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Troubled Times
October is Halloween, a month full of spooks and scares. This year it isn’t the ghosts and goblins that have me worried, it is the financial crisis. I don’t want to read the news to find out another bank has disappeared. I don’t want to read about foreclosure auctions and know another family has lost their home. I certainly don’t want to read my brokerage statements to see my balances limbo lower even though I haven’t sold a single share.
It is definitely troubled times for our economy. Wachovia, one of our North Carolina corporate heroes, went for pennies on the dollar. Unemployment claims are at a seven year high. Experts claim this is the worst economic situation since the Great Depression.
I know that in the long term, the economy will turn around. It always does. We are currently in a low part of the perpetual economic cycle: expansion, prosperity, contraction, recession, and then back to expansion. However, knowing that expansion will return in the long term does not allay my concerns in the short term.
Could this be the start of another depression? If things get really bad, what does it mean for my family? From what I hear from the media, these are real concerns. As a mother, I must consider it all. We live within our means, but so did most of the families in the 1930s. It scares me to imagine my kids struggling the way my grandparents did during the Great Depression.
When my worries carry me too far, I try to quiet them. I know that I enjoy many more financial safety nets than prior generations. I am protected with FDIC insurance and guarantees on my insurance policies. If times become really difficult, the government is there to help with programs like food stamps and Medicaid. Congressional bailout aside, I know that we are in much better shape than the families during the Great Depression.
I have no idea when this crisis will end. As an individual, I have tightened up the purse strings. I am making sure a rainy day fund is ready. As a parent, I still want to give my girls everything they want. However, I am using a bit of restraint. Instead, I am teaching them the difference between needs and wants. I am teaching them about the value of a dollar. If Sarah and Jaley learn these lessons, they will be wiser than most of the banks on Wall Street.
Gigi appears Fridays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Gigi on her blog Stroller Lane.
Gigi Harrell
Gigi is a TriangleMom2Mom featured blogger, appearing every Friday.
She's a mom of two daughters, ages 4 and 1½. Gigi’s path to a career in writing took the scenic route. She graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Industrial Engineering and a husband-to-be. After a few years of work and lots of play in California, they returned to their roots in the South. They landed in North Carolina where she graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with an MBA. She worked in marketing for a large multinational company, but career priorities changed with the arrival of her girls. She stepped off the corporate track to start her own business. She now works full-time as a mom and part-time running her business and writing freelance. Gigi lives in Cary with her husband and two daughters balancing the havoc and harmony of everyday life.
Comments
For the most part I agree with your article.
But the fall out of these bad mortgages then there within the banks all stems back to the government.
The government was the one who made the banks comply with new regulation that certain % of loans were made on ALL demographics whether or not the could afford it. It was under the impression that everyone no matter who they were should be able to get into a house.
The bankers complied with the regulation ( yes some were over zealous) but for the most part this was the letter of the law.
I am VERY tired of people thinking that this is WALL STREET's mess and that any kind of bail out is for Wall Street. I wish that they would stop and think about how far reaching it goes. I cannot think of a single business, person or foundation that this would not effect.
In a time where every celebrity is screaming to "vote", I say that a better strategy to promote "educate yourself".