Stop Worrying About A "Depression"

Listening to the 24 hour news cycle on TV and Radio will make you crazy! Every other story is a ratcheted up "gloom and doom" scenario about the economy. One pundit says the stimulus will destroy us and another says it will save us! In reality is will do neither.

I have been listening to Warren Buffett lately and he seems to think things are bad, but will get better. Now Buffett is no oracle, after all he encouraged people to buy stocks a few months ago and I doubt if those who listened are very happy, but his overall philosophy is probably right.

The people running around with their hair on fire are not the ones you should be following. They are mostly reactionaries and have little sense of long term trends. I prefer to watch those folks who take a measured approach and ride out the rough patches with calmness.

As to the stimulus package? Well I suspect more will be needed to keep the economy afloat. Those Republicans who just want to go ahead and let industry and banking fail are driven by ideology and not practicality. I know the stimulus spending is costing us a lot, but doing nothing would cost more. It is the do nothing, regulate nothing policies of the former Bush administration that helped get us into this mess and it will take time and money to get us out of it.

My suggestion, and it is only a suggestion, is to stay calm, save a little and don't listen to CNBC or FOX all day. Your blood pressure will stay lower and you will be able to enjoy your life more. Don't stop spending on everything. Treat yourself to a movie now and then and go out to eat if you can afford it. Don't charge up your credit cards...that's just good advice anytime! Save them for emergencies.

If we cower in fear and cease doing anything we will stall our economy to a crawl. I know we can't spend our way out of this, but we can use common sense. Hopefully, Congress will get back to the business at hand, re-regulate the financial institutions that got us into this mess and set us back on an even keel.

I am reminded that my parents lived through the Great Depression and they survived. This is not a Great Depression and we can avoid that if we saty calm and encourage our elected officials to act now.