Just about everybody I know has an opinion on fixing the economy.
When it comes to economic issues, I don’t have many answers. I’m not even sure what questions I should ask. The leaders of the U.S. and Canada claim to have answers and have decided to spend their way out of the economic depression. That makes me uncomfortable, because I wonder if they know any more about economic issues than I do.
Sometimes ordinary people have better answers than experts. Take my brother-in-law, Charles, for example. He farmed all his working life, didn’t finish high school, and likely has as much trouble with numbers as I do. But he can explain the workings of almost any mechanical device and fix things that often stump the experts. He has a similar level of expertise in understanding people. When he sees a huge corporation like General Motors in trouble, he has a simple formula to fix it. When big U.S. banks make stupid decisions he suggests the same method. In the case of government bureaucracies wasting millions, he would apply the same formula. Unions would also get the same treatment.
His answer: fire the Chief Executive Officer and the top 25 executives or management people; replace them by moving up an equal number of employees from the lower ranks. Now just in case you think his answer too simple, think of the recession we had in the early 1980s. When the Chrysler company teetered on the brink of bankruptcy, they brought in Lee Iacocca, who did almost exactly what Chuck suggests. He turned the company around very quickly.
Michael Hlinka, the CBC’s business columnist, also has a different take on fixing some of our economic problems. He opposes bailing out the big three car manufacturers, arguing that we should allow them to go bankrupt.
They would apply for bankruptcy protection and the next day, instead of having massive layoffs, everyone would go to work as usual. This makes sense, for such a move has enabled other companies time to sort things out away from the almost hysterical decision-making that we see today.
Although I claim no expertise or special economic training, I believe I have a plan that would begin to recharge our economy. Our leaders seem to understand that part of the problem lies in what they call “consumer confidence.” By that, they mean that people have stopped spending money on new houses, or cars, or household appliances because of fear of losing their jobs. They have that fear simply because our political leaders, economists and news media continue to whine about the imminent collapse of our manufacturing sector. Their continued whining has become a self-fulling prophecy. The more they whine, the more fear on the part of consumers, the less people buy, and job losses increase. So once again we do what mankind too often does. We open our big mouths and cause our own problems.
So let’s hear it for the Chuck, Michael, Ray program for fixing the economy: fire the leaders, use common sense, and keep our traps shut.