Who do you trust with your economy?

As I sit here and read news and opinions about America’s economic situation, I am forced to think something so terribly simple that I’m surprised no one has come up with it yet. First, let us consider the circumstances. Economic decline has gripped the country, so to speak. With words like “recession” and “downturn” floating about, you would think that the financial stability of the United States is completely in the crapper. I don’t want to get into a discussion about what caused this problem or necessarily how to fix it. Well, maybe how to fix it, in a round-about way. What I’m trying to get at is that we can probably all agree that there is an economic problem in America and no one can agree on how to fix it.

Back to my revelation, my epiphany, if you will…follow me as I work through this with you. If you are physically ill or want to maintain your physical health, where do you go? You seek out the assistance and opinion of someone who specializes in the physical body, a physician. Makes sense, right? Ok, try this one on for size. If your automobile is not working correctly, where do you take your mechanized machine for service? Let me guess, you said mechanic. Some of you may see where I’m going with this, but for the rest of you I’ll spell it out. When your economy is in the toilet and people are calling out for help, who would you go to? Would you trust your economy with a politician? Would you trust your economy with a business man? Would you trust your economy with a lawyer or a judge? I’m not saying that these aren’t good choices, by any means. They all require some level of intelligence (maybe not politicians) and stick-to-it-ness, but it just doesn’t follow the logic of my other examples. When your economy is broken, why the hell not go to an economist?

I’ll tell you why, because economists scare people. Economists intimidate people is a way that I’ve never seen before. I’m just an economics major, not really an economist by any stretch of the imagination, but when I tell people that, they almost go pale. The words that we use, the theories we spout, and just the general boredom inspired by the very thought of economics are a huge turn off to the majority of the public. But, we have the answers, or at least know what some of the answers could be. I can just tell you this, if we leave the fixin’ of the economy in the hands of politicians (especially selfish, self-serving ones like our current president) then we can expect this “recession” to last much longer than it naturally would.