Doing Nothing is Not an Option...Why Not?

"Doing nothing is not an option!"- President Barack Obama

Why is this dismissed so easily? Doing nothing is exactly what will lead us out of this crisis the most effectively and efficiently. Will it be painful? Yes. Could we see unemployment get to 10% or more? Yes. Could we see the stock markets tumble below 6500? Yes but chances are we are going to see these things anyway- stimulus or no stimulus. It is just a colossal waste of money given to and arranged by the people who got us here in the first place. Let these banks fail, let these markets fall. Only when we have reached a true bottom can we begin a recovery. These measures will just prolong the slide into a possible depression. The sooner we get to the bottom, the sooner we can get back to building it up. We should reverse our thinking to hastening the bottom as opposed to trying to get back to growth. Let the bottom come then let the spending begin where it will be the most effective. How will we know the bottom? We won’t be able to pick it clean but we will be able to get reasonably close to it and begin our renewed assent. But trying to stop the ship from sinking is only going to prolong the pain. The ship has sunk; it just hasn’t hit the bottom of the ocean yet.

Either give the economy and the people a boost with a 2-3 trillion dollar package or do nothing. Lessons are learned when pain is felt and what the country needs is lessons learned not passing grades for mediocre work. This middle of the road measure of 800 billion is just a stopgap that will be swallowed up in the maw of our deepening recession. This is the truth and it does not take an economist, a banker or a politician to see this. It’s common sense which seems to be in the shortest supply of any commodity these days. If I could trade common sense like soy beans or oil I would short it like no tomorrow…literally.