In mid-March, CRBJ staff participated in a rousing discussion about the state of the U.S. economy. A recent Newsweek article, shared around the office, was what prompted that particular conversation.
In response to the discussion, staff reporter Joanne Rideout took it upon herself to put some well-chosen words to paper for our readers. I felt her prose was most aptly placed right here, within the confines of editorial space. Her words follow:
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As the U.S. totters uncertainly toward what everyone hopes will be an improved financial future, some national pundits have advanced the idea that there’s more to our fiscal health than concrete numbers.
A recent editorial in Newsweek titled," The Biggest Thing to Fear is Fear," echoes President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s words with the encouraging subtitle: "American consumers are in better shape than you think."
The article suggests that while Wall Street may have precipitated the economy’s decline, consumers on Main Street will likely lead the nation out of it. And their state of mind may have everything to do with it.
FDR took office in 1933 in the depths of the Great Depression -— a period often used as a reference point for our current national economic difficulties — as in, "the worst (insert troubling economic sector) since the Great Depression of the 1930s."
FDR’s inaugural speech was meant to reassure a despairing nation and yielded the enduring quote about fear that most Americans know, even if they’re not quite sure who said it.
The maxim could be truer now more than ever.
Newsweek asserts that credit card debt is actually decreasing nationwide, and |
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experts predict unemployment numbers will likely top out at 10.5 percent over the next few months.
While it’s true that families across the country are enduring heartbreaking hardship from failed mortgages and investments, and job loss, experts nationwide and locally say it’s important to remember that the job outlook, at least, is nowhere near as bad as it was during the Great Depression.
According to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the national rate of unemployment at the time FDR took office was a crushing 24.9 percent, compared to the rate in March of 8.1 percent.
So as the U.S. begins the slow climb out of recession/depression/downturn, it may be helpful to take another look at FDR’s famous words. Most people have heard the "fear itself" excerpt, but few have read the surrounding text, which echoes the idea that we are as afraid as we think we are:
"This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper…let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
Joanne Rideout
Staff Reporter, CRBJ |
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I could have penned the above no better, and believe Joanne’s words are worthy of consideration by our business community.
One last note: I received a great number of supportive and positive comments on my Publisher’s Note last month. Each one will be remembered with gratitude.