Living abroad and so far away, I sometimes find it difficult to gauge what conditions are like back in my country. This is because I receive most of my information on the home front from CNN International-- the only English channel available to me other than Al Jezeera and the BBC. And because media outlets so often sensationalize in an effort to boost ratings, I find myself filtering the news, taking it all in with a grain of salt.However after visiting the U.S on a recent holiday, I felt as though I got hit in the head with my salt grinder when I learned about the plight of the man who had sold it to me. When I lived in the United States just over one year ago, he owned an upscale housewares boutique--my favorite shop to browse for that perfect gift. On this day, however, we didn't meet at his store. Rather, I ran into him at the local Walgreens, while I was perusing the feminine hygiene isle and he was working.
"John!" I exclaimed with a hint of surprise. (Yes, John and I were on a first-name basis. I was a very regular patron.)
"Diane?! How are you? WHERE are you? Are you and Max still in Germany?" he asked.
"Yes, yes," I replied "I'm visiting. How are you?"
John's smile faded. He sighed quietly. "Well, obviously, I lost the store. People stopped buying. I couldn't get the credit I needed to buy Christmas stock and had no other choice than to shut my doors."
"I am so sorry," I said in all sincerity. "It was such a wonderful store."
John already knew how I felt. "Don't feel sorry for me, Diane. I own my house and, only a month after I lost the store, I found this job to keep me afloat. So many people can't find work or sell their houses in this market."
Seeing John, I realized the anchors at CNN hadn't been exaggerating reports about the U.S. economy. It's in bad shape--far worse than I imagined. Since returning to Germany, I have heard from several friends who have either lost or are in jeopardy of losing their jobs in industries that range from service to high technology, from entertainment to pharmaceutical. Other have cancelled planned visits to Europe until the economic climate stabilizes, which many experts believe will be at least a year, if not longer.
Given the economic free fall, it outrages me that government leaders from both parties are playing politics as usual when it comes to the stimulus package. Their behavior tells me they are more interested in scoring political punches, rather than working together to tackle the crisis. For this reason, I feel like taking my salt grinder and bopping a few congressmen on their heads.
While I recognize genuine philosophical differences exist, the vast majority of economists agree that the government needs to spend its way out of this problem, creating jobs through massive and varied infrastructure projects. That's right, infrastructure-- real, tangible structures, which take human engineering and labor to create, while leaving something for posterity.
It's not as if the United States isn't in need of some serious upgrades. Securing numerous, old bridges, which are in danger of collapse, building electrical power grids that can resist the yearly winter ice storms, creating a greener mass transit for cities, upgrading school facilities, ensuring every community has equal access to high speed Internet. These types of projects not only create jobs in the private sector and help the economic crisis in the here and now, they also bring a return on investment and leave something for future generations.
I am just a layperson, but this seems like a pretty simple concept.
Investing in America = Good. Playing Politics = Bad.
Really, people, is there something I am just not getting?
