03/06/09
It's a grim economic time. The statistics alone are terrifying. Nearly 8 percent of the American workforce is currently unemployed. More than two million homeowners received a foreclosure notice last year. The Dow Jones plummeted to its lowest value in 10 years. National debt, already at $11 trillion, is growing every second. There's no denying that we are in a recession and, if the trend continues, quite possibly a depression. It's these types of statistics that economists use to measure the far-reaching effects of the economic crisis. But really, numbers only tell half the story. Because numbers without context or interpretation are just numbers. It's easy to forget we are talking about real people. Every millionth of a percentage point is really a human face, a beating heart. It's the next-door neighbor who was laid off from the company he's been at for years. It's the friend who must attend a community college instead of a private university next fall. It's the inspirational teacher who might lose her job because of district budget cuts. It's a dream being lost. But fear feeds on itself. The state of the economy has a lot to do with confidence. We don't have to lower our sights. We just have to support each other. Partisan politics and excessive anxiety are not going to help. We must forget the greed and self-interest that brought us into the mess and work together to find a way out of it. Because America is the place where we are always free to dream.
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