Economics are in the news every day now. The news had been bad, and negative speculation has been worse. I read about a long list of companies announcing layoffs today. Clearly, several markets were in need of a reset after hot growth and loose money. But don't stop buying everything!
I was talking with a group of people recently and everyone was looking for ways to cut all spending dramatically. I know lots of people who genuinely need to cut back and "restructure" personal budgets because of job loss or too much debt. I also know several of the people I was talking with have no current need to cut back extensively--they were doing so out of fear of potential future economic deterioration. Hold on! If everyone suddenly stops buying, doesn't that guarantee that things will get much worse?
I'm not an economist and I don't believe we need to grow GDP at huge rates to have a healthy economy. I believe there are genuine environmental and human rights benefits to consider what a purchase means rather than spend indiscriminately. But if you have the means to buy, please don't run for the hills and hide your money in a cave. I suppose panic is a natural consequence of a downturn, but the reinforcing loop of despair seems pretty obvious. We're in a downturn, why exacerbate it? I would prefer to live with measured confidence, not fear.
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