LIBERTARIANplace

Economy
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It's the Psychology Stupid (cont'd)


For every problem we are whining ourselves hoarse over nowadays there must be a hundred decent solutions, some inside the box, some (probably the better ones) outside the box. For every pink slip there are at least ten options for starting a business. For every shortage there is a complimentary surplus.  For every dead end job there are ten more business ideas. For everyone lacking health insurance there are at least three solutions to the health care "crisis." Our crises are of our own creation. One part neglect. One part excess. Two parts a deficit of initiative.

When it gets dark there are those who shudder in fear, those who barrel on forward, blind off the edge of a cliff, those who freeze, stand impotent, bemoaning the shortage of light, those who go shopping for flashlights and  those who light a fire with whatever kindling can be quickly collected.

You know which ones are the True Americans. We know how to light fires, make sparks, shine light on the situation. We don't whine, we adapt, we invent, we defy the danger in search of  the opportunity. We fight for our freedom, dream for our children, refuse to accept defeat. We take responsibility for our own problems and take the credit for our victories. In the end there is only victory because we have learned over and over since 1776 that we are a people who create reality by declaring it. We declared independence. We declared our liberty. We declared our prosperity.

And yes, sometimes we've gone too far, declaring War. War is war, by the way. The War on Poverty.The War on Drugs.The War on Terror. War is war. It is the one declaration that is un-American to declare, when you think about it. It is the one declaration that ends with people dying needlessly, with carnage,with lose/lose. OK, you say, I get that when it's literal war but what about the others?

What about the others? Who died form the War on Poverty? Generations died on Welfare, clinging to the floating donut but unable to climb up on the ship.

Who died from the War on Drugs? Who Died? Innocent children caught in the crossfire of warring gangs, the dreams of dependents of people rotting in Federal prison on the taxpayer's dime for nothing but drug offenses. Who died from the War on Terror? How about Lady Liberty? The American Way. The rights of any American audacious enough to expect that privacy i this nation is sacrosanct, that one should be able to hop on a plane without being strip searched.

Who's alive and well? The terrorists. They got the America they fought for. Crippled by fear, boiling with rage, whining like toddlers because something doesn't go right. How did we become so helpless? So shameless?

So lets get over it. The price of gas or Gouda is what it is. We aren't going to die from our gasoline bill or our grocery bill. Mortgage rates are not fatal, or foreclosure notices. We'll die from negativity, impotence, from waiting for Godot, the Ice Man, the Man. We'll die from giving up. FDR was right about one thing at least. Fear is the only thing that can kill us. Fear is something we allow to consume us or something we can choose to defy. When conventional wisdom no longer works, it's time to get unconventional. When the mold no longer works, break it. When the dollar tanks and the price of oil goes through the roof, start burning your money and investing your gas. We're Americans! We have an answer for everything.We just haven't found them all yet.

But remember, it's about your individual liberty. It's about being your own Man or Woman. It's about taking responsibility for your own wellbeing. The Government isn't going to save us. The Government has created these problems by subsidizing certain types of energy and not others, by manipulating markets, unevenly regulating commerce, picking winners and losers rather than letting the markets work, always tinkering with the economy, by corruption, incompetence and inefficiency.

The government will deceive you into thinking It is the Man, and will keep you in the rat race, throwing you an occasional crumb, until you figure it out. Then you become the enemy. They they have to kill you. Unless you get them first.

This is America, not Zimbabwe. The political opposition isn't killed here in any literal sense, just metaphorically. But if they get you, you're just as dead in any real sense. Unless you choose not to be.

It's all about choice. What kind of life do you choose? What opportunities will you take? Will you choose faith? Will you choose to act? Will you create? We have the life we want, the world we want, by beginning to live as if we have already achieved it. And before you know it, we have achieved it.

If we declare the recession to be over, it will be over. If we declare victory over the economy we will win. We need to fight this thing like the wars and crises referenced earlier in this article instead of laying down and waiting for our savior.

Bill Clinton's campaign director James Carville coined the phrase, "It's the economy, stupid!" and won an election. In our case, we need to realize that it's the psychology stupid. It's our sense of vulnerability, loss, hopelessness, helplessness that's defeating us. Even our anger at the greed and recklessness that "got us into this mess" is defeating us because we'd rather pass ex post facto taxes on a few execs at AIG to get even for what was "stolen" from us, than look forward to create new wealth.

Yet, the recession would end today if the ninety two percent of us who still have jobs would go out and start spending again, as if there is going to be a tomorrow. Stop whining. Start winning!


Note: We realize we did not fully address the issue of government regulation in this article. Please follow this link to a continuation of that discussion.