This week's post is a combination of personal finance and economics. It will be centered around a blog posting on the website
Steadfast Finances entitled "20 Reasons Why I Love the Recession." It is an interesting counter-argument to all the doom and gloom we hear about the media. The question you are to respond to is: is he right? Do the benefits outweigh the costs of this recession right now? Your answer should consider both short term and long term analysis of the economy, and should include one thing you agree with the author on and one thing you disagree with him on.
Word count: 300+
Due 1/31/10 @ 12pm.
Posts
I definitely agree with the fact that this recession was a wake-up call for so many people in America and really has begun a trend of many good habits in the nation. Although it may sound harsh that a time of such great struggle for so many people has its benefits, and why it may even be better that we have a recession than continuing on a path of success, I feel that what this article says is very truthful. And in some ways, when looking in the long run, I feel that this event in our economic history will definitely benefit many people when it comes to forming better spending habits. Honestly, Americans had become so cocky when it came to our economy for the longest time, not really fearing any type of consequences that came from irresponsible spending on goods that were not necessarily essential but rather for leisure, and it was getting out of hand. The fact that we as a nation have been able to recognize how necessary it is to save and manage our “disposable” spending is very important because now there is a greater use for that money, such as education and better investments. In the short run, the recession has definitely caused a great amount of suffering for all those who have been laid off as well as those who are having trouble paying their mortgages. But, the American culture has also gained a little more in the sense that we have started to value the greater things in life, such as family time. That is one of the greatest outcomes of such an economic recession, that the American culture has brought back a little bit more appreciation for the “little things in life”. It has brought in a whole new perspective on how little importance money has in comparison to that of love and support. This benefit as well as the greater focus on saving I would have to say are the two greatest benefits that were mentioned in this article, and I wholeheartedly agree with them.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the one thing that I do not agree with is his argument for generation X’s investment opportunity of a lifetime. As of right now, even the government is saying that times are going to get worse before they get better. I would be afraid to trust my money and invest in companies when they are going to be getting worse right now if I am not able to guarantee security of my own home and survival. Although it does get one a lot of profit, you have to be in it and dedicated to it for the long term, and if you end up going broke in the short run because of it, you will be in an even worse position than before. People have to become much more cautious when it comes to investing as well or they will basically be leading this economy even further in the direction of an even deeper trough in the business cycle. This article has brought a whole new perspective to my way of thinking on the recession and it has definitely brought up valid arguments for the recession having its benefits.
I think that the recession is not good nor bad. I think it is what is needed, but can not be said to be bad. It has all of the good reasons said on the article (even though some may sound ridiculous they do have a point) and all the bad reasons such as, the decline in GDP and the unemployment. I think, although people are unemployed, they can start to develop ways to survive while not "employed." Now i quote employed because people have started to do under the table transactions. Free lance workers are now at an all time high I believe, and this means that all of the "unemployed" people aren't completely unemployed. They still have somewhat of a source of income. While all that I have is true, they are still unemployed and do not have a solid source of income. I think the idea that Gas prices are below $2.50 per gallon for most everyone in the U.S. is not necessarily good because of the fact that there still is an energy crises. People will keep spending on gas, because of how the price is so low, causing there to be less and less oil, taking away from the chance that a new source of energy could be produced (or even maybe a way to create for gas from all ready made gas, yes I know an idea that is far off, but WOULD solve most problems of the energy crises). But, when you look on the consumers side, the gas prices are nice and low. after the prices have been so dang high, it is a nice break. Get it while you can, and save your bike for the garage. And finally I say that common things, things that are in the market basket have dropped price. The cost of living I believe is dropping, which is a good thing in the sense that less people will die. The housing prices are very low, giving new couples a chance to buy. This overall is a good thing, so why is it bad? It is bad because the people on the other side, people who are trying to make money off of the basic items can not do so. I think that the recession will bounce back. I think that it is good nor bad, but is what is meant to happen, so that there can be growth. Imagine someone is stuck in a tight jacket. When they are zipped up they will try and make themselves as big as possible. But then once all the way zipped up they will try to shrink (like what the economies doing) so that they can then get out, and eventually get out. They will then have come into a new world that is yet better, and they will be more enlightened. Moreover I believe the economy will start to bounce back slowly, but then a great new technology will be developed cause it to shoot up. The economy overall isn't necessarily bad nor good, just subjective based on who you are.
ReplyDeleteThough the recession is the big issue of the moment in the long run it will likely have little if any affect on future practices. The reality is that humanity as a whole hasn’t changed much throughout history and we have made the same mistakes over and over again. Yes the shock of the recession has been a wake-up call for many individuals but this wisdom will be lost on future generations until they make a similar mistake. Yes Americans are being tight with their money right now but in the long run overconfidence and the power of marketing will undo this. Yes the pressure of the recession may cause some businesses to evolve but this will happen sooner or later anyway. The recession has exposed some corporate corruption but for every individual removed there is another to pick up where he left off. Overall the lesions of this recession are largely doomed to fade into history with only two possible exceptions.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, good government regulations, if they are ever passed, could restrain risky investments and excessive leveraging at least for a while but Wall Street will eventually find a way around common sense. This could happen when a new unregulated market immerges.
Secondly, education improvements could work to dampen and minimize catastrophic stupidity. I have no evidence of this but don’t u think smart, open minded, and well informed individuals would likely make fewer errors then those who are not. It’s just a theory. If this happens of not is still unclear but I am hopeful that it will.
The unfortunate truth is that America’s dominance in the global economy will inevitably fade as competitors continue to close the gap. My hope is that as this happens we will not let ourselves be surpassed because of our stubborn resistance to innovation.
I do not agree with Matt because a recession is a recession, and recessions are bad for a country economically. Maybe for some the recession has been less bad than for others, but there are still those that are struggling just to stay healthy and alive! Of course there are some possible positives (long run only) to this recession. This recession should be a huge wake up call to all Americans because they are struggling now, and it sucks. The lessons that we should learn from this recession can definitely help make the future recessions, or economic slumps, (yes they will come) be less severe. Americans need to figure out that they need to save some money (just in case) and that they should not excessively use credit cards because they will have to pay that money, even if they do not have it. But I wonder why didn’t we learn all of this from the Great depression? Why didn’t we figure out that we can’t use credit for everything? I am not sure if America will realize their mistakes, they should, but I can’t say they will. Americans may just go back to doing what we were doing before and this whole mess may happen again. Matt also said that it is a good time to invest because stocks will rise to what they were a few years ago, but I don’t think he is entirely correct or entirely wrong. I think that stocks will rise again (times are just too bad for them not to), but I do not think that they will get as high as they were. Companies were selling goods, but to the credit card companies and not to the consumers. Consumers were using more money than they had and that caused a fake surge in stocks. I think matt made some good points, but I think he was just wrong.
ReplyDeleteMatt is definitely right. He makes a good point; some things in this recession are good because overall in the end this is just going to help us as a country. We just can’t have the best economy ever, all the time. In order to succeed, we must fail first. I think it is totally natural for our economy to go through its ups and downs because nothing can be perfect forever. I know this is a weird analogy but recessions are like snakes shedding their skin because it has to happen. There is no stopping the snake when it has to shed its skin, just like we can’t stop this recession; we just have to work through it. It’s not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, just something that has to happen.
ReplyDeleteI also thought Matt brought up a good point when he said that “People are beginning to think with their brains and not their wallets” because it is true, as a country we are becoming smarter with our money now due to this recession. Before the recession started, people didn’t care where there money when as much as they do now because they are coming to the realization that money is important. Instead of just wasting it on useless things and treating money like it grows off trees, we are now becoming wiser and smarter. More people are starting to save because of this recession, and that will help us in the future.
So in conclusion, this recession is something that had to happen in order to succeed more later on. Like Matt said, this is just one big wake up call to the people, and it is helping us straighten up our acts by being smarter with our money. Plus, prices are really low now for most things, and there are tons of coupons and opportunities to save money rather than waste it. Eventually, when this recession is over, we will have learned from our previous mistakes, and our economy will grow even stronger than it was before.
I believe that he is right; the benefits do weigh out the costs in the long term. The economy will be stronger and better in the long term due to this recession. This recession has opened everyone’s eyes and made it a learning experience. We learned many lessons from this that will help us out in the future and we do have some stuff to be positive about. Like he said, the stocks are low right now making it a great opportunity for our generation to invest and do well. But we will not come into any of that money until later on. Therefore low stocks do not help the people who really need the money now. This causes the costs to outweigh the benefits in the short term. Those who are unemployed right now and those who need all the money are not interested in the long term effects and benefits that will come from this recession ten years from now. Low stocks are not going to end this recession. So in some ways he is wrong about all the positives if you are looking at it form the short term point-of-view because theses people need help now, not ten years from now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author on many of theses points because they will be affecting me in the future. I like the positives about how gas prices are lower than they have been in a while; costs of basic material have fallen too. I also strongly agree with how the simple things become the finer things, this recession brings families closer. These are all positives that affect us now.
But I disagree with his statement that recessions are the best time to start a business. Unless your business supplies inelastic goods people usually will not spend the money. People are saving more and buying less, so opening a business during a recession would not be a good idea, even though it would be less expensive.
In conclusion, the author does make some good points and I do believe that he is right. There are lots that we will gain from this recession and also lots that we can learn form. We are gaining in the long term from this.
I completely agree with the article in that this recession has helped many people make better decisions and is helping us learn from our mistakes. The reason we got into this recession in the first place was because of debt. The average American in 2005 and 2006 was spending more than what they earned, so this recession is reminding Americans to spend more wiser and to save money. I also I agree that it is a wake up call for most people and that the recession will help us to get the most of every dollar we spend. This is all true, but I still believe that a recession is never good. In a recession people cannot pay off mortgages, their credit card debt, loans, etc. Also many people are left without jobs, so no income can lead to many families struggling or forcing them to sell their homes. Thus, the benefits of the recession do not outweigh the costs of the recession right now. A recession on the short term is not good at all, and is bad for the economy. During this time the nations savings will increase and consumer credit decreases this will affect many corporate revenues and profits. Which will lead to companies to hire less workers and in increase the national unemployment rate. The long term effect: This will all play out and we will return to a healthy, and more stronger economy. Eventually a spark will begin and major business and corporations will start hiring more workers, which leads to the decline of competitiveness for jobs and leaving to people spending money more freely. It will also allow for corporations to give raises to workers and in return will give opportunities for many Americans to start on saving money for retirement, purchasing a new car, or even paying off there mortgages on their homes.
ReplyDeleteThe author of “20 Reasons Why I Love the Recession” makes many valid points but I feel as if the recession is not a good thing, but it is not necessarily bad either. I see it as sort of a learning experience. This is our country’s chance to correct our mistakes and learn new ways to control the economy. I absolutely agree that it is not a good thing that so many people are losing their jobs and are not able to pay their bills, but if it takes something as large as a recession to open people’s eyes and let them know that we were not handling things within the economy correctly, then that is how it is going to be for awhile. I do not think it is fair or that it is something we should just accept, we have to work in order to resolve our country’s problems. I realize however, that it is not just as simple as saying, “We have to work in order to achieve what we want,” that is an obvious statement and I know this recession is not going to be fixed overnight, it is going to take time. I am not sure I agree with the statement, “The simple things in life quickly become the finer things in life.” A lot of people I am sure are now even more thankful for what they have but there are also those out there who are now bitter and resentful because of their current situations and cannot see the good things present in their lives. Although, when it is all taken care of, I am sure people will look back and realize that it was just a necessary experience, in order to improve our country in the long run. As for now, as Matt stated, gas prices are lower, there are more coupon offerings and tax deductions and Americans are saving more than ever. Therefore, we will just have to wait it out.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest upside to this economy is the new liking for going green. More and more people are choosing environmental friendly appliances and cars etc. to save money when money is short. The greatest thing about that is when you choose to purchase something environmental friendly and it saves you money, its just going to keep on saving you money in the long run. So even when this contraction in the economy fades we will still be receiving the benefits of our green choices. And besides just saving money I’m sure no one is going to mind having a cleaner earth in the years to come. Another thing I agreed with was that this indeed was a huge wakeup call to every person and company living beyond their means. When people choose to take out or give a loan that they can’t afford to pay interest on or pay back, it only hurts them and the others around them. It had to come some time, and that time is now. For the most part we have all learned a huge lesson. And we have learned to appreciate the value of our dollar, and this whole recession has taught us to change in ways that will help us right now and continue to help us in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of his upsides of the economy, but the one thing that I didn’t view as an upside was the closing of all the little business that cant afford to survive now sense their not part of the elite companies that can survive in the economy now. When survival of the fittest takes place in the business world many of the little hometown shops and restaurants can’t survive.
After reading “20 Reasons Why I Love the Recession”, I have mixed feelings with Matt’s opinion on our recession. He starts with some great points talking about how the recession is a wake up call, that people are beginning to think with their brains instead of their wallets, and that retirement accounts will actually receive regular maintenance. It is true that people are going to start getting back to the basics along with valuing the dollar better and saving money instead of throwing it away as if we have an unlimited amount. These points he makes are valid and true. However, all these benefits are long-term benefits. Yes, the recession can be seen as a good thing in the long run when it’s over, but in the short run and in the here and now, it is just awful. And let’s face it, we are all about the here and now. He goes on to explain that because of the business world’s natural selection, the best of best products and services will reach the market. But is this because of the recession? No way these have absolutely nothing to do with each other. He says that there is an incentive to buy almost everything. We are the United State of America. We always want the best products and we want what we can’t have. When has there not been this incentive he talks about? His points about gas prices, food products, and basic materials being lower because of the recession is also debatable. Did the recession really cause these prices to go down? No in fact when the recession was at its worst, prices were very high; but now that the economy is improving, they are just starting to go down. His purely selfish reasons are kind of a slap in the face to those people who have suffered greatly during this recession. It doesn’t matter what the bad time may be, there will always be a few people that benefit. As weird as it may sound there may be a few people benefiting in Haiti because of the recent earthquake. But does this mean that earthquakes are a good thing? Definitely not. In the short run the recession is not a good thing. After all, it is a contraction of our economy. Just because it’s a natural process and the economy must go through it does not at all make it a good thing. Just because something is unavoidable, does not make it good. In the short run, GDP has slowed greatly, business orders declined and stopped expanding, employment fell, unemployment went crazy, and housing prices declines. These are only a few of the many bad things the recession has caused in the short run.
ReplyDeleteI believe that “20 Reasons Why I love the Recession” has a very valid point, and I also agree with it up to a certain extent. I believe that up to a certain point the recession can be a good thing. It acts as a wakeup call towards people and also limits people’s pointless spending, causing people to have more money. The Recession also lowers the prices of everyday goods that save people money. People learn to be smarter consumers and stop spending money on pointless things. With this smarter thinking, a Recession is less likely to happen in the near future. However, the Recession is also a bad thing in the way that many people lose their jobs. This can inflict people with a lot of stress and can cause households to suffer greatly. Also, retirement funds took a beating and many people cannot retire as soon as they had hoped. Many people’s money that they had worked very hard for suddenly disappeared. The Recession is not fair and many innocent and undeserving people lost a lot of money. I believe that even though the Recession has many benefits and teaches society to be smarter and save more money, many people who don’t deserve to lose a lot of money which they worked so hard for. Besides, many times recessions are at the fault of banks. Why should innocent people pay a ton of money for the faults of the financial institutions? No lesson is work learning at the cost of half your retirement fund. Even though I believe that these lessons are a necessity to learn, they should not come at the costs of the survival of families around the country.
ReplyDeleteI think the article is correct in a lot of its statements. Although it is right about everything, the article does put a very glittery coating around all of it. I feel like the article didn’t really put any of the negative effects of the latest recession in the article. The author is right, though. Correct, BUT I don’t think his list of positive silver linings that came out of the recession outweigh all of the negative things. Things such as the rising cost of food, health care and housing along with disturbing number of unemployment, economists still claiming that there is still growth in the economy, even though it is small. Maybe in the long run, the economy will get better. With positive outlooks on it like the author’s, it makes the waiting game a lot more endurable. The article even had a wonderful picture of R. Lee Ermey from Mail Call at the top. Also, wasn’t the recession the reason gas prices were so high before? Not sure. But the article says that the recession is the reason it has gone down now. I don’t understand the “swimming naked” quote though. Is it saying that because of the recession, you can see naked people, meaning, people who don’t pay their taxes? There is a slight chance that I will understand this article later, but not right now because I’m writing this at 2 in the morning. The author’s mention of a national wake-up call is correct. The nation’s media had a fritz and we all became very aware of the economy, or at least what the media wants us to know. Although the negative things are necessary to understand the state of the economy, this article allows readers to realize that there are also some happy things that go along with it. In an analogy perspective, it is as if this article is the Aya Takahashi of all posts, with her “la la cookie time” phrase to make the “land labor capital technology” phrase a bit brighter.
ReplyDeleteThe article "20 Reasons why I Love the Recssion", had some interesting points. In answer to the question do the benefits outway the costs of the recession, I guess that all depends on who you ask. I am sure the people losing their jobs and homes do not feel that way. However, for the people with jobs and money to invest, he's right great opportunities are opening up. In my opinion the person writing this article is probably not around middle class people who have not lived above their means. They just lost their jobs because of the recession, and cannot find new jobs and have used up their savings to get by. I agree CEO's are very much responsible for bad management and big job losses. I believe that there is always an opportunity for us to do better but it is harder not easier in a recession. It is like a giant garage sale for the rich investors but for the average American not so much. When he said people can stay home and have dinner with their kids now, what kind of dinner will they have with no jobs. People who lost high paying jobs will be nervous and searching for work or taking two jobs to make up for the loss of income. People who own their own businesses have to work extra long hours because as he poined out we are consuming less so there is less income for paying employees and other expenses. Employee theft is up, as well as consumer theft.
ReplyDeleteI think he is making fun of people who are suffering as in point 5, "I don't mind giving a smirk when I read moronic stories of people living above their means. True people didn't use credit cards a hundred years ago, but times have changed and if government stepped in before the recession not allowing inflated prices in gasoline, rent, home prices, and predatory lending (which he did mention and I agree), food and other goods and services, those who used credit would still have homes, and jobs/income to pay their debt. I do not think laughing at people in trouble solves anything. The bottom line is there are many factors that caused this recession government policies, greedy corporate heads, poor expense control in businesses and government, wars, taxes, and the list goes on. I think when he said "the strong get stronger and the weak die off-maybe" I do not agree that businesses with mediocre goods and services die off as he put it, I believe businesses with not enough capital or government friends or funding die off, and crooked CEO's get bail out "bonuses", while their employees who lost their jobs did not get them back after the huge bailouts. So in a sense he is right the rich get richer and the middle and lower income people suffer. He seems to be fine with that.
I believe most of his points are strong and true, while some others are so bias, that it can be wrong. I believe number two is funny. It explains that americans value the dollar more, and they are saving their money. It is very true, but with the income that most americans receive, most of it goes to bills, mortgages, payments, and lifestyle needs. The remaining money they save, they put into a savings account, and the circular flow turns into a hault. With many americans saving their money, GDP will not be high whatsoever. That is the downfall to the recession. So for number two, shorterm savings is good for the citizens, but bad for the economy.
ReplyDeleteNumber five is also very funny. It states that there is an incentive to everything you can buy. I was watching Saturday morning cartoons yesterday, and i noticed that every business commercial there was, they explained that there was a BIG sale. Businesses meaning like Walmart, car dealerships, Walmart, grocery stores, Walmart, and toy producing companies. These BIG incentives offer americans a chance to save a lot of money on life's neccessities, which is fantastic. It also beings to put more money in the circular flow.
I disagree with number 7. It states that when someone is laid off, they might start their own business. If someone gets laid off, can they afford a new bussiness, or even more important, will starting a new business produce them profits? Diving into a business is very risky. You hope that your business will make you money, and you might not get a steady income. This might not be a risk that americans will take because of there desperate need for a steady income.
Overall, in the longrun, a recession is good to open of americans's eyes, as well as have us understand how deep of a hole we can get into. Hoping that sometime down the line, we will grow as an economy, and never face a recession again, and make the same miistakes again. In the shortrun, a recession brings us cheaper prices, and also smaller income.
Tim Adornetto
ReplyDeleteMr. Janczek, Prd. 6
AP Economics
1/31/10
I am a believer in the theory that good things can come out of unfortunate situations. Americans in general have lived way beyond their means the last couple of decades. This recession has been a wake-up call to the whole nation telling us that we can’t just get in deep debt and expect to get out of it later. People have figured out how to be far more frugal in their spending through this rough time in finances. Also, Americans are beginning to save more money whereas before we were saved just about nothing. However, we are still nowhere near the average Chinese family’ average saving which is an astronomical one quarter of their income. We only save 5% of our income! Our habits in spending and saving truly need to change. I am almost glad we had this recession now because the later it would have happened the greater the bubble would have been that would have popped. Also, people are beginning to buy more domestic products rather than buying the cheeper foreign product because it is slightly cheaper. This, in the long run, will greatly help our economy. There are also several smaller side-benefits to go along with the ones I have already mentioned. Prices have all dropped in almost all categories so this is a good point to buy from the stock market and an excellent time to start your own business. Also, our banks are finally being more selective in their loans. The government won’t have to pay off foreclosed banks as much as they have in the past decades. Also, companies are beginning to produce better quality items particularly the automotive industry. They are realizing that people won’t buy cars for the style anymore if the car is always breaking down. I have sympathy for those that have struggled in the recession but I also realize that America is learning great financial habits from this recession that will pay off greatly in the long-run.
This article had some very interesting points on why being in the recession is a good thing. I believe that most of the points Matt made in this article were good and valid. Also they were all very positive. I think that it is good and bad to be in a recession. I think it is good because all prices fall down including gas and food. Also listed in Matt's statement he says people are forced to use their brain instead of their wallet. Which means people are opening saving accounts. I also think it is bad to be in a recession because people are losing jobs everyday and our unemployment rate is almost ten percent and economist predict that it will grow if we don’t do anything about this recession. Also people are losing many businesses and people are struggling to find jobs. I think the bad points of the recession overweigh the good points of the recession. In short term the recession has very good benefits as listed in the article, but as time goes on it will get worse, people will start losing jobs. Overall I believe the recession is a bad thing, even though Matt lists a lot of great points that help people, but they also hurt a lot of people in the long run. I think we should just work hard to get out of this recession, so people can get back to work and make this economy strong.
ReplyDeleteI think that today’s society has been given a wakeup call, and has used it to create better spending habits. The benefits do outweigh the cost because, even if there is unemployment, people are still finding ways to make it work. People are able to get great deals on any big purchase, from cars, TVs, even houses. The wakeup call has caused this generation to start spending wisely and realize that even when this recession ends that they have to save and spend like we’re still in a recession. However, I think this attitude will only last in the short run. In the long run, people will forget this recession ever happened, kids will grow up and start spending and borrowing money and the economy will head right back into a recession. It is apparent that we have not learned from our mistakes in the past, and history is doomed to repeat itself if people do not take this seriously. I agree with the author that the recession will persuade businesses to go green to cut spending, people e will buy necessities and not spend for material gain, and that savers will thrive off the reduced prices of everything from gas to groceries to houses. One of the best things to come out of the recession is that people are constantly turned down for loans because their credit scores are bad. It is not good that their credit is bad, but good that they aren’t borrowing money that they might never pay back. Banks are willing to lend more than a person is able to pay back in the given time because they want the business. However, I disagree with the idea “that uniquely American idea of “hope” finally got taken down a few notches.” I believe that people still have hope and that there is still hope that this recession will end soon. Unemployment has risen, but that means more time with family or realizing just how well you are doing.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I generally agree with most of the points on the article, it's pretty bold for the author to actually admit he believes that the recession is a good thing. Regardless, I think the most important general point he is trying to make is that this hardship will be a crucial learning experience that the nation will surely benefit from once the recession is over. Hopefully once the recession is over, overspending will not be aan issue, there'll be better investment opportunities available as the stock market will go back up, and there'll be more innovative services and products being offered. The question is when that will be as right now we are still cleaning up mess that we've created with the economy.
ReplyDeleteThe point I agree the strongest with is the one that "people have stopped thinking with their wallets". America's problem with overspending, which has not helped the GDP in any way, has ceased and now we're in a slow progression up as the GDP bounces back. I think the shift of the GDP to the right will allow the employment rate to increase, as will income. Also I believe our generation won't feel any of the effects of an economic recession since people won't be willing to commit the same mistakes of the generation before us. Hopefully by then the economy will be flourishing at an all time high..
The point I don't agree with is that the prices of items are dropping. The author fail to mention that the reason is because the demand for those products have dropped. It's because people's incomes have decreased and they've learned that it's necessary to save. It's a safe guess to say, prices will revert back up once the economic recession leaves so this point he's made is only beneficial short term wise.
Overall I think the recession is bad for the short term, and good for the long term.
I would not consider the recession a “good thing” per say but I think it was inevitable to come at some point and hopefully American consumers can improve their spending habits to prevent it from happening again in the (near) future. The author of the article seemed clearly biased because he was a frugal person, or so it seemed. For those who saved rather than spent their paychecks, this recession is, as he says, a “giant garage sale.” Everyone is hoping to sell their goods just to make even at the end of the month, so low prices/incentives are everywhere. But for the millions of others who got laid off with little savings to fall back on, this recession could never be called a good thing. Sure, it was a necessary wake up call, but just because it was inevitable doesn’t make it any easier.
ReplyDeleteOne point that I agree with the author on is that after this recession, hopefully Americans will start thinking with their brains rather than their wallets. With the media telling us at every corner that we need to have more and more “stuff,” America has become a lazy, greedy nation. Buying worthless crap on credit just for the sake of having it, we are wasting resources, creating pollution, and then complaining about the global warming that we ourselves are causing (i.e. celebrities advocating going green while flying around in their private jets). I think that now people are really realizing what’s important in life, as cheesy as that sounds. Hopefully this recession will wake some people up to their wasteful habits and help change them in the future. One point I disagree with him on is that “Overpaid and moronic CEOs have become household names.” Yes, as a teenager living in suburbia I have not felt the full effects of the recession. And perhaps this is reason for my ignorance. But I personally do not know any of the “household names” he is talking about. This recession has flipped people’s lives upside down and though there is always some complaining/gossiping about big name companies and such, people are too preoccupied with trying to get their own lives back on track to really care that much about some stupid CEO.
Overall, I felt that the blog post was very interesting on how the author views the recession. My favourite one was number 2 under “Big Picture Reasons Why [he] Loves the Recession,” is that “people are beginning to think with their brains, not their wallets.” This is the one that I agree with the most because you see that happening all around you, depending where you go. Of course, there will always be those few individuals, mostly celebrities, who spend just for the sake of buying but now most people, as mentioned in the article, are valuing the dollar more. Another benefit from people saving their money is that because most people are saving their money and are not spending as much so the demand line goes down. Knowing simple microeconomics, the demand of products will go down because of the majority of people who are saving money. Because of this, the price of almost all products will go down. However, I do disagree with some of the topics discussed in this article. One of the bad things because of this recession is the amount of people who are not able to pay their mortgages. It is pretty sad to think that over 10 percent of the population in the United States is not able to pay their mortgages on time. I feel that the recession, depending where you lie in the economy is more beneficial. If you lie on the bottom of the economy, of course there will be negatives that outweigh the positives. However, I feel that if you lie on the top half of the economy, there will be more positives than negatives. As stated in the article, “gas prices are below $2.50 per gallon,” food prices have come off their highs,” the cost of basic materials has fallen” and “the simple things in life quickly become the finer things in life.”
ReplyDeleteI think that in the short run a recession is not good but if we look at it in the long run it can sometimes be goof. First of all in the short run a recession is not good because of all the unemployment there is in this country. If there is unemployment there is no way that families can support themselves. Yeah there are people that file for unemployment and receive money every month but what about those people that don’t know about those benefits or the people that can’t file for unemployment. That causes a major problem with families and thinking personally causes families to split and bring problems. So that is why I disagree with his point that it takes a recession for people to start saving. Yeah there are people that have the money to safe and are saving, but what about those people that have no money to safe because they have no jobs. They are not taken into account in this statement. But in the long run I think that the recession can sometimes be helpful. I agree with the fact that because of the recession people actually start thinking with their brains and not wallets and it gives us a great wake up call. And in my opinion what makes us stronger as people and can also makes us stronger as a country is getting past the hard times. Because when people never go through hard times in there life and when something hard hits them they can’t take it; whereas, people that have survived the worst situation and something else hits them they are more likely to know how to handle the situation. And our country is doing just that, we got thought the great depression and going through this hard times is just going to make us stronger. And why does recession help in long run because when we go green. After learning and doing what helps our environment is only going to help us in the future instead of hurt us.
ReplyDeleteI would have to mostly disagree with this article. If we never went into a recession then we would never have to fear one. At the moment since we are already in a recession it is easy to look toward what good can come out of it, but I highly doubt the author of this article or anyone else would have said before the recession “ oh hey too bad we are not in a recession I think it could really benefit our economy”. A recession is a good chance for us to start over and avoid the mistakes we made making our way back to the top after the 1930’s, but just like I said we are starting over. It is not the easiest thing to do. Having more and more Americans realize the value of money and not just throwing it away is better, but we are doing it at the moment I’m sure that happened after the great depression as well and look we’re it got us. One good thing that I can see out of it is that it gave the poor a chance to become wealthy, the middle class to stay we’re they are, and the rich to see how it is for the people under them. Most companies went bankrupt and rich stock investors took a beating. The poor finally had the same opportunity the rich had to make something of themselves. They could have rented a place for cheap and started their own small business or maybe tried to invest in stock since the only way it could go is up. Something that should be coming out of this recession is as the author said families and people should be getting closer and working together. Really families are not working together instead parents are working all day and children are being raised by baby sitters. This is another cost that parents cannot afford and they may even have to leave their child at home alone and that is probably why deaths, robberies and kidnappings increased over the years. The last thing that this author had mentioned that I would like to touch base on is how happy we are that prices are decreasing due to the recession. When really we should not be praising the producers for lowering their price of a movie ticket to eleven dollars when it used to be (even when I was still alive) only a mere five dollars a ticket! Really the reason it is called a recession is because it is not a positive it is a decline in our economy growth and it is what takes us back to “the drawing board”.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this recession is good but it is also bad at the same time. I agree people are starting to think with their heads not with the wallets. And that more and more people are beginning to save up their money for the future, which are all reasons why this recession is good. The recession is also bad becuase unemployment was increase and people have lost there income, how is that good? Some people argue that people learn form there mistakes, I agree with this but, that’s just this generation. This generation will eventually get out of this recession because people started to save there money and started to think for the future. Over time people will become overconfident until they make a similar mistake causing another recession (or something close to it). Proving that those who don’t learn form the past is doomed to repeat it. One thing I agreed on in this article was that “The simple things in life quickly become the finer things in life”. Now that Americans can’t spend their income on pointless products, we spend more time with friend and family which make people worry about their kid’s future. Another thin I liked about this article was how the author pointed out how unaware the America people were and how the recession was like “someone has thrown a bucket of ice cold water on all us”. Finally everyone had to look at how in effected they were sending there income and start managing there money better. The American people were functioning on a false economy which made them think they were unsusceptible to a recession. So when the recession hit that most Americans were woken and started to find was to survive the recession. One thing that I found interesting in this article was how the author stated that the “strong get stronger and the week die of maybe.” The author said that the American economy was “too be to fail”. I wasn’t really sure what to say about this except that, I think he is right; America is too big to fail. I think we have some of the strongest and most intelligent leaders in the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree that even though there are many negatives in a recession there are some good things that come from it. Does that mean that the recessions good? NO! The recession was caused by people being stupid and spending money that they do not have. If you were one of the people who didn’t spend money that you don’t possess then the recession doesn’t affect you or may even help you. There is good from the recession, but the bad outweighs it. Hopefully, this recession will teach Americans not to spend all of their money and people will learn from it. Will people actually learn from the recession? Maybe for a little bit but, I have a feeling that greed will get in the way and another recession will occur. People, Americans especially, are greedy and want what they can not have. They will borrow money to get this and borrow more money the next time they want something. After a little bit of people borrowing money we are back in another recession. Shocker! Greed is what got us into this recession and it will lead to another. I agree with the article that in order for the economy to correct itself the week should die out and strong survive. This would force companies to become more efficient and find better ways to produce; in the long run this would be beneficial. However I disagree that when people are unemployed then they will start their own business. If someone is unemployed they wouldn’t have the money to start a new business. Also, generally newer businesses would be weaker. This contradicts what the article saying about the weak dying out. If a new business is weak then it wouldn’t be able to compete with stronger businesses and the owner of the business would once again be unemployed.
ReplyDeleteI find myself completely agreeing with almost everything the author said. Granted, there are bad things going on, namely job loss, but I’m glad that here is finally someone else out there in the media that isn’t using the latest unemployment rates as the cornerstone of his/her argument. For example, I definitely think that people will learn from this economic recession, although I hope they learn from it better than they learned from the Great Depression (from which we learned absolutely nothing). I also think the author is right on the point that people are quickly becoming more conservative with their money—I never think it’s a good thing for people to be throwing their money around for no good reason because that is just asking for trouble, in my opinion. However, I find myself disagreeing on the author’s point that “Corporate America” will go green to save money. In my experience, I have found that these “green” products often cost more because of the costs of recycling and formulating new, environmentally-friendly products with more costly ingredients. Maybe it is this way because these “green” products are not produced or used in bulk, but I find it hard to believe that a company is going to spend money or research and development for a new product when they could just keep on making the old one that they know the consumers like. If I were the CEO of a corporation, experimental products would be my last priority because we all know that when a company changes its formula (new and improved formula!) we switch to the Jewel brand because the name brand just isn’t the same anymore.
ReplyDeleteBut is the author right? It depends on how one values one aspect of the recession versus another. If one thinks that having everyone employed is the most important, then he is wrong. But if one thinks that learning from past experiences to aid the future and giving Americans collectively one huge reality check is most important, then he is right. I think we are going to have to use our 20/20 hindsight to see if he is right.
This article defiantly presents another way to view the recession. I like that the article gives people hope for the future, but I don’t think that you could ever convince a hard working man who is out of work that the recession is a good thing. For the ones who are still stable financially these are all good points; hey are saving more, there is more opportunity to start new business, and it is a good time to invest in the stock market. These are all good opportunities for people to set themselves up for the future, but many cannot afford to take advantage of these situations. The man who has been out of work for two years and has four children cannot afford to start investing in the stock market or start a new business. In these cases the recession is defiantly not a good thing. By the time the economy reaches a stable state the people who are struggling right now could be in so much trouble financially that they will never be able to live a comfortable life. The author brings up the point that grocery items and gas prices have gone down. This may seem like a great thing, but what if you don’t have an income? Does it matter if those prices are low or not? The prices have gone down, but if people don’t have any money these lower prices don’t make a difference at all. I do agree with a couple statements however. I agree that the recession does work as one big wakeup call. People are beginning to pay attention to what they are doing. Instead of spending everything they are saving money. This is a good habit for Americans to get into because the more they save the better off the will be in the long run. The recession is devastating for most, but it could turn out to be one of the best things for the economy in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with some of the things this article is saying, I believe the article is a little harsh. Sure, the recession has taught us some money management skills that we were lacking before but the reason people become more frugal was because they had to manage the very little bit of money they have. It was a wake-up call but not really the kind that the American people would really want. The author of the article is probably able to say this because he wasn’t hit as hard as many other people in the nation. If you didn’t lose your job or find yourself in a large amount of debt then it is easy to say that the recession was a good thing because you haven’t been directly affected. However, for many people, they had to make major lifestyle changes just to get by. For these people, the recession was a very bad thing. The author says that one positive is that “the strong get stronger and the weak will die off”. He must obviously be part of a successful business because those who were employed by a struggling business would obviously not be happy with this. The recession is the reason for their downfall. If the recession is really a positive thing like the author says, then why are we working so hard to get out of it? The government is to decrease unemployment and pull the nation out of this recession but if it is really good, then why would they even bother? The truth is that the recession affects millions of Americans who are forced to live life on the limited or nonexistent incomes that they are forced to accept because of the bad economy. If you were to ask any of these people, they would obviously not boast about the positives of a bad economy. Even if the author is trying to be an optimist, it is just because he himself has probably not felt the full blow of the recession.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, I agree with most of the points of this article. This is because in the long run there will be more benefits from this recession than costs. Once this recession is over the economy will be stronger and overall better because of the recession. As well this recession has made people more responsible with how, and what, they spend their money on and is sort of a wakeup call to the people’s irresponsible spending. However a recession is not completely beneficial. The fact of people losing jobs is one example. In this article I feel as if the author sort of ignored the negative things and just left those out. The things he’s saying in the article are true but he is leaving out the negative situations of the recession. People losing houses, jobs, retirement money are all things this article leaves out and ignores. This recession does have two arguable sides to it but in the long run I do believe that it is more beneficial to our country’s economy. If people learn their lessons from this recession and learn how to be smarter and more responsible with what they spend their money one I believe that a lot of good things can come out of this recession.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the recession has it’s good points and it’s bad points. I agree with all of the articles arguments including the wakeup call. America did need this wakeup call because before the recession we were all spending money like it was nobody’s business. Now we have to be accountable and have savings and protect our retirement plans. I also agree that this is the investment opportunity of a lifetime for “generation X”. Because of this recession we can make a TON of money in the future. No one has ever had this opportunity before. I also agree with the fact that the environment is also benefiting from this recession. We are also on a scale of recession in creating pollutants. Finally the strong will get stronger and the weak will die off. This is a punishment for those of us that haven’t even thought about the future. For those of us that have we are not doing to bead. WE are saving more and making a better life for us.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the recession is a recession as Kevin Sloan said. It isn’t such a glorious time. The economy is going down the drain and we aren’t making any money. We could be much better off, but Americans have to realize that after this recession we can only go up. It’s a cycle and after this we can only see economic growth and it will come rapidly (hopefully). So let’s stay optimistic. Granted that some of us have lost our jobs or aren’t providing as much as they could but they will. They should give it time and have hope. Obama has promised some changes and they will come. They will change the way we look at things and help us realize how beneficial this recession was for our brains to realize what to do economically. Like save money, invest, and have a future life plan.
After reading Matt’s article I believe that he is right in the fact that the recession has brought many benefits to our nation and its people. When he talks about how our nation has received a “heck of a wake up call,” he is right. People have lost their jobs, companies have lost investors and consumers, and our economy has crashed causing most stockholders to suffer. While others are worrying about how to make everything go back to how it was, which will never 100% happen, matt and people like Matt are looking and focusing on the better things that have come of this recession. Yes, now the recession is hurting or has hurt our economy but in the long run, this will bring benefits to everyone, the people, companies, government, and the actual economy itself. As Matt says people were thinking with their wallets instead of their brains until now, I believe this is true and the government could have helped and should help to prevent this from happening again. They could have set rules and restrictions on banks to prevent the loaning out of enormous loans based upon information that didn’t matter at the time. They expected to get their loans paid back from people with credit that didn’t even exist. So then the banks would end up acting surprised when they didn’t get their loans back, resulting in them foreclosing on the person’s property.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing though that I do disagree with Matt about is that “there is an incentive to buy everything.” Yes, most prices of products have decreased since the beginning of the recession. But for example, when someone can save about $500 on buying a television just because it’s a few inches smaller, is a necessity for a good outcome in the long run. No the T.V. isn’t a need but a want so if the people of America are expecting to climb out of this recession, with the thought that “there is an incentive to buy everything,” then we better get prepared for yet another downfall to come in our economy.
So in conclusion I agree with Matt in everything but one aspect, but I still believe in the same things he has spoken about in his article. This way of thinking in the majority of America’s people will be what our country needs to get out of this recession and reap it’s benefits in the long run.
Being a pretty optimistic person, I do agree with many of the points made in this article. Even though this recession is a hard time for many people, we should look at this as a turning point. The first point made about the recession being a wake up call is so true. Everyone realizes now how bad things are and that they need to be fixed, and that is the first step towards change. I also agree with the fact that people are starting to be smarter with their money. It is good for people to not just throw away their money but to step back and think okay, do we really need this. Instead people are now appreciating the little things, which is always good. This also relates to the point made that savings are up to 5% which is a very good thing. I also liked how this article pointed out the things that we get out of the recession like gas prices being lowered, food prices going down and also the cost of other basic things. This article also makes the point about how the recession is actually good for the Earth. Since people are making less things that means we are keeping more trees and producing less pollutants. Overall I think this is a very good article for people to read to they can see how the recession is not just a bad thing. People don’t see that this is helping us become smarter with our money, that we’re getting cheaper goods out of it, and that we are ultimately helping the Earth in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author on how this really is a wakeup call for a lot of people. They finally realize the stupid things they were doing and try to correct them. People are now thinking about what they purchase and how they spend their money. I think because that is a way of life for many now, they will continue to do this after our economy returns to normal, like many people who experienced the Great Depression.
ReplyDeleteAs to the question if the benefits outweigh the cost, I believe for some people they do. They will start to work on fixing their situation and live better lives. I also think the environmental benefits outweigh the costs. People are beginning to be more conscience of being green and in doing that how to save money. In the end this will benefit the whole world. Some people are not benefiting from this recession because they are not able to afford the essentials of life and maybe even medicine. Some of those people won’t live to see when the economy gets out of this slump.
I believe many of the points he made are very true. Except for the 3rd one, I agree with them. I believe the 3rd point is not true for everyone. I believe that the weak will try even harder to survive. The strong continually to get stronger slowly, but the weak will progressively become stronger faster.
I believe in the short run, right now, the recession is not benefiting anyone. It is hurting more than it is helping. In the long run it will help us to become a stronger, smarter country, but we have to wait until then. Until then we just have to continue thinking about what we do with our money and hope for the best.
For the most part I do not agree with the article, “20 Reasons I Love the Recession”. It says things like we have all had a big wakeup call and the simpler things in life become the finer things, these ideas are nice I guess for the people who did not already realize this but really how is this going to help us out of this recession. This article says people are saving more money, but in a recession I believe that it is not the right thing to do to pull ourselves out of this. In a recession you want to stimulate the economy, which is why I agree when the article says this opens up the chance for new businesses to start. I believe the economy needs more cash flow to become stable again and starting new businesses is a great way for this. The article says some people think recessions are the best time to start business. Another plus is that gas and food prices have gone down. Also it is a nice thing that pollutants have gone but purely speaking from an economic standpoint, how is that going to help? I think the author made some valid points, but overall most reasons, I feel, were a stretch and were thrown in there because he had nothing else to say. I feel this way especially because one of the categories was pure selfish reasons, like eliminating some of our hope and shooting some big shots down.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with a lot of the points that are made in this article. It is a big wake up call for the country; showing how the things we have been doing brought us to this point. Everyone kept going on, not paying attention to the consequences. Things were getting worse, but now that they have dropped this far, people are finally realizing what they are doing and making changes. I also agree that it is good that people are actually saving money, rather than spending money they don’t have. But also, people need to be buying things and consuming in order to get the economy back to where it needs to be. I agree when he says it is an opportunity to make things better. The country has fallen but now we have to rebuild it, and if we do it in a good way we can make the country even better than it was before. Similar to why people say forest fires are needed, so that the forest can grow back even better. We also have learned from those past mistakes, and realized things we have to be safer and more conscious of. For the “everyday folk”, I agree it also has its good things. Like the article says, gas and grocery prices have gone down. Another thing that I never thought about was that there are less pollutants due to less producing. That is a good thing, but at the same time it’s not a good thing that we are producing less. Overall, a lot of people have been extremely hurt by the recession, but there are still good things to come out of it. It is an opportunity to rebuild certain things and make them better than they were before.
ReplyDeleteI believe Matt brings up some very important topics, and brings up topics I don’t think most Americans think about. As soon as you mention to most people or ask their opinion on the recession, they almost get defensive. Our country may be in a recession, but we are learning from the mistakes that lead up to this recession.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Matt’s statement that states “People are beginning to think with their brain, not their wallets.” This is very important. It shows that Americans realize how bad of a state our country is in financially and economically. More and more Americans are opening savings account, realizing that they uncertain about their future, and wondering if they will still be getting an income. Also in another aspect, Americans are starting to think about the long haul, rather than just the present. Basically, I think if we keep looking in the future (the long run) it will help our country, not hurt it.
However, I do not agree with the statement that deals with the American idea of “hope” finally got taken down a few notches. Hope is what we need. The country and citizens of the country cannot just immediately just get us out of the recession, it take a lot more than that. As a matter of fact, I feel as if our country does not have hope; we will never be able to get out of the recession. If it is true that the American idea of “hope” has been taken down a few notches, it is because some of us are starting to give up, losing hope. What we need to remember is if we all have hope, then we will get out of this mess faster (:
In conclusion, in the short run we need to continue to have hope and keep our heads held high. And for the long run, we need to keep thinking with our brains, not our wallets. We need to keep saving money, rather than spending an excessive amount.
I agree with his article and believe he is right, I also love his optimism. I especially agree with his first statement, that Americans needed a wake-up call. We were spending 'money' that we simply didn't have, and people thought that nothing could possibly go wrong. Luckily, things did go wrong before even more money was spent, otherwise we would be in an even deeper hole. I believe this frivolous spending came from the children of the last recession. It is all a cycle. Our recession was caused by the children of the last recession, who were too young to learn a lesson. And those childrens parents caused that recession because they were children in the recession before. This cycle first began after the Great Depression and will hopefully end after this recession. We will see.
ReplyDeleteNow, even though I mainly agree with the author, I disagree with his statement of "The strong get stronger and the weak will die off - maybe!". I understand that the billions of dollars of bailout money that was given to the auto industry was probably unnecessary; however, cars are one of the few items actually 'made' in America. And not only that, but the auto industry provided SO many jobs for our fellow Americans. Imagine how many more jobs would have been lost if that money was not handed to the companies.
Overall, I would say that the benefits do outweigh the costs, but that's just my opinion. The main opinion of this argument is persuaded by how badly the recession is hitting a person. It's extremely difficult for someone to be optimistic and discover the benefits when they have no money and they're home it being taken away from them. That would be difficult for anyone and I know that I would not see any benefits whatsoever if I was in that situation.
I believe that to call a recession a good thing is a stretch, however I don’t doubt that our future will benefit from the repercussions of a recession. I agree with the fact that the recession was a big wake up call, and that our future will have to learn from our mistakes in the early 2000s. If resolved correctly, the recession could provide the same innovative rebuilding of the economy that came with the Great Depression. Obviously the Great Depression is looked at as the biggest economic crisis our nation has ever encountered, but positive things still came from it such as social security and a better respect for the economy itself. I don’t entirely believe that the people have learned to “think with their brain, not their wallet”. I think that our conservative economic attitudes only exist because the chips are down, and that as soon as the recession is over and the economy peaks a false sense of security will come and spending more than you earn will become popular once more. I also believe that reason #6 is a flawed stat (that we are saving 5% of income now) because saving money is the result of fear. Nobody is saving because they’ve had a wake-up call; they’re saving because they have no trust in the economy or the banks. One aspect of the article that is undeniable is that, just like in the depression, America is going green. We aren’t producing as many materials because savings are up, and the environment is benefiting from it. In conclusion, I believe that many of the articles optimistic views are either flawed or simply unrealistic. There are both positive and negative things that come with this recession, but the bottom line is that unemployment in double digits and being 12 million dollars in debt are undeniable statistics that nobody can see opportunity in.
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ReplyDeleteThis article has some very good points on why this recession has a positive side. People are being thrown out of the world of instant gratification and into the real world where people actually work, save, and earn their money. I believe that America did need this wake-up call and that, however harsh it was, it was necessary to keep us from slipping even further later on. People are beginning to save, building for the future instead of wasting it all on the momentary gains of the present. And since the stock market is low, there will be more people buying stocks, allowing businesses to expand which raises demand for stocks, eventually making money for those who initially invested. No matter the state of the economy at present, the fact is that it will improve if we help it out.
ReplyDeleteThe story about the bus driver buying an 800,000 dollar house appalled me, but not in the same way that it seemed to others. Many people do not know how to manage their finances because they were not given the opportunities, so should we really call them idiots if they make a financial mistake? No, because in most cases it was not their fault. The idiots are the ones giving out the outrageous loans to people who they, the financial ‘geniuses,’ know cannot pay back without a couple missed payments. When they start missing payments, their interest keeps going up, giving more money to the banks. This whole system disgusts me, and I am happy that the recession is now helping to keep banks honest.
Some things that I did not care for about the article was the downplay of the negative effects on the economy. Yes it is a great time to invest in the stock market or start a small business, but how can that be made possible if people have no money to do so? It is only a good opportunity for those who saved. Kudos to them, but they shouldn’t rub it in peoples faces. America needs to help each other out, not smirk at those who are unfortunate enough to have lost it all.
I do not agree with Matt because he is thinking sort of selfishly. Although he is making some good points like how it is a wakeup call for America. I agree with that because we have been lazing around with our money and have not been fully supporting the economy like it needs. In the short run it will seem like a pain in the butt to go out and work your butt off for a day’s payment, except it will pay off when the economy gets back to basics and restores itself. I do not understand, however, how “going green” is actually bad for the economy. What I mean is that in order to find more environmentally friendly fuels then more jobs will have to be supplied in order to discover and harvest that fuel source; and, eventually setting our economy back at its equilibrium again. I do understand that when people do not buy as much gas consuming cars then the people whose job it is to make those cars may be laid off and I only propose that they should build better cars in order to meet the benefit for the environment and the cost of making and maintain those cars. I believe Matt is selfish because he believes that buying an old SUV is actually saving money if it is at half price. I know that sounds a little oxymoronic but I mean that SUV could be half price, brand new if the economy were better because then there would be a greater demand for SUV’s. IN the short run, yes, the cheaper SUV would be better, but in the long run it would not because it would naturally return to an equilibrium point of demand and supply.
ReplyDeleteI agree that recession is a good thing. The market had to balance out. Inflation before the recession was out of control and prices were skyrocketing. Meanwhile the government didn’t do anything and so something had to give. Like most things, a recession comes with its pros and cons. Lately people have been focusing on the cons and making the recession look terrible. I know that it is sad that unemployment is at an all time high but we had it coming. Furthermore, this recession has been a wakeup call for most people. The banks are now giving their money only to people who are qualified and people are paying more attention o there credit score. Also, the price of almost everything has gone down from its extremely high prices. There are great bargains from things like cars and houses to everyday items like groceries and food. In addition, people are more aware of their spending habits and like in the article, ‘people are actually saving.’ People are also watching where they put their money instead of expecting to make a profit with any kind of investment. But now that the stocks have hit rock bottom, it is now a great time to invest in the stock market. Lastly, people now enjoy the finer things in life like family and friends instead of how well their investments are doing or how the value of their house is rising. Recessions happen, they are part of how the economy functions. So now that we have understood how the recession has affected our life we need to figure out how we are going to get ourselves out of this mess and in doing so, we should learn from are mistakes
ReplyDeleteAlthough he makes some good arguments and beliefs about why the recession is good, ultimately he’s wrong. I can not see how to say that having an unemployment rate of over 10% is good. It may be good that people pay more close attention to their finances and value their money more; I do not believe that this is a good trade off for the current job markets and financial crisis. The author of this article does may some great points. This can be used as a wake up call and help rebuild or restructure how businesses run themselves and also how they keep track of their finances. I also think that it is a good thing that people now keep track of their finances more tightly and also that people no longer just sit back on their retirement fund and let it sit there for the value of it to go up. They need to be constantly updating and watching the stock market closely. I do not agree with his point he tries to make about the incentives to buy a brand new car because of a tax deduction. People have lost more money in this recession that a $4000 tax deduction will not even come close to how much they have lost because of the recession. People do need to wake up and pay more attention to their personal finances but to say that it is good to have a recession is absolutely wrong. Watching people struggle through these tough economic problems is not a big deal because a few bargain shoppers like that they can get a car cheaper? That’s ridiculous. Also he says it is a good time to start a new business but I feel like that contradicts his point he made earlier about how the strong get stronger and the weak die off. Most new businesses will not even make it through the first five years in a strong economy and to say they are going to survive in a recession I do not believe is a good point. Overall I disagree with his idea that the recession is a good thing for the United States.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading “20 Reasons Why I Love the Recession,” I believe that Matt has some valid points. I liked what he had to say about it making people think with their brains and not their wallets. People were throwing money away before, but now they save their money and appreciate what they have. He was right about it waking people up and teaching us to get back to the basics. We have been taking what we have for granted and not worrying about the consequences of spending all that we have, but now that money is tight, people are saving more. Another positive is that, as Matt said, prices are falling and that is good for consumers. That means that people can buy more for their money and save more in turn. Along with the positives there is always a negative. The recession brings some bad with the good I’ve mentioned above. For instance, the recession has brought a lot of unemployment, and therefore many people are left struggling to feed their families and pay their bills. The struggles that come with the recession are a kind of punishment for the stupidity and irresponsible actions that have been present in the last 10 years. The punishment many be necessary, because it makes us wake up, but are the wrong people getting punished? People who have done things right and saved their money are suffering along with everyone else. The banks were a major part in causing this recession, yet they are not suffering as badly as other people, who are less to blame for this problem are struggling. To sum it up, I agree with the article, there are many positives that come with the recession, like lower prices and good investments to make. However, the stress, struggles to pay the bills and unemployment that come with the recession seem to outweigh the positives. The recession was necessary to make everyone stop and think with their heads and not their wallets, but it’s putting a strain on the people and causing a lot of stress and trouble too and needs to be fixed.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the recession is a huge wake up call for our economy. People are finally realizing that spending money that they don’t have is not a good idea. Saving part of our disposable income is becoming more popular rather than blowing it all away faster than we can get it. Not only is this an economic change but also an ecological change as new incentives to go green have risen and are becoming a success. Both gas and food prices have fallen so life is actually beginning to become affordable for those among us trying to save for things like college or a new home. Instead of spending $5000 on a week in the Caribbean, families are spending their free time by having a barbeque in the back yard and cooking at home rather than buying fast food every night. Although the recession hurts it turns out to be positive in many ways as it passes. Within the next few years our economy will again begin to grow and fluctuate properly. As so many small businesses shut down during the recession now seems to be the time for them to restart and reopen as the light of the future dawns upon us. Environmentalism is becoming popular as we become conscious of our effect on the environment and what we needed to change to ensure our future on this planet.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "20 Reasons Why I Love the Recession.” I can say that I somewhat agree with this article. Of course it is not in this economy’s interest to be at the slump of a recession but what can we do? No economy is perfect. Our questionable decisions and incredible spending has brought us here and now we’ve got to pay for our actions. Although it may seem harsh to say, this recession can be seen as a good thing for our economy. Now that we realize that things are serious, it definitely pretty much is a wake up call for us. Of course not everything about it is a good thing. Thousands of jobs are being lost with people having to be laid off making it a struggle for families to have to pay off mortgages eventually leading to file bankruptcy. However, its just part of the business world. We have to learn to make better decisions with our money and what we decide to invest on. We can’t just mope around hoping that we will get out this situation and that’s exactly what this recession is helping us realize. Us as an economy need to take action and do something about the problem. Of course we have our downfalls but there are some perks with this situation. Prices are much lower today than they were back then. The fact that we don’t need as much to produce goods that are made today had made a big difference in the outside world; nature. Also, we are careful on deciding what exactly we spend our money on. It is not a sense of what we so desperately want, but more of what we so desperately need. This recession has surely opened up our eyes and minds and most of us are now able to recognize the value of a dollar and how every little helps. So in the long run, this has been a good situation for our economy.
ReplyDeletei would agree that even though times are tough for a lot of us, it's also a good opportunity for us at the same time, since a lot of prices, including gas and groceries. These are the two most important things that average people need to function on their daily lives. With these lowered prices, we can begin to get our feet back under us. Especially with these incentives to buy things. As long as people are shopping smartly and taking advantage of these deals, they can start to cut into their losses.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I disagree with the author when he says that all of this recession has brought a bright light to the situation and that people will change their ways. This is not even close to being true. We will always be irresronsible, especially when it comes to money. This is why not everyone can be a millionaire, because they cannot handle what it takes to become so well off. And the overpaid CEO's being acknowledged? They may be found out, but that does not mean that they are going to get all of their benefits taken away. The compnaies will still be lining the CEO's pockets with benjamins for a long time. Why? Beacuse that's another part of America - the top two or three get everything they want, while the rest of us only get a fraction of that.
Overall, I think there is a silver lining to this cloud, and there are outlets for us as an economy to get back on track, but, we are still a long ways a way from getting back to being the stable country that we once were a part of.
Even though this current recession has really hit everyone hard in the most negative of ways, I believe we can really get a lot of good out of this. I agree with what Matt is saying in this post and even though it’s hard for some to think positively with everything being the way that it is now, we will all be better Americans. Above all, every single person that is going through all of these everyday struggles the recession brings along, will be a more educated/aware person. I agree with Matt when he says that this was a big wake up call for our country. It has showed us that we seriously need to change our ways with everything that we have been doing. We must all be more aware of what we are doing with our money. We are starting to think with our brains, not our wallets as stated in the post. Also, this has been a great incentive for people to actually save some of that hard-earned money instead of having people spend it like it is going out of style. And I like how he said that this recession has really allowed us to realize and appreciate the finer things in life and has taught us to really appreciate every single thing that we have. Since at times everyone was forced to make the most with less, we appreciate those little, everyday things we may have taken for granted. Besides from teaching us a lesson, I believe that we have nowhere to go but up from here. We are going to be in a very good position to grow as a country and I feel like we can do exactly that as long as we start to do things the right way. And I believe that is exactly what we are going to do.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that Matt was able to look at the positives of the recession while everyone else looks at the negative. I both agree and disagree with some of the statements he made in the article. One statement I strongly agree with it that this is a way for people to understand what is going on in the economy. As everyone else has been saying it’s a wake up call, and they are right. Many people are going to start acting with responsibility when it comes to money, and they should. To go along with saving money, many people are looking for coupons like the article said and it is smart to do so. That is extra money being saved for the future. As for the food and gas prices going down, that is just starting to happen. Unfortunately these two goods cost people tons of money before the economy started to improve a little. Many were not able to commute because they could not afford gas. It is only now turning into a positive outcome. As for some of his selfish reasons, they are just completely rude. It seems to me that what he enjoys is bragging to people who are suffering from the economy while he uses it to his advantage. Yeah that’s really going to help the country work together and have hope for the future. However, I do agree with him about how the pollution and environment is a lot healthier then it would be. I think that he is right when it comes to using this experience and learning from it to help out in the long run. It is sad to see all the people struggling now with money issues but hopefully they too can learn from the recession and try to look at some of the positives.
ReplyDeleteOver all I disagree with this article. Matt makes a few good points, but I can not believe that a recession can be good for an economy. It can maybe be good for a future economy, but as shown with this recession, people forget those lessons quickly. The economy constantly is in increase or decline, but a recession can be avoided if the common person just remembers what has happened in the past. For example in the 1920’s people spent beyond their means and banks were not smart. This excessive spending lead to the Great Depression. We again spent beyond what we should and our companies were not smart with their money causing a recession. Matt says that there are good things that come with a recession too. These things are more for the person who was smart during good times and saved instead of spending. These good things; however, do not necessarily affect the economy as a whole. Only the savers can truly be affected well in his scenario. The person who spent may have had a nice house and the spender only a decent one. When the recession causes the spender to lose his house and the saver to pick it up cheap it does not affect the economy positively as a whole, it only affects the savers positively. Again even if the spenders of this generation learn from their mistakes and change their ways when and if we get fully out of this recession. Chances are the next generation or the one after that will forget about those lessons and make the same spending errors as the people of this generation. Overall a recession can be a good thing in the long run, but as history shows it will probably not end up being a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more with this theory. During the 90’s America became a land of utter waste, people had the confidence to spend all they wanted because they figured they could and this recession has hopefully taught them us our lesson. It had created the new “untouchable” standard which influences others to work harder for their money instead of being lazy and doing the least work possible. It has been a time of new innovations and advances in technology, for instance if you look at cell phones over the past 5 to 10 years, its is easy to see how much they have evolved because phone companies came to realized that in order to keep their customers they needed to offer more and have competition in order to succeed. This type of work ethic is what is needed to get America back in the game and competing with other countries. The recession has heightened our standards and forced us to work hard and look for new ways to compete. It has taught Americans to save and become more frugal and conscious of what we are spending and using. Along with becoming economically conscious, the Green Movement has also become a huge part of our society and we see now more than ever people are fighting to protect the earth and therefore reducing waste and pollution. I think we definitely needed a reality check from those years of extravagant expenditures. Although they were years of happiness and “prosperity” we need to learn that nothing in life is free and we must keep working hard to succeed, because success doesn’t result from laziness. It is now that we begin to appreciate what we have and truly enjoy what we have worked for whereas before we spent it before it was even in our hands. I believe that this wakeup call will change America and eventually train us to face other difficulties in the future.
ReplyDeleteKris Chatterjee
ReplyDeleteI can see the logic in this article. Taking falls like this is necessary to find out where the weaknesses in our economy are and how we can fix them to avoid even bigger tumbles in the future. I agree with his first reason that the recession is a wake up call. The recession has opened our eyes to issues that may have been grossly harmful in the near future, like our country’s failing education program and healthcare system. I also support his “evolution” theory on the economy. The recession is getting rid of the useless goods and services and keeping businesses with strong foundations, helping our economy in the future. Our country is actually starting to save their money and think logically about spending too, instead of going deeper and deeper in debt. As for the “Reasons for Everyday Folks to Love the Recession”, I see most of this coming true in my own life. I just got my license and I keep an eye out for gas prices, which aren’t nearly as high as a year ago. I probably couldn’t have driven with 5 dollars a gallon for gas. Things at stores and groceries are getting increasingly cheaper and there are plenty of coupons and special offers. It is also a good thing that banks are buckling down and not giving loans to people who might not be able to pay them back, dragging the individual and bank into trouble. At the Chatterjee household, we don’t need the newest videogame to have a good time anymore either. The recession also lets investors use these low stock prices to support successful businesses which will prosper, as well as the investor, soon enough. The recession forces people to really think rationally about their expenditures and savings, the nation to see the critical points of the economy and future which are being overlooked, and forces innovation and productivity of scarcer resources. It allows the change the country needs the most to take place.
I absolutely agree with this guy on the recession being a great thing! It truly was a huge wake-up call to everyone, and people are now being more aware of their surrounding and spendings, instead of living in some surreal world of unlimited money and everything being okay. One of the benefits that he mentioned of the recession was, "The simple things in life quickly become the finer things in life..." which is so true! It's kind of like in that Allstate commercial where the guy says it's not how big the TV is, but the people you watch the game with that's more important. People are starting to see the simplicity of life and that having everything isn't always the way to go. Another one that he mentioned was that people were becoming more green! Back in the 2000 someone might have taken daily half-hour showers and left all the lights on, pretty my living without a care, but now that same person is cutting the times of the shower and being power savvy, which does not just save this person money on bills but also helps the planet, in just that simple change. But the one thing I have to disagree with is when he said that "Cost of basic materials has fallen." Yea, that is true but the thing is people are not as plenty in their money like they were before the recession, so even though some prices are going down, it is still tough to buy anything without being very conscience of the money that is being spent instead of saved. All in all, the good does out weight the bad, sure having people lose jobs is terrible but it is also an opportunity; as one door closes another one opens, and just like the author stated, "...sometimes the best way to educate someone is to let them try, fall flat on their face, and ask them afterwards just what the heck went wrong..." which is obviously the Nations case right now, we all are falling but have realized that changes need to take place. In the short-run economy there will be a lot of lines dancing, and the strong businesses will prevail and triumph over the little and weaker companies, and in the long term I think our economy will be more stable and everyone who succeeded and survived greatly will keep the economy strong, and as a Nation, we would have learned from our mistakes and therefore will not repeat them. Right now it may be tough, but in the end, I think that things will get a whole lot better for the economy and for people.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the fact that our country is learning a lot from our recession. It is a rude awakening and now everybody is taking caution when spending money. I agree with the fact that the American Public is saving a lot more money than they did before. It’s surprising to see Americans saving though, especially because of all of the new goods in the market these days like the electronics. Although Americans may be saving more, some people are deciding to start new businesses. I think that this is the dumbest possible thing to do during a recession. People are unemployed therefore they are not making money. If Americans are not making money, how in the world are they going to make payments for all of the things concerning their business? They are going to take out loans for the time being and then only if they succeed in the business world will they actually be able to pay back the loans. Unfortunately, not all businesses succeed, so they are borrowing money and will most likely never be able to pay back fully. I agree with the author when he says that “there is an incentive to buy almost everything.” If a person is buying a house and there is an 8000 dollar tax deduction they might be thinking “great! I am saving 8000 bucks.” Unfortunately, in the long run they will still have to pay the rest of the amount of money from the tax that was not deducted. The U.S has reduced the prices of gas to about 2.50. This is great news for Americans during the recession, but after the recession (if we ever do get out of it) will the prices go up? What will Americans do then when the prices go up because some people may be able to afford it? The main idea is to see if the benefits of the recession outweigh the costs. In my opinion, I really do not think that the benefits outweigh the costs. We do get some things out of this recession, but it is in no way equivalent to how much we are losing from this recession.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Matt somewhat. Yes the recession gave the whole country a wakeup call that we all needed, but it still put many people out of jobs and money. I do agree that the recession made us stronger and more open eyed as a country but I still believe it wasn’t fantastic. I think that the benefits equal the amount of costs we have given up for the recession. I agree with 8.d.glenn when he says that people are grieving over money lost and company losses but you can’t change the past and everything will never be 100% satisfying for everybody. When Matt said “People are beginning to think with their brain, not their wallets, I totally agree and think that people spend money to freely including myself. Agreeing with Clare, I think people should step back and ask themselves, “do I really need this?” If the answer is no, which it most often is, people shouldn’t be wasting their money. I do think that the government should step in and try to prevent this happening again because I don’t think I or the whole country could stand another wakeup call. On the flip side, the recession has hit some people hard. People with lots of kids and trying to provide for them aren’t working because the husband got laid off and they have no source of income therefore, the parents can’t give their children the simple essentials they need. In conclusion, I agree with Sarah because in the short run, the recession is obviously not helping anyone! Maybe in the long run, people will realize to be smart, but we can’t live for the future quite yet, we have to live in the present where everyone knows how bad our economy is.
ReplyDelete“ Matt SF” makes some excellent points in his article,, despite what one might think based on the article name. When I first saw the article name, I immediately thought I would be disagreeing with the author, but I found myself corrected. However, I still disagree with him on his main thesis, which is that the recession is a good thing. The author says that he believes the best way for someone to learn is to have them fall flat on their face and get up. However, if the recession had not happened at all, then nobody would have needed to fall on their faces. I do believe that people had to learn to not buy things off of credit, a.k.a. buying goods with money that does not even exist. I agree that the recession is helping with prices of necessities, like gasoline and what not, but the recession, if not corrected, will proceed to cause those low prices to shoot up and nobody will be able to afford food, shelter, and the unemployment rate will also take a hike uphill. I disagree when the author states that recession is the best time to start their own business, because if people believe that, then people would have no money, and anyone who got a job with that business would loose their money again. I think he makes a valid point when talking about how outrageously overpaid C.E.O’s are brought down to the level of the people, and they deserve being stripped of their money because while they were buying new mink carpeted yachts, the people in their business are suffering and are being underpaid for their services. I do not believe that these so called benefits of the recession outweigh the real costs of the recession, mainly because of this: a lot of the things the author talks about may happen, or might cause even more damage and blow the recession up to a full blown depression, and then the author would fall flat on his face and have to learn.
ReplyDeleteI believe that nothing in life can be black or white. However horrible a situation may be, there is always a benefit. I think this article clearly expresses that. The recession is not all bad, and I totally agree! Our government has been wasting away money and so have some percentage of the American people. They are finally facing the consequences of their actions and are suffering for it. It is a wake up call for the people that were not smart with their money beforehand. But one problem is that others are losing jobs because of the mistakes these people made. This does not seem fair but that’s life! I also agree that our country as a whole is saving more money because we are afraid of the state of our economy right now. But is this really helping our economy? I think it is actually hurting it because that money could be circulating through our economy and stimulating it up again. But, I agree completely with the fact that our country would have never learned and fixed their mistakes if this recession did not happen. If this recession did not happen, all the fraud and overspending would not have been called to attention. Many economists in our age have been saying I told you so as this recession is taking a great toll on America. If we did not listen to those economists that warned us that this would happen, then logically we only saw there was a problem after the recession started affecting us directly. This recession is not really a great time to start a new business though. I think that the smaller businesses are suffering the most in this economy. The big corporate branches may be experiencing lay offs left and right but they will still survive as a company in the end. A small business has less of a probability to survive and thrive through tough times. The recession is a serious problem but I agree there are certainly perks that no one really expected!
ReplyDeleteI think that he is right and wrong at the same time; it mostly depends where you are in life. If you are young person with a job you are extatic, the cost to buy homes, cars, and stock will hopefully not be this low for a long time. For these people in the long run they will be well off. However, if you are in your fifties and getting ready to retire you may be struggling, you don't have the time for your stock to go up. They should be cashing in now but they can't for their assets wouldn't last them. My grandparents where lucky, they retired a couple months before the stock started coming down. Many families aren't so lucky. He also talks about how companies aren't producing much, in the long run this will be good because companies will find new inovation to improve their business but for now it is hurting everyday families. The companies cannot produce as much as a few years ago so they have to lay off workers who then cannot buy products which affect other companies so they have to lay off workers in return. It is all one big cycle. This obviously is bad for Ameriica. During these times however we are more lickely to see innovation and new discoveries which will hopefully bring us out of the recession with new knowledge. That's all we really can hope for; to learn our lesson and never forget that we are the ones who got us in this situation. As a nation we must have more common sense and to pick and choose who and what we give our money too. If we learn from our mistakes and if we do not repeat them then I say the recession is a posotive lesson, if we don't then it is a negative. It is too earlly to tell however, we will just have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the author about how the recession was like a gigantic wake up call for millions of Americans that how they have been going about spending money over the past decade was horrible. Not since the Great Depression have Americans realized that they have spent too much money on wants such as TVs and cars over necessities such as food and medical bills. This can only aid the county by showing them that they really do need to reconsider their financial situations and prepare for any potential economic disaster that could happen soon in the future. And this also brings down the American idea of “hope” and “prosperity” down a few notches like the article stated as well. For as long as I can remember during my lifetime, I have not once since any real form of hope or prosperity within my homeland. I think that back during the 40s right as WWII ended that Americans felt they had the greatest country in the world and that arrogant feeling followed them somehow all the way into the 21st century. People need to realize that there is more to life than living in such a “great” country. They need to focus on their own lives and their own families rather than the country as a whole and this wakeup call should do just that. I don’t agree, however, with the fact that people should start brining businesses into the market during this recession. While I did just argue that people need to focus on their families more, they should also focus on their neighbors as well. If someone creates a business and starts to gain revenue, they are taking away profit from another business that could use that money to help pay their own bills during this difficult time. If enough people start doing this, many more small businesses will go bankrupt and the whole process will start over again.
ReplyDeleteyes i guess you could look at the recession as a good thing, but did anyone ever think that 20 reasons could be good enough for the loss of millions of jobs. yes, for the people that are still employed the recession was a great thing, all prices dropped, more things became affordable, and a prime time to start investing. but for that guy who just lost his job and has a family to support the recession is a nightmare come true. for that average american who still has a job the standard of living has not changed much because now that people know that they could be on the chopping block next they have an incentive you buy things that are necessities rather than going out and buying something with zero utility. yes, they may not be spending as much money but the standard of living has not changed because of prices dropping. the person who just lost his/her job at the beginning of the recession is having a really hard time supporting themselves or a family because along with no current flow of income they have chances of slim to none of getting a loan to live off of because the banks cannot give out as many loans as they used to. so yes i supposed the strong will survive and the weak will die off but were not talking about the progression of man were talking about peoples lives here, its no science lesson here, its a life lesson. the recession was really bad for people who lost jobs, but for those who kept their incomes and could still make money, not a bad deal at all for them. and im not at all saying the going green movement is a bad thing in the slightest it is actually a great progression towards america becoming independent, and a move towards showing the world that we arent actually a bunch of really fat people with even fatter wallets (as some countries depict us). but back to the good and bad, you have to take good with the bad and see what you can do with it, and this recession finally gave america the reality check we needed.
ReplyDelete"20 Reasons Why I Love the Recession", made a lot of valid and logical points. This recession can be used as a learning experience to avoid disaster in the future. After going through this hard time, people will start making more intelligent decisions and start thinking with their brains instead of their wallets and because of this people are saving a lot more money because they are treasuring their money. Matt made a lot of points how the recession will help us in the future, however I am not so sure that the positives outweigh the negatives. Millions of hardworking Americans are unemployed and are struggling to put food on the table and to stay in their homes. Retirement pensions are taking a beating and people who wanted to retire now have to work longer then they had planned for. The recession has brought the quality of life down and a lot of families are going through hardship. A lot of families are barely keeping their heads above water because of this recession. Matt made a good statement saying that sometimes people need to fall flat on their face in order to get back up and maybe, just maybe, our society will benefit from this recession.
ReplyDeleteI agree when the author mentions that people do not realize what they have until it is gone. This economic crisis has really proven that, as the author mentions, people can no longer splurge on themselves and others. Since people really have to watch their wallets they must not only think where there next paycheck will go but how it will affect them in the long run. I also agree that the whole “Go Green” trend can be thrown away because if you really do not love the environment enough then you should not claim to be an activist for the environment. I really like how the author mentioned that the finer things in life people more important. Instead of constantly eating out or not eating with family people are now forced to sit down as a family and have a nice homemade dinner. For my family this is not much of a change but instead of going out every week or so we just eat leftovers. Although I do agree with most things the author has to say, I disagree that the smaller businesses should be left to die off. I think that there should always be a small business shop around the corner and if those are gone then everything will pretty much turn into a monopolistic competition.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and it was very interesting. I always thought that this recession only consisted of negative things and never realized these positive attributes that it had to offer. I completely agree with the fact that it is a huge “wake up call” and that people are actually starting to think with their brain instead of wallets. Before, a majority of the people had pretty good lives money wise and there weren’t too much to worry about. As nice as that sounds, if that had continued, we would’ve become a pretty selfish population of people. Now with this recession, those people are facing some harsh reality and are starting to realize that everyone has to work together in order to work things out. The wake up call lead to much more people making smarter decisions, and as listed in the top reasons, we became more aware of “going green”. This is crucially important in our lives right now because of the horrible condition the nature is facing. If all the money runs out and nature dies with it, what will become of us? Nothing. Humans will all die out too. So this was a good time to realize what we need to focus on besides money.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do have to disagree with though, is that fact that even with these positive reasons, the recession is not something to be happy about, as this guy makes it seem like. Yes, in the long run, there probably will be some good results but we have to continue on working towards overcoming this obstacle instead of staying in it.
In the long term, I don’t think a recession can be good or bad. Recessions have to happen for there to be expansion. You cannot have good without bad. The national saving will increase while consumer credit decreases causing companies to need fewer workers. But in time we will develop an even stronger economy and businesses will start hiring more workers. Basically I agree with Rebecca Haug in saying “It’s not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, [economic recession] just has to happen.”
ReplyDeleteYes, Matt made a good point, that the recession should be a learning experience for the United States and that people might stop using credit that they don’t have. But I don’t think that would be the case. This country is hard pressed to learn value; we didn’t in the 30’s, and we won’t now. He even says for an average American citizen “there is an incentive to buy almost everything.” I mean as Americans we can never have enough.
Have you ever wanted something you couldn’t have? I mean why save for weeks, months maybe even years when you could buy it today on credit. In the heat of the moment we’ve all had these thoughts, and as humans we will probably always think these ways. So in the long term recession is something that has to happen and will always happen.
But if we talk about the recession in the short term I think the recession is obviously bad. Most people have been hit by the recession, and although most of those people have been “living beyond their means”; I still think that all those people don’t deserve their lighter paychecks. I know I’m being generous to those who didn’t save up, but I generally feel bad for everyone hit by the recession. For the most part I disagree with the author in that it won’t be a learning experience, we will never learn. And I basically can’t see anything really good about for those who have lost everything from it.
For the most part I totally agree with everything that the offer said, but since we have to say one thing that we disagree with I will just get that out of the way now. I disagree with the fact that he said that people are being smarter about their money. Because though people are unsure if they will have their wealth in the future they see that when things go bad the government is here to bail us out, so that part may not be true. But for everything else I totally agree with the author, most of the time when things seems to be going good there is something going bad and people need to acknowledge it. Wake up calls are a very powerful thing, if it weren’t for this recession our generation would make a lot of the same mistakes that the previous one did, but for us seeing that our parents and the adults of our childhood went out, did these certain things and sent the economy into a black hole we will realize that we can make better decisions than they did. And starting from the ground is usually better, because when you have no where to go but up you go up really fast. And another good and valid point that he made was that breaking things down to the basics is important, if people don’t acknowledge the good basic things that they have they cant truly enjoy, people get going so quick and flying through life and sometimes when you slow down and look around you realize you don’t want to go through life so quick, but that it is nice to slow down, count the blessings of your family and friends and simple things in life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of what the author has to say and i like that he mentions that this recession has been a big wake up call for eveyone because of the careless spending done in the last ten years. However, because of all the job losses I think that it was more of a slap in the face. This is somewhat of a positive thing because it will force people to only buy the basics and not over spend, but a recession is also a bad thing because businesses that sell more "usless" products will suffer and that only leaves more people without jobs. I like that he said that less people are requesting loans, and I think that is necessary inorder to get the banks back on track. If they only give out loans that are highly likely to be paid off then they can prosper and continue to work efficiently. I didnt like what he said about vulture investing because if people can find these incredible bargins (like at a garage sale) then that just means someother person was suffering and couldnt sell at another price so they had to drop inorder to sell at all.
ReplyDeleteI strongly disagree with this article. However, I can see how the points in this article are all valid. America is beginning to realize (at least I hope) that we can’t just throw away money on useless things and instead need to be preparing safeguards for the future. Calling it “a wakeup call” makes sound as if everyone who is suffering through the recession is irresponsible and reckless. Some struggle through life even when the economy is at a high. How are these people suppose to survive through a recession? And furthermore, is it their fault that they were unable to put away savings? Feeding their children, paying heating bills and keeping their house is a bigger priority for them. When a recession hits it’s not “a wakeup call” for them. I think it’s very insensitive of “Matt” (who sounds more like a spoiled 12 year old typing away at his fancy computer) to be generalizing such a complicated mess such as a recession. He even has a “Purely Selfish Reasons Why I Love this Recession” section. He obviously doesn’t care for anyone but himself and his own gain. He doesn’t seem to be affected negatively at all by the recession. How can “Matt”, standing on his high mountain, see how the people losing their jobs and unable to feed their families are going through at the bottom? This article is just a “the end justifies the means” idea. It is nothing but selfish and does nothing to help America as a whole. Even if a recession causes a stronger economy in the future, another recession is inevitable. Has the economy really “grown”? No, it’s just stuck the cycle that we have come to consider normal and okay. An economy can only be as good as the people that work inside it. And Matt doesn’t seem to be helping the economy at all.
ReplyDelete“20 Reasons Why I Love the Recession” made many valid points about the recession being a good thing. I do like the author’s optimism about the recession, but it is hard to think about something good coming out of such an economic drought. The article did impress me though; I always looked at the negative side of our recession and never really gave the good side of it any thought. One part of this article I really liked was that this recession is a HUGE wake up call for everyone. People had been spending money they did not have, banks were giving these people loans, and it was all just getting out of hand. Maybe the recession will allow banks to realize what they had done and they should re-think who they give their loans out to. Another section I liked was the 5 reasons for everyday folks to love the recession. This section really related to me and my family, and it made valid points. Everyday necessities have gone down in price, and that has helped normal people make the most out of their dollar, which is a very good thing to value. That brings up a good point, people are finally starting to realize what they are doing when buying that $500 Louis Vuitton purse, instead of several weeks of groceries. People need to go back to the simple things in life that made their life great, not certain luxuries. I am not saying I am like this, but this article made me think about what I can do to better my life from an economic standpoint.
ReplyDeleteThe article definitely makes both good and bad points, but overall I think it’s true. A recession is ultimately a natural part of economics. Of course in the moment it isn’t fun, but so far America has been able to come out of every recession better than before, even when in the worst conditions possible in the 30’s. I really like how he mentions that it makes people cherish the truly important things like family. There are many things our society forgets when things are going good, and when times are tough it can strengthen the bonds within a family. Instead of going out and spending 60 bucks watching a new movie, maybe it would be more fun for the family to stay at home and rent a movie. The one point the article makes that doesn’t make sense to me is the thought that it ruins the American message of hope. There’s always someone who has to turn things around, and a recessions inspires many to be that one. Again, in the short term there may be a lack of resources, but in the long term, people will save up to live out their dreams. The hopes are still there, they just might take more work to achieve. In the end I must repeat that recessions are just a part of life. You can’t really love them or hate them, you just have to deal with them. The costs of a recession (inflation, public angst) only will hurt if it gets to the point where a society will collapse (French Revolution, German Socialism), but I honestly don’t believe we are in that type of situation now. The country is not self-imploding to an end, so if this guys wants to embrace the situation, that’s his prerogative.
ReplyDeleteI agree with just about all that he is saying in this article. I think he knows as well as everyone else that the economy obviously has many negativities, but I love the optimistic view he has about the subject. I like his points about big corporations "going green" to cut costs; not only does it shut up the crazy environmentalists for once, but it also sets a new standard for how things should be run in the future. This hopefully will pay off in the long run because of it. His point about people saving much more money, as well I think will also help to pay off in the long run. Another thing I like, and have definitely noticed, was the fact that gas prices along with other prices of material goods have gone way down. Bargains are everywhere, and who can complain about that? I love all these points because I am also an optimist and it help to know that there really are some positives coming out of this tragic situation we are in as a nation. One part I do not agree with is his point about hope. I agree with Jackson White, people will still have hope no matter what, it does not just go away. I know that in my household our hope has increased ever since my father had lost his job. Having no hope is a sign of giving up and i do not think our nation is anywhere near that point.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea of the recession being a wake-up call for America, but I do not see how people saving is a good thing. This will not help the economy, and so it is not good and it will keep us in the recession due to the lack of spending. I agree that, at least for those who survive the recession unscathed, that sales and deals are all over the place. People that still have to money to buy things have seen a decrease in price due to the increase in rebates and coupons and such. This is because the consumers need to spend more, because they are too uncertain about future income, that they choose to save over spend. I also agree with the idea that this recession will cause innovators to develop better ways to do things. People need certain products, but cannot afford them, but if somebody were to invent a way to decrease the cost to make it, then the price would go down. In the long run, this economy could help America in the sense that it will increase technology. Another idea I agree with is that poeple are now being for environmental, because the cost is lower. I think that some people will benefit from the recession due to the lower prices, but the whole of America will suffer because of the lack of spending. Companies will lose their income, and by not spending, consumers are cutting into the income of thousands of people, kinda of like the multiplier effect, but in reverse. Banks do not have good business either. The article states that the fact that banks are refusing to give loans to people with low credit is a good thing, but in reality, it is bad for the economy. Banks only give loans to the people with high and average credit, so they will all be able to pay them back, but that is a limited market. Add in the fact that consumers are saving more, and taking out less loans, and the banks give out less loans and more interest. This is not a good situation and the economy must turn around. In some respects, and for some people, the recession can be viewed as a positive, but the only positive I see is that it cannot get much worse and seems to be getting better.
ReplyDeleteI am on the fence about this article being for it or against it but being that I am an optimistic person I am leaning more towards being for it. The one thing that bothered me the most was that he said that a lot of people are using there money wisely and saving it. Technically according to the 209 report yes people are saving but there are still so many people out there who could really care less about their money and only seem to be caring about themselves. He did however bring a lot of good into the recession more than I thought there was. The recession definitely was a wake up call and definitely made everybody wake up and think about what they were doing. As I said before some people are being smart with their money and being that fact that everything is a lot cheaper is definitely a plus. It makes a lot of people think a lot more on what they are spending and if what they are spending is worth what they are getting. In the long run it is very good because people will have more money but I think that as of now it is good and bad. good because what I had said beforoe people are thikingmore but bad because the recession is putting a lot of stress on people because they don't have the money anymore to pay bills on time and if you have a kid going to college and you need a loan the odds of actually getting it are very slim.
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