The economy is probably worse than you think...

This is a column I wrote for the Citizen of East Alabama: It ran the week of April 19.

The economy is probably worse than you think

By Skip Hansberger

I thought this was supposed to be a capitalist/market economy, in which you either succeed or fail? Stupid me.

How can the government honestly justify giving bailouts to some of these companies? I could understand "bailing out" the individuals who work(ed) for these companies, who stand to lose their retirement options, etc. But giving the companies money with no real strings attached and expecting them to do the right thing is asinine. And what about the mom and pop stores that are failing? They don't get bailouts. But then again, the government doesn't have money invested in THEM... Ridiculous if you ask me.

The banks are one thing - as far as freeing up credit and loans - but come on, be reasonable (and responsible)!

All these bailouts are doing is sending inflation through the roof! Mark my words, inflation is going to be the biggest problem facing this country in the near future. You can't just keep making dollar bills to throw at (our?) problems.

It's basic economics - supply (effectively equal to the national debt) goes up and value or worth (demand) goes down. The single dollar will soon be worth, what, $.50?? That’s how much money the government has literally created to pump into the economy.

I think if the government honestly wants to help the economy and the future of the country it needs to pump money into education (since it seems hell-bent on pumping OUR money into something).

Also, most people think our jobs are all going overseas. But that's not true. The jobs are still here; they're just different. Technology is on the rise and we, in this country, have done a poor job, as a whole, teaching people how to work those jobs. So immigrants are coming in and doing the things Americans don't yet know how to do (like IT and tech support, etc.).

Jobs are not going overseas; overseas are coming to our jobs.

More of our schools' curriculums need to be expanded to account for this shift in the importance of technology so that the next generation will be ready. Then we (America) can again compete in OUR job market and unemployment will not be such an issue.

People don't seem to understand that there is no quick fix for the problems we are experiencing. Only with time and well thought out and properly invested money will things get better.

Right now, we are being robbed.

I am likely going to have to retire much later in life than the previous generation and even later than the one before that. At least, that is if I am going to rely on Social Security, which will probably not even exist in 30 or 40 years.

So the generation after me, what are they going to do?? Many people in this country are largely ignorant - blissfully ignorant. And most of those who aren’t ignorant are simply shortsighted. Unfortunately, some of them are ruining – I mean, running – our country. And that's a problem that is immeasurable.