It’s true, the once well-oiled machine of the U.S. economy has missed more than a few tune-ups. And according to contributor Eric O. January, if it turns out to be a lemon, it’s our fault.
Somebody, blow the whistle. Call a time out, please. I’m tired of the same old news... business as usual regardless as to what party is in office. I want to discuss the one issue affecting us all, the economy, and how ordinary citizens can make a positive impact on it more than local, state, and national elected officials put together ever could. How can we make a difference? The economy is where you and I work, live, and spend our money.
We contribute to the economic insecurity in our country by buying goods and services provided from other regions of the world. That continues to shut down one cylinder of our five cylinder economy—manufacturing, retail, agriculture, services, and property. It is comparable to the horsepower and performance difference between a V-8 and a V-4 engine. Please understand that an economy without manufacturing is an economic activity negative that will affect everyone in the long term and is detrimentally affecting many now.
So, the question is what can we do instead? I can tell you what I do. When I earn money from helping clients generate investment income, I spend and invest a portion of those earnings in local businesses. When the owners of those businesses are confident that they are going to continue making money, they, in turn, do the same, and this cycle multiplied over and over again is what creates jobs and provides us opportunities to take care of ourselves.
Right now, too many adults can’t afford to take care of themselves, and even worse, some don’t have the opportunity to do so. This is an economic problem that we can and must address with our money at the only ballot boxes that really matter, the cash registers. Collectively voting with our dollars to put fairly-priced American goods on the shelves would add more manufacturing jobs to the country quicker than repealing NAFTA, providing tax rebates, lowering interest rates, or any other legislative action.
Likewise if we want to do something about the ever increasing divide between the haves and the have-nots, we must stop accepting the conventional financial “wisdom.” We’ve got to learn how to properly value investments. We must prevent businesses in which we own interests to award millions of bonus dollars to executives. This is money they’re getting for reducing expenses by laying off workers and then outsourcing those same jobs overseas. Legislative action to extend unemployment benefits or provide training to dislocated workers or increase taxation to give services to those who can’t find a job will not solve the problem. We have to.
If we don’t start doing simple things like this and don’t stop expecting elected officials to accomplish the impossible feat of correcting our wrong actions, the majority will have to forget about living out their traditional retirement dreams or paying for college expenses without significant debt or even leaving an inheritance to their children’s children. Higher taxes and insidious inflation will simply prevent those aspirations from manifesting. In order to accomplish our economic goals, regardless of party affiliation or class status, we need to do what we can to make sure that economy functions properly.
Maybe that’s just my opinion, but the economy is bad, and although we, as a whole, have contributed to it, we have the power to take a time out and play by another set of rules that work.
Eric O. January is an accountant and owner of Conduit Funding, Inc, and the author of a book series called Mo’Sense.