Is it a "crisis" or just a power grab?

I met a young man today who overheard a conversation I was having in which I was discussing the pink elephant of this "financial crisis" and that was last summers skyrocketing energy prices. It had been costing me nearly $70 to fill my mid-sized Japanese sedan and I couldn't fill my American made full sized SUV without obtaining two credit card authorizations. This young man asked me why I thought low energy prices were good; I explained to him that the horse-power of our modern economy is fueled by oil and not alfalfa and that you can't escape its omnipresence in our lives/economy. To that he said with an authoritative tone something about the "financial crisis" and it was there I asked this this 20-something dread-lock adorned young man exactly what crisis was he was referring to and he admitted couldn't say.

Since September when the alleged financial crisis began 2,000,000 Americans have become unemployed or 2% of the workforce bringing the total unemployed in this country to just over 7%.

98% of Americans who were employed in September are still employed today.

Most economist agree that anything over 90% unemployment is pretty close to FULL EMPLOYMENT meaning all who want to work can find work. Because I graduated from High School when Michael Jackson was still black I am both old and wise enough and possess enough experience to know that there are those among us who are able to work but choose not to. Therefore the 5% of Americans who were already unemployed before this so-called crisis began is likely because they are unemployable and because of their lack of production it is most likely that they weren't actively participating in the economy by purchasing homes and cars and goods and services that cause others to be able to produce a profit in therefore one could only logically deduce that those 5% aren't responsible for the economic slowdown because they weren't producing anyway and therefore they weren't contributing to the overall health of the economy.

So if only two percent of the population of this country who were employed and producing have become unemployed and stopped spending, then where is the crisis? Shouldn't all of us have a 2% margin of error in our finances? Think about it for a minute, that's only 2 cents retained from each dollar earned! I cant think of a single business that operates on less than a 2% profit margin. So what has happened? If only 2% of the producing population have stopped producing and spending, where's the crisis?

The crisis is confidence. All summer long Americans witnessed exorbitant energy prices erode our disposable incomes and they in Congress did nothing about it, remember the slogan "Drill Baby Drill", it wasn't the newest vernacular for male/female copulation, it was because Americans were being drained at the pumps.

For the first time in history we have a president who has used his bully pulpit not to inspire but to tell us that there is a crisis and looming catastrophe and that he and his congress are the only ones who can fix it for us. Then they tell us the only way to do so is to expand governments role in our lives by of all things...spending money we don't have oh yeah we better do it now!

I don't believe it, do you?

Last night I drove my family of 5 more than 20 miles round-trip to our new favorite burger joint (shout out to Five-Guys) in Knightdale, as I approached the restaurant I passed a number of national chain restaurants whose parking lots were jammed tight, on a Thursday night! I spent $20 on burgers and fries because I wasn't soaked at the pump earlier when I filled the tank of my SUV and I think many who jammed those restaurants were feeling the same way about their financial circumstance too which is why they were dining out and not slumped over a sink eating a can of beans.

Can anyone really spend their way out of a reduction of income?

Now think about that for a moment. If you could spend your way out of a financial crisis you and I could avert any financial catastrophe and wouldnt need government to do it for us. But we know that isn't true and we know that we can't spend our way out of a financial problem anymore than government can because that only leads to bankruptcy. In our lives it means something has to go, new car, bigger house, clothes and dining out. So what do they know in Washington that we don't?

Americans were hurting at the pumps this summer because for decades our congress has limited energy exploration and refining capacity since the Carter Administration. As a result, Americans stopped spending as a result the world economy has slowed down..yes the American economy IS the center of the economic universe, other countries followed into recession and guess what? Demand for oil fell globally causing the the price to fall along with it. Even after numerous failed attempts by OPEC to artificially raise the price of oil by cutting output, oil closed today at $37 per barrel from its high of more than $150 last summer.

One last thought; if it is only the 2% who have caused this problem, couldn't we just give each of those two million people say 1/2 of the $789 Billion dollars which looks like say $190,000 per unemployed person and let them spend their way back into financial health? Heck may be one or two of them would start a business and hire one or two people while they are at it dare I say; make a profit to which they might pay a tax? . Regardless it would save us nearly $400 Billion dollars.

So I ask you, how do you feel today compared to last summer and is this a real crisis or is it just  a power-grab? You decide and let me know.