The Economy

There is no doubt that many people are hurting financially. Primarily this all seems to have its origin in the housing downturn and problems people had with overextending themselves with debt. And so maybe it doesn't sound right for McCain to say that the fundamentals of our economy are solid. That comes across as being out of touch, and Obama wasted no time in pouncing on that. But when you consider all that has been thrown at the economy over the past seven years: a recession coming out of the Clinton years, 9/11, the demise of the technology bubble, Katrina, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the housing meltdown, and now the demise of several financial institutions, the economy is still plugging along fairly well. Unemployment is in okay shape, interest rates are reasonable, 95% of people are able to meet their mortgages, people are still buying things. Sure there are some people who are living day to day, and some people are hurting, but the emphasis here is on the word "some". Things could be much, much worse; in fact if they do get worse, people will look back on this current time as being pretty good.

I'm a little dismayed that McCain does not seem to have a solid grasp of what to do. Actually, to be clear, Obama is even more clueless, so I am not saying that Obama is speaking with clarity on this issue. But McCain seems to be aimlessly trying to please everyone here. He is bashing big business and Wall Street, attempting to push a more populist mindset. He seems to want more regulation, which means more government. There is a place for government, but government doesn't really understand Wall Street, or business for that matter. Most politicians are lawyers, not business people. I tend to think that our economy goes in cycles much like our weather does. If it's cold outside, give it a few days, or a few months, it will warm up eventually; and we really don't need to intervene. I suspect that in time people will realize that there are bargains out there in the housing market and they will start buying. Before long it will once again heat up.

Just one more note: the economy was smoking and doing really well up until the end of 2006. Up to that point President Bush never got any thanks for just how well the economy was at that point. So what has happened since? A Democratically run Congress!