I, like many of you, have watched with hopeful optimism as the news of the Emergency Stabilization Act of 2008 or any number of the bailouts have been approved by Congress to help stimulate the economy. Please understand there is a distinct difference between being optimistic about what is being done in the name of economic stimulation and supporting the method being used. While you may or may not agree with the moves the current administration and Congress have taken, it is important to try to maintain an optimistic and positive attitude with regard to the success of those moves.
You may be asking, why would I want to maintain some hope that moves I did not support are actually effective? That question has an easy answer, as real estate industry professionals across all fields our incomes and families are directly effected by the current economic turbulence many markets are experiencing. It would be counterproductive to hope for anything but success with regard to measures that had already been approved to help curtail the economic issues in many markets.
A natural follow up query might be, shouldn't I question what is being done? I believe that as a patriotic American it is your duty to criticize and question. The act of debate is an important historical tool used to better our country by examining the various sides of an argument that may not be readily apparent. So yes, you should question what is being done but the tone with which that questioning is done must rise above children screaming at each other on a playground. If the tone of discourse, though vigorous, cannot also come from a place of hope and optimism then there is the real risk of alarming those other kids on the playground who are not screaming and may not even understand what the argument is about. This debate may be the best opportunity to educate those confused bystanders who otherwise will get the gist of their information from the evening news and newspapers.
Many people say that there is unfettered and unwarranted optimism coming from the real estate industry. I would respond by asking simply, what is the alternative? Coming from a positive place does not mean that one is ignorant or naive, it means that one chooses to rise above the screaming cacophony of negative to a cerebral place where reason and intellect grow from a place of optimism and hope.
See the image I have inserted into this post? It is from Digg.com's Business & Finance front page. Some of you may not be familiar with Digg so a simple explanation is that this is where millions of people get the stories they read on the internet everyday. The number in the yellow box represents votes by people in favor of a particular article. The stories that get the most votes make it to either the sectional or general front page of Digg. Making it to the front page (and yes there is criticism on how many people do this) can garner that article thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of hits as well as comments on the article, and on Digg comment section for that article. Like most programs on the internet, the number of votes is a mere fraction of the actual visitors to an article. I use this to further illustrate the importance of real estate industry professionals being active and positive participants in this conversation.
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