end the recession. Will it alleviate some of the problems? I hope so. That's what it's supposed to do. Will it? Only time will tell.

But will it end the crisis? No. The government helps to moderate the fluctuations in the economy, but in itself will not be responsible for the recovery, just as it is not responsible for this mess in the first place.

Even our worst economic crisis in history was not corrected by the government. While the New Deal certainly inspired hope and did help address the problems we were facing, it did not end the depression. World War II did.

Look at any other recession - or even period of economic prosperity - and you'll see that it's going to recover itself.

That doesn't mean I oppose the stimulus package. It may very well help. Am I sold on it? No. But we'll see.

Things may still get worse before they get better. I don't know where the low point is. Only in retrospect will we know. But the economy will recover. Yes, on its own. It always does, and it's the only way that it will.

if it can do that in 5 months, think about what can go wrong in 5 years.

[andrewwski]

It could tank lower than we've ever seen before, or it could bottom out relatively soon and start improving faster than we think.

The economy goes in cycles. What it does in the next 5 years remains to be seen. I think that in 5 years it'll definitely be on the upswing - most economists are looking for it to start recovering sometime between late this year and 2011.

So yes, it could get worse in 5 years. But it will most likely get better. It's a natural cycle.

[Jocool]

i know it will get better. but some times when everyone thinks that it can get worse until someone steps in (Great Depression: 1929-1939 when F.D.R. stepped in)

[andrewwski]

Yes, but the New Deal didn't get us out of the depression. It had limited success in actually improving things, but it did inspire hope. WWII was the real reason for the end of the depression.

I'm not saying the government can't help, but they can't solve it. The economy will recover on it's own.

Comparing this to the Great Depression is a bit of a stretch though. Really, it's a moderate to strong recession now. Will it get worse? Maybe. But it's not worse than some of the recessions we've had in the past, like in the early 80's.

[Jocool]

Because right now its not looking good and i dont mean to sound like obama but we need change and we need it now and none of the reasons i can think of will work but sitting here doing nothing wont work ethier

whats so bad about sounding like obama?

[Jocool]

I'm not saying the government can't help, but they can't solve it. The economy will recover on it's own.

Comparing this to the Great Depression is a bit of a stretch though. Really, it's a moderate to strong recession now. Will it get worse? Maybe. But it's not worse than some of the recessions we've had in the past, like in the early 80's.

thats the problem. unless the gov't does something big fast, it won't recover on its own. also: abit of a stretch?! as much as i myself don't want to believe it, this recession is the worst since the Great Depression.

[volleyballchic_101]

Because right now its not looking good and i dont mean to sound like obama but we need change and we need it now and none of the reasons i can think of will work but sitting here doing nothing wont work ethier

whats so bad about sounding like obama?

i never said it was bad i just said i dont mean to sound like him

[Jocool]

k

[andrewwski]

I'm not saying the government can't help, but they can't solve it. The economy will recover on it's own.

Comparing this to the Great Depression is a bit of a stretch though. Really, it's a moderate to strong recession now. Will it get worse? Maybe. But it's not worse than some of the recessions we've had in the past, like in the early 80's.

thats the problem. unless the gov't does something big fast, it won't recover on its own. also: abit of a stretch?! as much as i myself don't want to believe it, this recession is the worst since the Great Depression.

No. Whatever the government does, it won't make the economy recover. It may help certain aspects of it, but the only way the economy is going to recover is on its own. Regardless of government intervention.

And doing something "fast" isn't good. When it goes too fast, it's rushed. Look at the last $787 billion stimulus package. It was about 1000 pages and there were 48 hours to vote on it. Is that educated decision making?

I don't think you can say this is worse than the early 80's recession. Yet. Who knows how bad it'll get though.

[Jocool]

i dont mean that fast. also, i know the government cant fix it alone, but nor will the economy fix itself without a little help.