Opinion

Byrd’s Eye View

What did we think would happen

Kristy Byrd
Feature Editor
kebyrd@niacc.edu

As everyone should already know, our economy is going downhill fast; especially since the large drop in the stock market recently and the 700 billion dollar bailout our government is proposing.

Our country is already in debt, so where is this money going to come from, and how are we going to pay it back?

From what I have read, the 700 billion dollars is just an estimated amount and we may end up dishing out more.

A business article I read in the New York Times, written by David Stout, that was headlined “The Wall Street Bailout Plan Explained,” clearly states that the American tax dollar will be used to pay for this bail out, no doubt.

I definitely think that there is nothing we can do to reverse this; it’s out of our hands. On one hand I can’t believe what the government is proposing, but on the other hand I feel that this is also partially the American people’s fault, mine as well.

We all want the American dream; money, a house, a car, and we go to great ends to get it, even if that means borrowing money we don’t have, or signing loan agreements we know we can’t afford.

I think we, as a people, have failed ourselves by not getting the financial education we need, and trying to live above our means.

It is also the institutions that have failed us by allowing us to borrow money we can’t pay back. Everyone’s financial background is right there in black and white, and they still approve the impossible because they want to make a few dollars off of us.

When will we learn that it’s more important to have what we need first, and what we want dead last?

Do you really need to buy that new 52-inch high definition flat screen TV with your 21 percent interest rate credit card?

Shouldn’t you pay off that overdraft at your bank first before you sign that loan for a new car?

Take all the debts that each American fails to pay every month and multiply that by the population, and there you go.

What did we think was going to happen?