I read in the papers that even though the stock market is on the rise, we will be recovering from this recession for at least another four years. That is a long time to recover from anything. Heck, it only took me six months to recover from college, and rumor has it that I was there for at least four years. Although I will admit that the last two years, while being my academic gems, were a bit cloudy.
I got to thinking about leading economic indictors and then I read something that frightened me just a little bit. Apparently the feds did not approve an extension to unemployment benefits, so a whole group of people will have nothing to live on effective immediately. Winter is coming and the generous people at NYSEG and Niagara Mohawk will be raising our energy costs again this winter. So I put out the same question I put out last year at this time: How many people have to die from freezing or starving to death during the winter before we start working together to solve our problems?
Look, I understand the need for political parties and party platforms and differing points of view. I am a columnist; I live because of differing points of view. But to me, there comes a point where someone has to establish that enough is enough and let’s stop this nonsense and get some work done. It sounds noble, it almost sounds logical, but it never gets done.
So every summer, we get to see our politicians argue about steroids in baseball, how many troops are getting sent here or there and who the newest international bogeyman is ... but no one is addressing the problems. This is kind of where I go off on an Obama rant and I am certain someone is not going to like it. Maybe Obama isn’t trying to create socialism. Maybe he is just trying to solve our problems. Since it was private industry that got us into this mess (financial sector), then maybe the government should be the ones to get us out.
This is what kills me. Everyone was screaming that something needs to be done to stop the worldwide recession. So everyone screams for help and then turns to the governments of the world to stop the bleeding. Let’s face it, everyone turned to our government to stop the bleeding. Specifically, President Obama.
So Obama offers ideas and not only that, he does the one thing that this situation requires. He stands by his ideas, believes in them and fights to push them through. Every one of these “experts” who is calling Obama a socialist, a fascist or a lousy president has absolutely no frame of reference to go from. The Great Depression happened 80 years ago. This recession has been repeatedly compared to the Great Depression in terms of economic impact and recovery time. Does anyone reading this column have the Great Depression to use as a frame of reference here? OK ... then I want to hear what YOU have to say because you have something to compare this to. No fancy book learnin’. I’m talking real experience.
So, I stopped listening to the people who have no idea what they are talking about, and that is anyone under the age of 90. If you can honestly tell me that you know exactly what any government initiative is going to do, then you are nuts, because you have no clue. There is no one reading this who knows how to combat a 10 percent unemployment rate. Not a one of you has a clue how to salvage the American auto industry to try and save millions of related jobs. Not a one. So don’t try and tell me that you do.
Maybe big government is the way to get out of this. God knows the private sector has royally screwed the economy up. Let me see if I understand how this works. The private sector screws up the economy and turns to the government for help, but when the government says “OK, here let me try doing this,” instantly the private sector explodes and screams “Socialism! Run! Run!” Do I have that right? Now re-read that. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Does it make sense? Not one bit of it makes sense. So give Obama a chance. Let him try something. He has at least helped to stop the bleeding, and he did it without having to start World War III.
George N. Root III is a Lockport resident. His column appears every Wednesday. He can be e-mailed at georgeroot@verizon.net.
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