Economy isn't the problem ...

Is it me, or is anyone else tired of hearing about the problem with the economy? Don't people realize that the economy is NOT the problem? The problem is the lack of ethics and morals in the businesspeople of America and a lot of greed among everyone.

I'm not saying the economy isn't bad. However, the bad economy is a side-effect of the immoral, unethical and sometimes illegal practices of business people in American businesses, and of people being greedy and trying to buy more than they can afford. (Mind you, I realize this behavior isn't exclusive to our wonderful country, but that's my focus here.) If it weren't for people being greedy and "bending" the rules, sub-prime loans would not have taken off like they had. Then again, if people hadn't been trying to afford more than they could, then they wouldn't have been so willing to settle for a sub-prime mortgage. (Again, I know there are cases where they really are best, but they are the minimal.)

Anyway, where were the underwriters during these processes? And why were so many people able to make so much money off of such immoral behaviors? You know, where were the whistle-blowers? It's sad, really. And why did companies think these extreme amounts of spending would continue? What happened to saving for a rainy day?

So, now companies are anticipating worse years for 2009, and therefore are making layoffs early. Won't that create self-fulfilling prophesy? You know, so many people are laid off "in anticipation" that there really is less money to be spent, and therefore there really is less spending?

And don't even get me started on the American car makers. Remember just recently we had to pay $150 to get our blinker to work? Well, we now need another repair that will cost around $750. And this is on a 2005 vehicle!!! That is more than we've paid for ANY repair on Paul's 2001 Toyota, which we bought back in 2001. I'm sorry, but they shouldn't be bailed out for making junk. It's what's supposed to motivate companies to make quality products -- then people actually want to buy them. Yet the American car companies were more concerned about how much they could put in their pockets. Sigh ... (I'll also mention here that I've discovered through my experiences that foreign-made cars guarantee their seatbelts for life. American-made cars don't.)

Paul wants to know why nobody bailed out the .com companies that all went under. That was a bust for the economy, and I personally know many people who lost jobs and weren't able to find new ones during that whole fallout. Yet somehow the country survived ...

We're actually glad spending is down. Not because it helps the economy, but because people (as a whole) were overspending way too much, and credit was too easy to get. I've been predicting for more than a year that this would happen, because I heard last year that the national savings amount was negative 1 percent. That meant people were spending more than they were making. I knew it couldn't continue.

Anyway, I'm annoyed about all the talk about the economy and nobody pointing to what brought about this economy. Maybe America as a whole should re-commit to living within their means, and companies should focus on ethics/morals training as much as they do about diversity training. Just a thought.