Buck Up America: It is Time to Stop Blaming and Start Recovering

The economy is deteriorating and there is plenty of blame to go around. Enough blame to keep the economists, sociologist, and anthropologists teaching about the early years of the 21^st century for decades to come. The stock market is down 2,000 points. The government is bailing out companies left and right to the tune of billions of dollars. In some areas, such as Cleveland, home prices have dropped as much as 75%. Pension plans are going bankrupt. Fuel and grocery prices have increased dramatically. The dollar is worth only slightly more than the price of a paperclip. That is just the beginning of America's woes.

We have been there, done that, and have the battle wounds to prove it. This is not the first recession this country has been through (although it may be the first that many young Americans have experienced) and it certainly will not be the last.

In the early 1980's I remember a time when my Dad was laid off, my Mom took a minimum wage job, we received Government cheese, and we ate whatever was on sale that week (until it was completely gone, no matter how many days in a row it was). We did not eat out. We were not entitled to entertainment beyond what was given to us by library books. We went for hikes in the park on Sundays. We turned off the lights and television and played games by candlelight.

Americans are resilient. Throw a hurricane at us and we respond with water, food, blankets, money, and shelter. Throw a rough economy at us and we work harder, spend more time with our families, cut back to save money, and donate more to help others who are worse off than we are.

Americans rebuild after a hurricane. We do not crawl into the fetal position and suck our thumbs in the corner. It is now time to rebuild after a financial crisis. We need to rebuild from the ground up. Band-aids, such as bail outs and interest rate cuts are not going to work. Americans coming together to help each other, supporting locally owned businesses, and buckling down on wastefulness, will help.