In the words of Marvin the Martian, “There was supposed to be a big Earth shattering kaboom.”

Yesterday as the stock market was tanking, the cell networks became nearly unusable.    Apparently, people were freaking out and calling one another to tell family members to pull all of their money out of the banks.  Haha!!! and do what with it?  Nobody wants your dollars ;p.  Whatever, … As the world continues to exist despite the financial crisis, I think my damper has kicked in. I realized no matter the gyrations on Wall Street and the hystronics coming out of DC, the world hasn’t ended.  My credit card still works and stores still except cash.  Do I believe in market forces, yes.  I do believe that those companies that were mismanaged should go away and, for the most part, they have.  Do I believe market forces will get us out of this mess.  No.  I believe that we are going to go through hurt and it’s a matter of whether we suffer slowly with less pain or suffer quickly with a lot of pain.  Personally, I like to get things that are going to hurt but not going to kill me over with as quickly as possible, which is why I don’t believe in the “bailout.”

I know people are mad and want to point fingers at everyone but themselves.  Yes, the virtuous are condemning the damned.  But I think if we all go through the pain together, then perhaps some of us more virtuous people will be more vigilant such that we don’t have to experience this again in a few years.  We need to experience the consequences of our actions or we will never learn and the scamsters will get away with robbery and most likely rob us, again, of $700-billion.  Besides, this isn’t a problem we can throw money at.  What we need to throw money at are the things that can actually help the future like funding energy solutions, forwarding the Internet, rebuilding and updating our state and federal infrastructure, and being good world citizens.  Why throw good money after bad?  If short term loans to businesses are the problem, then government should make money available, if it exists in the government’s coffers.  If that money doesn’t exist, then it’s time to sell off assets and it’s time to stop spending money we don’t have on matters that are not returning on investment … I think these are the fundamentals of business, so get with reality and take the beating so we can move on.  The question, is what we will have to sell to make it right with those we borrowed from — what American goodies will foreign investors pick up for cheap?  Hopefully, we don’t owe the entire farm to China and various oil producing nations that don’t like us.  Hahaha!!!  The “terrorists” won without having to lift a finger … I, personally, won’t take this lying down.  I refuse to lose on this front.  But I wonder whether those government geniuses became too preoccupied with chasing down people with homemade bombs and rocks and missed the people with money and resources that have been twisting the knife in our back while smiling and selling us more smack to sate our addiction to oil and stuff.  The face of the enemy is not one of poverty … the way to fight this enemy is to cut off their supply of money by depriving them of a market and for the US to restore its image as the shining beacon of hope and freedom that the impoverished and the oppressed can aspire towards.  I have always believed that democracy is fought for by people who want to be free and not something handed over to people who have no idea what freedom is.

So what do we do?  My answer is retreat.  Yes, I know it’s risky to pull back, but you have to know when to retreat.  When nobody’s got your back and you still have enough life to get to a safe position, then it’s a good idea to do run ASAP to a safe position.  Don’t worry, the enemy will still be there waiting for the next round.  Sometimes retreat buys you time to regroup, rebuild, and re-strategize so you can return to the battle field and finish the war victoriously.   Any gamer can tell you that.

Sigh … so life goes on and it will continue to go on.  I think we Americans are resillient and creative and if allowed to succeed, we will.  I like to think of this as a big playing field leveler.  The trade surplusses will get balanced and production will come back to the US as we realize that we must have something to trade in order to trade (yes, that’s obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many people don’t actually get it as evidenced by the mess we are in).  I have faith that if we are under the right leadership coming out of this mess, the US will come back with a vengence.  We need future thinking people and not people nostalgic for past American greatness to lead us forward.  It will be up to Gen X and Millenials to take the reins and lead us out of this mess.  I wonder, though, how long we will have to wait in the wings for the previous generations to have enough confidence in us to step aside and let us do what we know how to do best — that is get along fine without our parents, build strong world-wide communities, and work collectively for the benefit of all.  The time of “me” is over.  It’s time for “we.”