Friday, January 18, 2008

How Can Bush Save the Economy?

I love when I read articles about what Bush is going to do with the economy. Let me sum it up for you...very little. Now, I am not saying this because I think Bush is evil and wants people to starve and die and have the second great depression. It's just that he is the President, and has very little power over the nation's economy. He cannot write legislation, he does not directly control the Federal Reserve, which controls interest rates.

The big reason the economy has tanked this time, is because of the housing and lending meltdown, coupled with the fact that Americans do not save a dime. Lenders were giving out money to anyone who asked, with terms that were ridiculous. Many borrowers were uneducated on how these loans worked and figured if the bank was giving them the money, it must be an okay deal. Now the Banks won't give anymore money, and Americans have nothing saved up. That means, people will have to really cut spending...leading us into a recession.

No one can predict what is going to happen. Most likely, the economy will continue to slide until the housing and lending markets have corrected. The interest rate cuts and tax cuts will help the average consumer, but things still are going to be tight. Inflation will creep in and then the extra money people have will be used up in the higher prices of goods. What is sad about this all, is it could have been avoided if people actually read what they were borrowing and Banks actually had limits in place. Now, we have to hope that Congress can actually agree on anything to stimulate the economy and the tax cuts by the Federal Reserve help and don't hinder the economy in the long run.