Is America Depressed?

I turned on the TV news on Tuesday morning to the news that the stock market was down 400 points and the Fed has cut the interest rate almost a whole point! My first thought was: Our government is really scared. This is the same administration that has been wearing rose colored glasses for the past year. They kept saying that the market will work itself out. It’s the hands off administration that thinks its only job is to solve the crisis in the Middle East- one that’s been going on for thousands of year. I never understood why every American president feels that they are going to be the one to solve a conflict that has been going on for centuries. (But that’s for another day.) Then I remembered it’s an election year. It’s like a game of musical chairs for the party holding office in the White House when the music stops playing. They will be seen as the one left standing. I am not a student of economics by any means. And every time I write about the mortgage “crisis” I do a lot of homework and research about what I’m writing. This time I’m just writing about what I see and feel. I can’t help but wonder if the American public is depressed. We’re tired of this current state of affairs. In the past few years everything we pay for has gone up in price: gas, food, taxes and health care. Everything except our paychecks. We feel like that hamster in the tread mill– working hard just to stay in place. Our young men and women are overseas at war. We don’t know who to believe about what’s going on over there. We have sadly come to the realization that we are going to be there for a long time. Even if we still want it to end. Then we start hearing these presidential candidates telling us about all our problems and how they are going to solve them. They talk about hope and change and new beginnings. We didn’t know we had it so bad until they kept reminding us. We see our neighbors losing their homes because they didn’t understand what they were getting into and think: Am I next? We hear about layoffs, and talk about recessions and hope that we can keep our jobs. And it’s winter and cold and dark. No wonder we’re depressed. But we can’t take prozac because we have no health insurance. Now the government comes to the rescue with plans of stimulus packages and temporary tax relief to “jump start” the economy. Our legislators think that putting $200 in everyone’s pocket will solve our problems. Or that cutting interest rates is going to encourage people to buy a home. Or are they just worried about getting re-elected? I think the American public is ready for their next president. We are ready for something new and bold and different. That’s what will get us out of our funk. Is it November yet?

Tags: Fed+cut+interest+rates