How bad is the current crisis?
While the media keeps reminding us of the bad news--which is one of its jobs--I keep reading stories that try to put our current economic woes into perspective. Here is a paragraph from an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal ("Where's the Outrage? Really. By Arthur C. Brooks.)
In some countries, a depressed economic climate means mass unemployment, political instability and large-scale deprivation. In America this decade, we have reached the point at which even in a down economy, our unemployment rate does not reach 6% (lower than the rates in Canada and the European Union, let alone those in the developing world). Any unwanted unemployment is terrible; but it is worth remembering that this stability especially benefits the economically vulnerable.Furthermore, no matter what the state of our economy, we can realistically count on uninterrupted provision of critical public services, high business start-up rates, the world's highest levels of charitable giving and volunteering, and countless other benefits that come from living in a successful nation.
We may well be unsatisfied with the current state of affairs. Some Americans are suffering, and cannot be faulted for seeking substantial political change in the coming election. But most of us are reasonable people, and can see the difference between correctable problems within a strong system of democratic capitalism and the kind of catastrophic failure that justifies real outrage.
This reality should be a part of all our conversations about the current economic crisis--which is a crisis in some ways, and in some ways not.
Posted by Mark Galli on July 31, 2008 12:09PM
Comments
It is hard when you are the one with the lost job to take a larger view. However, I agree that many of the "worriers" have stable jobs, sufficient income, etc.
In a similar way, one of the greatest rises out of poverty in world history is occurring in China and India. While there are certainly issues about those governments, human rights, and the environment, I am tired of Christians complaining about the Chinese or Indians "stealing their jobs". The reality is that in most part of the country there are other jobs that people can have. While in China and India, people are working incredibly hard to pull themselves and their families out of poverty.
My point is that economics is not, generally, a zero sum game. While the US should be encouraging education, infrastructure and research into new technologies, we should also be encouraging partnerships with developing countries that actually empower and encourage local ownership.
I actually heard one family member complain about another family member because he was going to China to help teach about how to safely run a nuclear power plant. The first family member thought that it was inappropriate to teach the Chinese about technology because if we do "they will take over everything and we will be left with nothing." These are both educated Christian leaders.
Posted by: Adam S at July 31, 2008
As they say, "It's a recession when your neighbor is out of work. It's a depression when you are."
Posted by: rob at July 31, 2008
There are some scary things going on in Wall Street and some individual firms are under significant strain. The good news is that we have multiple safety nets and we haven't fallen through all of them... yet. All of the strained firms have options. So we are robust, but definitely not invincible.
One interesting trend: a lot of troubled Wall Street firms are getting "bailed out" by large investments, but those investments are frequently coming from foreign firms not other Wall Street firms. So we are not self-sufficient in this regard.
Posted by: Joel at August 19, 2008
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