Submitted for your approval....

A few thoughts on the "recession", the truth and the future:


1: I used quotes on recession, not because I think it's all some clever media ploy or just hype, but because I think that it's a monster of our own making. It began as an economic issue created by pure greed, but thanks to focusing purely on bottom line dollars, media attention, short sightedness and knee jerk responses, it has been allowed to bloom into a global crisis. It's feeding on itself, with news of financial shortcomings and job losses sparking companies to clamp down and layoff more and more people, adding to the job losses, fuelling the recession, and affecting the corporate bottom line, which sparks layoffs, lowers financial forecasts..........Well, you see where this is going.

2: The fallout from this downturn is going to be massive. People are cutting back, making concessions, and generally having to suck it up, while watching a group of corporate elite receive huge bonus packages. Corporate shareholders and investors are forfeiting profit shares only to see CEOs, directors, and other executives being handed enormous cash packages for what amounts to a complete lack of effective performance. Couple that with many companies now being supported on the backs of the general public through government bailouts, the feeling of resentment is building, and the politicians can not ignore the crys of outrage.

3: Things will improve. For example, I work at a major Home improvement retailer, and I can honestly say that we are showing no signs of slowing down, Completely opposite, in fact. We are booming. Of course it's safe to say that when money is tight, people's tendency will be to do the job themselves instead of hiring someone to do it for them. But I have also noticed that a lot of people are taking on larger projects. Bathroom renos, flooring throughout the entire house and not just a single room, kitchen renovations, are just to name a few of the projects that we are seeing. This may be a quirk of our city. We have been through economic downturns before and know well how to handle them. I am relatively sure that while we are doing better than most communities as things go, that other cities are coping with the crisis as well. There are indications from all fronts that although things are down and not looking good, that the losses are less than expected, and that in fact there are gains being made in some sectors.
I guess people do have common sense after all. If only the corporate mentality would use more of it......well, we'll just have to see where this goes.


Just my thoughts on things.

Pax, all!