Notes on a Bad Economy

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

There are different ways of judging the health (or lack thereof) of the economy. My father, who is invested in real estate and the stock market, tends to see the Dow Jones as the basic barometer of our nation's health. Coming at it from a social work perspective, I give more credence to tangibles like housing foreclosures and joblessness. The past two years have seen all of these indicators head toward the toilet, so my dad and I can both agree that things are bad regardless of our unique perspectives.

Today was a terrible day for the American economy. All day long news kept coming of big layoffs. Caterpillar is doing away with 20,000 jobs, Sprint Nextel is losing 8,000, and Pfizer Pharmaceutical is buying up Wyeth Pharmaceutical (funded partially by banks that received bailout money), and the new organization will cut over 8,000 jobs. (The bailout is helping to fund an 8,000 job loss!) Home Depot is cutting 7,000 people from their payroll, and General Motors announced that they are trimming 2,000 more employees. One estimate that I saw late in the day said that 68,000 layoffs had been announced today alone, and the total for January, which is not over yet, is in excess of 200,000!

But get this - the nation's three basic market measures - the Dow, the S&P, and the NASDAQ - all went up today, albeit modestly. Apparently cutting jobs is a good thing to stock traders - just as long as it isn't their jobs that are being cut - or those of their spouses, children, or parents! It's all relative.

What does the loss of 200,000 jobs matter in the overall scheme of things? It means that mortgage payments won't get paid, new cars won't be purchased, schooling will be put off, vacations will be scaled back or not taken, and medical treatment will be postponed or completely ignored. It means the economy will keep shrinking, fewer goods will be purchased, fewer services required, and more layoffs will be implemented. It also means that crime will necessarily increase.

The government has already kicked in a huge wad of cash to try and end the vicious downward economic spiral, but at last reading the banks and financial institutions that received our tax money were focused on not telling us how it was being spent. So far it appears that most of the money is being hoarded and not pumped back into the economy as originally intended.

That may, however, be changing. Some of the bailout loot was apparently loaned to Pfizer today so that they could eat up Wyeth - and cut a butt load of jobs! It was also announced today that Citigroup, which received $43 billion in government money, will soon take possession of a new $50 million corporate jet - a very sleek affair that seats twelve people comfortably!

Perhaps the time has come to nationalize the bastards!

Our Better Selves

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The December NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll released this week contained a very interesting question that had an even more interesting result. The survey asked respondents if they would be willing to give up five percent of their pay in order to keep co-workers from being laid off. Surprisingly (at least to me), sixty-four percent of the survey participants said that they would. Twenty-seven percent were grinches and said that they would not accept a five percent reduction in pay to save someone else's job.

Those results extrapolated across the nation indicate that nearly two out of three Americans would accept a pay cut if it meant that someone else could keep their job. That result is something to be celebrated! Just when it looks as though we are destined to be the constant victims of greed and fear, along comes this result as a reminder that we are basically a good and decent species.

Being a good Christian isn't about belonging to a congregation and tithing each week. It is more food pantry than cathedral, more soup kitchen than banquet hall, more rough and dirty hands than ones that are manicured, and more promise of love than fear of hellfire. Being a good Christian is about following the teachings of Christ and looking out after one another. Sixty-four percent of us are good people, whether we claim the Christian label or not. And in this day and age, sixty-four percent ain't too shabby!