Patience is a virtue?

Hi everyone:

Well it seems that the old adage, patience is a virtue, no longer holds much water in our society. In this age of instant information and instant gratification, patience seems to have fallen by the wayside or at the very least been put on the furthest back burner.

President Obama has been in office for about 6 months. He inherited 2 wars and a terrible economy, compounded by the worst recession since the great depression of 1929. Former President Bush tried to help the economy by giving banks and investment firms about $750 million but without any strings attached. The recipients didn't use to money to lesson the lack of money being loaned, and since their were no strings, the money was horded to only help their bottom lines.

When the October 1929 stock market crash happened, that started a terrible recession which then became the great depression. The federal Government did nothing to help either the American people or the banks that were failing. Instead the government watched from the sidelines as the recession worsened. As it turned out, the lack of government intervention most likely created the perfect ingredients to create what turned into the great depression. The great depression was in full swing by the time that newly elected President Roosevelt took office, for his first term in 1933. Once in office, FDR realized that watching from the sidelines wasn't working and would never work. FDR also realized that government intervention was needed and necessary to help the American people and the ailing US economy.

Jump to present day and President Obama is beginning to try, like FDR in 1933, to help the American people and the ailing economy by using government intervention. As history has showed us, FDR's policies didn't help immediately. It took time for the recovery to begin. Why then are their people out there saying that President Obama's stimulus package isn't working and will fail? What happened to patience is a virtue? Our economy would not and obviously did not turn around after only 3 or 4 months. President Obama even told us on numerous occasions that things would get worse before they will get better. But, there are people who want an instant turn around. That thought process doesn't have any common sense basis to it.

I am not saying that President Obama's plan will or will not work, I am only saying that we have to give it more time. How much more time? I don't know. What I do know is that if we are to learn from history, right now is the perfect time to learn from it. I believe that more time is obviously necessary for the recovery to commence and that the naysayers should also be more patient and not be so premature in their very vocal doomsday message!

I cringe to think about what would happen if the government did nothing except watch from the sidelines. Great depression 2.0?

Common sense rules!

Til next week.