by Karen Boyd

Created on: April 04, 2009

We All Play a Role in the Economic Recession

Whether We Realize it or Not

Each and every one of us is affected by it.

We all help facilitate it.

We all suffer because of it.

We all want to climb out of it.

Whether we understand it, admit it, or take responsibility for it; the current state of our economy - The Recession - is a product of everyone's actions and reactions to today's national dilemma.

You could say we are all to blame, however blame is only appropriate for those actions (or lack of actions) which are consciously taken to harm others and/or profit themselves.

Instead of blame, let's look at what seems to be a downward spiral as rather, a natural result of instability.

Instability? Yes, the equilibrium of our economy shifted when events such as the mortgage lending crisis and the automotive bankruptcies began to rear their ugly heads.

This didn't happen all at once; of course not. The storm was brewing long before the nation realized the effects of it.

The sad thing is, we all now have a role in it.

How? What may have originated as greed by corporate owners, CEO's, and other forms of executive management was perpetuated and returned by those who wanted their share of the profit and/or trusted their sources.

Let's take the automotive sector. As a lifelong resident of Michigan, I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit; aka The Motor City. It was no surprise that once I entered the workforce, it was automotive related jobs at The Big 3 that were highly sought after and provided those employees with lavish benefits, bonuses, and incredulous, unwarranted wages.

It sounds like a dream come true, right? At the onset, perhaps. The Big 3 executives reeled employees in with the promises of an abundant financial (and stable) future. They were the "bread and butter" of Michigan....as well as America.

The hedonism of the good ole days at The Big 3, however, finally caught up with reality. Money doesn't grow on trees and there is no endless amount of dollar bills filtering in and out of these companies. There is a cost of quality and a purpose for set wage scales. Higher pay does not always equate with higher profit. Likewise, cheaper labor does not promise equivalent product.

The result; downsizing, cost-cutting, benefit reductions, pay cuts, and worse yet....mass layoffs and the threat of bankruptcy.

No longer were the days where executives and employees lived high on the hog. Those days led to self-perpetuated depletion and devastation. We are all paying the price for it.

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