So, our generation is basically screwed in terms of financing our college education, obtaining a good-paying job- let alone any job- after graduation, and purchasing a home, according to not only my law professor but a panel of four USF economics and business professors at a panel discussion yesterday on the current tumultuous state of the US economy. My environmental law professor practically told our class to rethink our goals of becoming environmental lawyers because protecting the environment… I mean, who has the money to protect the environment when the federal government is in over $900 billion dollars ($700 billion bailout and an annual debt of $300 to $400 billion)?
These quotes from the panel disturbed me for the rest of the day:
*“We will be in a recession that will be bad and prolonged. If the bill does not
pass on Thursday, we will be in a very bad recession and it will be very
prolonged.”
*“Our economy depends on the extension of credit. If the credit markets freeze up,
we can be in a depression by Christmas.”
*“International lending and trading is affected because of the lack of trust lenders
have in the US… it needs to be unclogged.”
*“The unemployment rate will increase and the economy will worsen.”
*“We put more money in the housing market (in the past 6 years) than we should have
and there is no more new money available. There was a lack of regulation and
more liberalization towards the buying of houses people could not afford.”
To be honest, it is difficult to fully grasp the complexity and severity of this $700billion dollar catastrophe because it does not directly affect me. I do not have any student loans; I do not use any credit cards; I do not currently have a retirement plan; I do not have any real estate; and I do not have any securities like stocks. However, having my professor tell me he is glad he is nearing retirement and feels sympathy for our generation for the next few decades, puts things in perspective for me.
One question I have concerning this, as it being my beat, is how this current state of the economy will affect the financing of sending more troops to Afghanistan, continuing rebuilding and restructuring in Iraq, and a possible surge in Pakistan. If taken out of context, I agree with Iranian president Ahmadinejad when he denounced the United States last week saying the US is “an empire reaching the end of the road.”
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1 comment:
Excellent post, as you move from the personal effectively described in a colloquial way to details from the panel (wish the basic reporting class had listened as closely) to your beat and to the global perspective: Maybe we finally are going down. But there's always a paradox in reading such comments. When they are focused and well done, *that very fact cheers you up.* Hope for the future, you know?? So, good job.
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