This is a rant - be warned. The following is why I no longer watch TV morning news shows. Sick of Hype.
The following article is from the U.S. Department of Treasury.
“The recovery that first built up steam in the early 1980s was not without its problems. Farmers, especially those operating small family farms, continued to face challenges in making a living, especially in 1986 and 1988, when the nation’s mid-section was hit by serious droughts, and several years later when it suffered extensive flooding. Some banks faltered from a combination of tight money and unwise lending practices, particularly those known as savings and loan associations, which went on a spree of unwise lending after they were partially deregulated. The federal government had to close many of these institutions and pay off their depositors, at enormous cost to taxpayers.
While Reagan and his successor, George Bush (1989-1992), presided as communist regimes collapsed in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the 1980s did not entirely erase the economic malaise that had gripped the country during the 1970s. The United States posted trade deficits in seven of the 10 years of the 1970s, and the trade deficit swelled throughout the 1980s. Rapidly growing economies in Asia appeared to be challenging America as economic powerhouses; Japan, in particular, with its emphasis on long-term planning and close coordination among corporations, banks , and government, seemed to offer an alternative model for economic growth.
In the United States, meanwhile, “corporate raiders” bought various corporations whose stock prices were depressed and then restructured them, either by selling off some of their operations or by dismantling them piece by piece. In some cases, companies spent enormous sums to buy up their own stock or pay off raiders. Critics watched such battles with dismay, arguing that raiders were destroying good companies and causing grief for workers, many of whom lost their jobs in corporate restructuring moves. But others said the raiders made a meaningful contribution to the economy, either by taking over poorly managed companies, slimming them down, and making them profitable again, or by selling them off so that investors could take their profits and reinvest them in more productive companies.”
Okay! Does this sound familiar? Every morning the media just wants to remind us how miserable we’re suppose to be. “You can’t be happy! You can’t afford anything! Everyone is getting fired and you’re next! Everything is horrible! Everything is rotten! Everything is just bad, Bad, BAD! I have one thing to say to the media………….SHUT UP! You’re not reporting anything we don’t already know. You’re not reporting anything new. You’re just making everyone feel bad about everything. SHUT UP, Today Show! SHUT UP, Good Morning America! The media just loves feeding the public bad or scandalous news. If I want to know what I need to know, I’ll read it on-line or in the newspaper. I’m done with TV media coverage. Just give me the facts, without emotion or trying to convince me that I should be unhappy and miserable every moment of my life. SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! You carnage loving, money grubbing media people.
Oh! And one more thing. I do not give a crap about Britney Spears, or Paris Hilton, or Lindsey Lohan, or any other Hollywood celebs for that matter. So stop talking about them like I’m suppose to care, because I don’t and I never will. I don’t care if they were arrested. I don’t care if they are pregnant. I don’t care if they are in rehab (again). They have nothing to do with my everyday life so stop talking about them. What happened to the days when we didn’t know what celebs did outside of playing a character on the TV or movie screen?
Stop talking about solutions that have been around for years and years like they are something new. Why can’t you tell the younger generations “this is what the older generations have already figured out and they’ve been doing this for years and it works and money does not grow on trees and you cannot live on credit so live within your means, so get with the program”. Can’t you offer anything new? Spinning it a different way does not make it new.
Yes, it is true. America needs an overhaul. We cannot continue this 24 / 7 burning it at both ends way of running things. It is killing our way of life. And Media people, I think you should start following government officials around like you follow celebs and put pressure on them to “do the right thing”. Use your power for good. As for the people of the United States, get ready for a big adjustment in your life. Your buying power is going to be less for a while so the lending system can recover (just like it did in the 80’s). Let’s hope the interests rates do not return to 17 % like they were in the 80’s. But they might. Stop whining and learn to live on less. Learn the difference between wants and needs and live according to that mantra. Pay yourself first ‘cuz you’re gonna need it later.
And Media folks - SHUT UP! I’m just fine without your daily verbal diarrhea.
Color me happy and living within my budget.
