Alex's Journal

The BBC is reporting that Germany is exiting the recession that has affected the entire world for the past couple of years. Germany, along with France, is one of the first countries to emerge from this economic downturn and yet the German government did next to nothing to try to pull the country out of the recession.

An article in the Wall Street Journal states the German stance on it:

“Germany has the most capacity in Europe to increase spending, but Berlin has argued against running up big deficits…”

“Last year, according to the IMF, the U.S. pumped an extra 1.1% of GDP into the economy. Germany did next to nothing.”

I think the American government needs to take a page out of Germany’s book. For being a socialist country, Germany seems to have less government intervention in the economy than we do.

You know, I don’t understand why politicians feel like they have to meddle in every situation that occurs. There are some places they really should just keep clear of and the economy is one of them. Yes, I know they are trying to prevent an economic meltdown and ultimately a recession (or let’s face it, that should be depression). Yes, I know they are trying to prevent the unemployment rate from plummeting. But I also know that whatever they do is going to result in one or both of 2 things: it’s simply not going to work and the government will have wasted tax payer money frivolously, or they will have succeeded in spreading government power and influence drawing us ever closer to a socialist state.

No matter the result though, the government is going to use money it does not have. The national debt will continue to grow as they borrow more money from abroad or by issuing bonds, or they will print more money causing the value of the dollar to rapidly decline. Those are their only options.

I really must say that it would be very much appreciated if they would just let the free market work. We will have our ups and downs and they can be potentially bad, but we will have those whether the government intervenes or not. Not to mention government involvement will only exacerbate and prolong the problem. Instead of solving it now, we are just going to pass the problem down to our kids and their kids and their kids and so on.

According to the BBC:

Senior Democrats in the US Congress are considering backing a huge economic stimulus package to try and steer the country clear of recession.

Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, said economists were suggesting a package worth “several hundred billion” dollars was needed.

During the US election campaign President-elect Barack Obama pledged to pass a $175bn (£118bn) stimulus plan.

No, we don’t need another stimulus package that isn’t going to work. The first $700 billion stimulus package didn’t do any good whatsoever. Nothing has improved and nothing has changed. In fact, things have only gotten worse! Why, then, do we need another one? Why does Obama feel the need to waste tax payer money on useless stimulus packages as one of the first things he does in office? That isn’t the change I want.