The Road to Recovery

          When I was eight years old, I nearly drowned at a pool party. I thought that I could swim, and I did not realize that the water was so deep. I ended up at the hospital. I did not get badly injured, and only stayed at the hospital for part of a day, but for years after that accident I had great fear around deep water. The accident affected my behavior, even in situations where I knew that I had plenty of people around to keep me safe. Even today, years after the accident, although I do not fear swimming in pools anymore, I am still not comfortable in them. The fear remains. Recently, everyone had this same experience with the economy. We did not know what we were getting ourselves into, and we almost drowned because of this. Today, we remain bogged down in economic difficulties. Recovery refuses to come easily, and part of our troubles stem from psychological issues. We do not know what will happen next, and that frightens us.
          Technically, we may not be experiencing a depression, but we are depressed. According to the IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index,consumer gloom in July reached its highest level since the recession was at its worst, amid fears that the expansion remains too weak to create many jobs (Stoddard 1). Every day brings another round of news about the current financial climate, and the normally optimistic American spirit keeps sinking lower into a pit of pessimism. Unless we figure out a way to get out of that pit, the economy will never completely recover. 

Photo by Dorothea Lange from the Library of Congress

          In this economy, I keep seeing a case of history repeating itself. Optimism and rapid economic growth dominated the 1920s. So much so that this time period gained the nickname of “The Roaring Twenties.” The economy seemed like it would just keep going up and up forever. But then in 1929 it all came crashing down into a depression. In recent years, we experienced this same rapid expansion and contraction. Whenever the economy contracts so suddenly, we experience a rise in depressed behavior. “During the Great Depression in the United States, suicide rates hit a 99-year high (of 17 per 100,000 people)” (Elmhirst 26). When the recession began, suicides went up again. In the time between 2007 and 2008, calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline increased by 36 per cent (Elmhirst 27). It is almost scary how close the parallels are between the present and the Great Depression. Unless we want our economy to remain awful for a decade, similar to the Great Depression, we need to get our act together.
          From what I have observed, a vicious cycle surrounds our economy: people either fearing for their jobs or unemployed decide to save more and spend less money. Because less people spend money, companies do not want to hire, and may lay off employees. These former employees then spend less money than they used to. So the economic carousel goes around and around again.
          I am not saying that consumers should start spending willy-nilly and that businesses should go out and hire as many people as possible. That course of action would not help, and in fact might make the economic situation even worse. But just because we are in a shaky economy does not mean that we should stay out of the pool for fear of drowning. If we can keep calm, then we need not worry about the future. According to the Business Cycle Dating Committee from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession ended and recovery began in June 2009. The Committee based this statement on the fact that several economic activity indicators have gone up, including the real Gross Domestic Product (real GDP) and real Gross Domestic Income (GDI) (Business Cycle Dating Committee).
          This information does not mean we have returned to normal. We still have a long way to go, and unemployment remains high. The economy will not heal overnight, not after the traumatic experience we have just endured. But we cannot heal if we do not at least test the water and wade in. We will not forget what happened to us, just as I will not forget nearly drowning. But the committee’s report at least gives us hope that we are making forward movement. We must work together, work past our fears, work onward and upward toward new hope and prosperity. Only then will we break this vicious cycle. Finally, let me leave you with this quote from President Franklin Roosevelt, who knew well that in a difficult economy, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself---nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance” (Roosevelt 508).