13 October 2008

Obama Economy Speech

My thoughts exactly:
Part of the reason this crisis occurred is that everyone was living beyond their means – from Wall Street to Washington to even some on Main Street. CEOs got greedy. Politicians spent money they didn't have. Lenders tricked people into buying home they couldn't afford and some folks knew they couldn't afford them and bought them anyway.

We've lived through an era of easy money, in which we were allowed and even encouraged to spend without limits; to borrow instead of save.

Now, I know that in an age of declining wages and skyrocketing costs, for many folks this was not a choice but a necessity. People have been forced to turn to credit cards and home equity loans to keep up, just like our government has borrowed from China and other creditors to help pay its bills. But we now know how dangerous that can be. Once we get past the present emergency, which requires immediate new investments, we have to break that cycle of debt. Our long-term future requires that we do what's necessary to scale down our deficits, grow wages and encourage personal savings again.
-Yesterday's entire speech here.

2 comments:

5chw4r7z said...

"People have been forced to turn to credit cards and home equity loans to keep up..."

To KEEP UP! are you kidding me, hello?

I keep telling people its noy how much you make, its how much you spend.
We don't need Obama justifying people entitlement, I think most people already feel that all by themselves.

I guess us Republicans will just keep working away buying what we can afford and sacrificing.

CityKin said...

Bob, I'm all for frugality but as a DINK, I think you are not fully appreciating the decline in real income the middle class has had to deal with the past decade. The president from the bully pulpit, definitely should preach saving and living within means, but as I recall GWB never asked for sacrifice. During war, he just asked us to shop more. In this respect Obama is a breath of fresh air.