IT'S YOUR FAULT

Today, May 27, 2009, I was driving about in Northern Virginia, listening to the radio, when once again the subject of the national economy was broached. The station I was listening to was one that featured traffic reports "on the eights." Besides traffic reports, weather, news, sports, entertainment, commentaries, and business regularly had their hourly "moment." Whether the program was business, per se, including stock reports and the like, I cannot recall. I don't own stocks, so the "ups and downs" of the market aren't personally matters of concern. Only great drops in the market get my full attention. This is because they may augur more than Wall Street.



What got my attention about this piece of commentary about the national economy was the terminology employed, which was that the American people were being "stingy" with their dollars. The reason why Americans weren't spending as they did two years ago is clear. The unemployment rate nationally must be near 8%. In the District of Columbia the rate is about 9.6%, in Suburban Maryland the rate is about 6.8%. The rate in Northern Virginia is also about 6.8%. Besides those who are listed as unemployed, there are substantial numbers of people who are unemployed, who have sought employment, but who now have ceased what may seem to be a fruitless quest.


People who are unemployed aren't "stingy" with their money. If they have money, they apportion its spending according to the necessity of the products which are thought to be required. Not only is this an obviously sensible approach used by the unemployed, it is more generally used by others who may feel that their short term working condition is all to uncertain to "waste" money on non-essentials. At a most fundamental basis these people are victims of an irresponsible elite, who, if they are not "big time" speculators themselves, operate and defend an economic system that periodically devastates the mass of people. These latter people take on the character of sacrificial victims who are offered to the "god of greed" in the hope that it will appease him.


Blaming the victim has become a characteristic of American society. It isn't a good sign. It also suggests a dishonest society. If that is the case, where can the blame rest but with the people who control policies, including those relating to education? "Stingy" Americans aren't the problem. Self-serving, unwise leadership is the problem.






May 27, 2009