Too Soon to Celebrate End of Recession

To The Editor:
The National Bureau of Economic Research released a statement in September that it was time to celebrate: the recession was over! Wow, I wonder how many people were heartened by that news.
But, I ask: Is that something we should take with a very large grain of salt? After all, economics, as I learned in a freshman college course, is described by the people who issue such punditry as “not an exact science.” Well, given that less than stellar description, how much stock are we to put in this report, which, by the way, comes from a government agency? Is it possible, heaven forbid, that the politicians in Washington, D.C., the same ones who said that if the $1-plus-trillion economic stimulus bill was passed unemployment would be kept under 8 percent, would have a reason to lie about it now?
Or, is it just too convenient that the report comes less than five weeks before the November election when all 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats are up for grabs and the voting public is in a mood to “throw the rascals out?” Perhaps, I’m just too old, cranky and suspicious of politicians who will say and do almost anything to be elected but I don’t believe that the recession will end anytime soon.
You may remember the quote from one wag about economic turndowns: “A recession is when you lose your job. A depression is when I lose mine.” Unemployment nationally is at 9.6 percent, and long range forecasts are that it will remain above 8 percent for two to three years. That, my friends, is a recession and it has gone on since the fourth quarter of 2007, making it the longest recession since World War II.
That date of October to December 2007 is important to remember when you go into the voting booth and ask yourself, “Am I better off today than I was three years ago?” Unless you’re Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, the answer is probably, “No.” Here is one reason: the Democrats took over both houses of Congress in January 2007 and immediately set in motion a series of events that would shake the pillars of our economy for the foreseeable future.
Congresspersons like Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Henry Waxman (D-Fla.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) now controlled the House Financial Services Committee. They began to put pressure on the government-controlled lending agencies Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac to insist that the banks to which they guaranteed mortgage loans must loosen restrictions on mortgages. This was at a time when housing prices were at historic highs and unqualified people were buying and selling, sometimes at enormous profits in a matter of weeks.
Banks, under the threat of investigation of their lending practices, were told to accept welfare payments and unemployment benefits as “valid sources of income.” This federal intervention into the financial markets was done under the guise of the Community Reinvestment Act, originally a laudable attempt to allow low income and the disadvantaged poor to own homes. However, the Democrats refused to recognize it as the Ponzi scheme that would bring down our economy.
If you need any proof that it happened, try selling your home today. Fuhgeddaboudit. Have you looked at the possible 20-30 percent loss in your investment nest egg? Are you satisfied with bank deposit rates of 1 percent?
It’s easy to affix blame for this problem. But you can fix it when you vote on Nov. 2. Pull the Republican lever for all offices, local, statewide and national.
GERALD F. STAHLECKER
Seaville