Our student body would like to know: recession or depression?
The inevitable future of these United States, or a simple phase that is only seeing an increase in homelessness, gas prices, and cost of living? With a failing bank structure and free-market stock plummet, it is only obvious that the horror of today is our own greed.
Joseph Conrad states in his novel Heart of Darkness, “The mind of man is capable of anything–because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future.” Thus, we as a community would like to share our views on this economic disaster and how it has or will affect our future.
Janice Chase, a long-standing Valley faculty member, math department chair and highly respected individual, expresses her concern with our economic distress. “I believe we are in a serious recession. I hope it never gets to a depression, as I have heard those stories from my dad who live it. I believe that this entire process took many years to come to where we are. I think all congresses and presidents since Reagan should take responsibility for the oversights and favors they did for the large CEO’s who made millions, upon millions, while the rest of us just kept plugging. I do not have a lot of faith that this buyout is all we hear it is because of the massive amounts of pork added to it. I am nervous, for me personally: my retirement took a severe hit and will not recover for my husband, and my plan to retire in a couple of years. We figure, right now, we will have to work at least five years longer just to recover.”
Anne Young, social studies department chair, tried to level the playing field of our economic situation. She believes “this [to be] a complex issue with plenty of blame to go around. In recent years consumers have ‘outspent’ their incomes, purchasing houses with loan products they didn’t understand,” says Young. “Mortgage brokers and investors encouraged this because they stood to gain financially. In my view, there was greed all around. In the big picture these events represent a correction that is necessary. The situation will right itself. Life is –after all- a cycle.”
A cycle of ups and downs is economics in general for no natural profit can be gained without the people changing their minds, and no market can improve without drastic changes in control. Chrisula Cunningham, former economics teacher had this to say, “It is typical for the economy to have ups and downs, but the government’s job is to ease the plight of the people during the recessions or down cycles. This clearly did not happen, leading to fear, and yet more excesses by some over speculators (big spenders).”
With fear fueling the minds of many, it has become clear that people have begun to worry about their own investments. A certain investment in particular has begun to worry the community as a whole. The increase worry over retirement funds has left many rushing to sell their stock and take what they can get (many individuals have their retirement fund invested in the stock market, which currently isn’t doing so well on account of the fear and people dumping their shares for whatever they can get).
In light of present worries, Anthony Griego, gladly stated his opinion concerning the retirement’s funds of his faculty and staff, and how our current economic condition is affecting them as a whole. He stated that “the retirement is secure for state employees.” The retirement board for public education employees referred to as P.E.R.A. (Public Education Retirement Association) is government based and therefore unaffected by the stock market. P.E.R.A. keeps safe the individual retirement fund of public education employees but does not provided as high a return pay as the stock market. Faculty and staff must decide at the time of employment on how they are to invest their money whether through P.E.R.A. or stocks. In the end it’s a gamble that at this point in time P.E.R.A. seems to be the better choice.
As for the economic standing at this time for educators, they received a 2% raise at the beginning of this school year, which makes quite a difference. Although according to Mr. Griego it’s “sort of a wash” because in December the Health Insurance will increase, so either the educator gives up their raise and some extra cash or lose some of their benefits. The increase in health insurance is caused by the economic situation which has seen physicians charge an excess amount of money on the insurance companies due to an increase number of people who are under insured (if at all insured). Taxes levee some of the burden, but not enough, due to an increase of unemployment and homelessness throughout the country (less taxes being paid).
In the end one must remember that through it all we would have learned our lesson (for a few years anyway) which according to Emmaly Owens (11th) “is a direct result of our ignorance, our lack of commonwealth, and a conservative directive in the office.”