HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY???

Every time I pick up a newspaper or turn on the television, all I hear or read is that the world is coming to an end. It’s all over. Never in our history have things been so bad. Why should we even consider going on? After all it is just a matter of time until it all comes crashing down.

I have a few thoughts on this subject. First, this is definitely a bad time, but it is not the worst time. In our history we experienced many times which would have made this look like a Sunday School picnic. Consider if you will when we decided to declare ourselves independent of Great Britain. They did not take too kindly to that thought. How about when the south and the north became mortal enemies and tried to eliminate each other? It was not a happy time. Then there was the time when the little Corporal from Germany decided he would be emperor of the world and we had to stop him and stop him we did. Of course 9-11 also took its toll. Many thought we would never be safe again. That was a very insecure time.

Financially, how about 1929? Now that was a depression. People jumped out of windows in high rises because they didn’t want to face a life of poverty. Others sold apples in the streets just to get by while still others stood in soup lines for any food at all. What we are seeing today pales by comparison.

So what’s going on? Why all the gloom and doom? Why are the media so intent on dragging out this down turn? Don’t they realize that the fear they are spreading only serves to make it even longer? They say their ad revenues are down. Tell me who would want to advertise their product if it all is going to end anyway? The headline writers are contributing to their own demise.

I figure that our current situation is about fifty percent financial correction and the other fifty percent unwarranted fear. It will run its course and be finished. The fear mongers can only make it worse by their tactics.

Buried near the bottom of a page on a financial site yesterday I found a report that most economists believe that this down turn will likely end in the third quarter and begin its upward climb. They further believe that 2010 will be a year of tremendous recovery. I have not read this in any newspaper nor have I heard about it on television. Apparently this kind of news doesn’t sell newspapers or bring about advertising revenue for television networks. My other thought is that perhaps newspapers and television are today’s buggy whips. It could be that they have used up their usefulness. On the one hand that would be sad for me because I enjoy the newspaper but at the same time I am pretty happy that I don’t have to hitch up horses every time I want to go anywhere. Life goes on.

So where is this all going? When will it end? Will it end?

What I offer you today is optimism, just optimism. I don’t have a bunch of initials after my name but I do have a few years behind me. This is a cycle and it will end. There is a bottom and we soon will reach it. The great companies of America are not all going to suddenly go out of business. Our three hundred plus millions of citizens still will have to be fed, clothed, housed, and transported. Our technology companies will find great new discoveries. Our medical communities will prosper and we will be better for it. New inventions are happening every day, possibly even new and better buggy whips.

It is important for all of us to consider the positive. Ignore the fear mongers. Spring is on the horizon and the fish will soon be biting. In a few short months, we will be laughing about this.

How’s that for optimism???

Ron Scarbro February 25, 2009