Shocked? Or Just Surprised?

If I am reading the headlines correctly, then we might as well crawl into a cave and hibernate for a couple of years until this “crisis” goes away.

Seriously? Let’s think about this for a minute. Who really thought our economy could continue outpacing itself when America was spending more than it made?

People claim that deals aren’t getting done and businesses aren’t expanding because it’s just too hard to borrow money. Let’s have some perspective. Is it really hard to borrow money now? Well that depends on your definition of ‘hard’. It might be harder than it was two years ago, but is it harder than it was in the early 80’s when rates were well above 10%? Did we really think that banks could continue loaning money to people based on how much money they ‘said’ they made? You mean people don’t tell the truth all the time? Are we really that naïve?

I read an article yesterday that insinuated a 5% - 10% down payment was “a lot”. Really? Have we gotten that spoiled?

I am not pretending that I predicted this downturn coming, although some economists probably did. Sure the increasing number of foreclosures and the need for the government to get Freddie and Fannie out of detention is surprising. But are you really shocked that the market is trying to correct itself? Sooner or later you have to actually pay a debt off with real money. You can’t keep “making” money by borrowing more.

We were going to be faced with this reality at some point. I would make the argument we are handling it pretty well. Despite the negative forces at hand, our economy as a whole and especially in N.C. is continuing to grow. We are adding jobs, building schools, expanding hospitals and more. You can accuse me of being an optimist, but its all fact. Actually I like to use the word realist.