2024-10-19 MCB dance class
5 weeks ago
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Simon says.....
.....leave a comment. Bonus points if you are first or can manage to engage a commenter (whom you've never met) in a back and forth exchange.
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17 comments:
I'm first! What do I get with my bonus points? :)
Hmm, maybe I will have a prize. OK, best comment (with bonus criteria as explained before) gets a slightly defective Quiet Book. Oh, and my undying love and affection, of course.
Why is it that when gas prices are rising, we are all complaining? And yet we rejoice when they come down? (We are just over a dollar and a half here), and yet it really is signs of a bad economy. So what we really should be saying when we see those falling prices is: "Yea! The economy is doing even worse!" (I want you to know that I really do say that to my hubby!)
(Okay I have got to get a quiet book! Hailey drives me nuts in church!But now that is late and all the kids have gone to bed, I really have nothing intellectual to say, I just need sleep!GOodnight!)
Michelle, I'll bite. I think we rejoice because we buy gas on a regular basis. Some of the other more abstract things, like thousands of people losing jobs, don't seem as real on a day-to-day basis.
When gas prices go down, everyone's personal economy IS doing better. People have more money to spend on other things, it costs less to get food to your grocery store, it costs airlines less to fly you across the country, etc. It's like a tax cut or "economic stimulus" for everyone. Don't believe everything those naysayers tell you.
I should have said lower gas prices are good for everyone except OPEC. Does this count as the "back and forth" you mentioned? If so, Michelle wins the bonus points.
I realize that prices going down (deflation) is a good thing for me, and everyone else who can buy goods and services with cash, but not so good for everyone as a whole. I was reading in the paper about deflation. I am still trying to wrap my brain aroung this whole economics thing, but the article talked about how everything is on sale, and thats not a good thing. It is a vicious cycle where an economic bubble popped-->consumers buy less-->companies cut prices to attract business-->consumers buy less expecting the prices to go lower-->companies cannot make enough profit--> employess worried about their jobs accept lower pay/no raises-->the deflationary spiral starts over...I try not to let it keep my up at nights! But like Kathryn said those naysayers are telling us to worry! But I think that is where a lot of this problem stemmed from--worry!
I'm slightly sad about gas prices coming down - I love that the high gas prices made people (including me) think twice about driving and I love that nobody wants to buy an SUV anymore. But, I can't deny that it feels better in a totally selfish kind of way that I am paying less at the pump.
I keep thinking about the economy as a social dilemma (like the prisoner's dilemma - see http://pcp.vub.ac.be/prisdil.html). If I spend money and so does everyone else, the economy will go back up and I'll be OK, but I won't have as much extra as I would if everyone else spent their money and I saved mine. If I save money and so does everyone else, the economy will tank, but I'll have a little bit of a cushion. If I spend money and everyone else saves their money, the economy will tank and I'll have no savings to get me through it. Obviously, the solution that does the most good for everyone is if we all start spending again and get the economy back in shape, but since I can't count on everyone doing that, the best thing for me to do is to save. But, if everyone does that, it will be bad for us all. Perplexing, isn't it?
It is nice to pay less than $2 for a gallon of gas...but I'm keeping my eye on South America. If the Venezuelan government can't pay for its programs with oil money, there's going to be rioting at least, and civil war at worst.
All is not lost. People are still spending money.
From CNNMoney.com-
"The National Retail Federation (NRF), an industry trade group, said shoppers spent $41 billion in the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend. The average shopper spent $372.57, up 7.2% from the $347.55 spent last year.'
I do enjoy filling up our minivan now that gas costs less (OK, I never enjoy it, I feel it's more of a necessary evil, except it's bot quite necessary and for that I feel guilt [points for longest parenthetical statement?])
But, falling gas prices make me sad in the sense that fewer people and communities will see the good of investing in public transit and I worry we'll go back to our "build bigger roads" solution for all sorts of urban planning.
And then there's that Venezuela problem Libby mentioned...
It is a perplexing problem. I have never felt comfortable with the idea that we should all spend a lot of money to keep the economy afloat. I really don't have a lot of knowledge about economics, but it seems to me that an economy that requires us to spend more and more and use more and more and keep growing without regards to the environment or being responsible with our money is a bad thing. It's like a bubble waiting to burst and now maybe it's bursting. So prices go down, wages go down, but hey prices are down so we don't need as much, right? Crazy excess lending to people that can't afford it goes down. Maybe people stop buying so much junk that they really didn't need in the first place. It seems like our economy could use a little cutting back. Is that un-American or too simplistic of me?
Markie, I am somewhat familiar with what you were describing. In economics it is called "Game Theory" It is all about the way people interact and what is mutually benificial verses what is personally benificial. Although I would love to go out and spend a lot of money to get the ecomony out of this slum, I am not in the financial position to do so right now (with Dave in school we are some of the ones holding onto our money and counting our pennies!) But like Cathryn said all is not lost, we are all spending! Although we have very little coming in right now we are still spending about $1500. We all still need groceries, insurance, cars, houses, gas...the list goes on and on. I just don't think it will get as bad as those naysayers are saying....at least I pray it doesn't. (And yes, I do pray for our country.)What do other people think about how the country will do as a whole? Do you think throwing money at the problem will really fix it?
No, I don't really think that throwing money at the problem is going to solve it, but I do think that a big part of the problem is consumer (and investor) confidence (and I just love it when people talk about game theory - it makes me happy). On the other hand, I think Kathy hit it on the nose when she said we don't need to be so materialistic. I think that there are other ways to grow the economy - greater investment in research of alternative energy (and tech research in general), improvements in productivity, more of a service economy, a refocus on repairing and improving national infrastructure. Great thoughts all (so far, Michelle's winning for engaging 4 people she doesn't know (and 2 she does) in her discussion of the economic downturn - nice work!)
Actually, I feel uncomfortable with the gas prices being so low. I'm afraid people will just go back to our old gassy ways.
How is it you can get more comments just by asking for them than I get trying my hardest to post something really entertaining? No fair.
I'm too lazy to read through the comments before posting. I see that I have become redundant. I'm fired.
I think Markie is so right when you said that a big part of the problem is confidence! I think that worrying about the problem has caused the problem. (not all of it, I realize there are financial factors at play here) but look at what happened recently with the percieved rice shortage, everyone went bonkers and went out and bought rice like it was going out of style, like they wouldn't ever be able to get it any more, in turn stores ran out and then people saw the shelves were empty and so the cycle continued. I heard there really was not a shortage, demand just went up and although supply was constant, they ran out. I think a lot of this problem is what people percieve is happening.
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