Midlife Crisis Queen: The Weblog

October 11, 2008

And now for something completely different!

Paul Volcker had a conversation with Charlie Rose this week.

Remember him? He was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979-87. He came to share some very positive economic news with us, something that has been in shorter supply than credit lately! I found his words quite reassuring.

He feels that the recent economic crisis has worked rather like a midlife crisis, to create the proper circumstances for the entire system to change in very positive ways.

Here’s how:

1. It has made it quite clear to all the countries of the world just how global the economy is now, creating the perfect environment for the G8 to get serious about working together this weekend.

2. The crisis has made it perfectly clear to all involved that the system needs some major reforms, a circumstance not welcomed when everyone on Wall Street thought they were making money hand over fist.

3. It will lead to a stronger, more viable financial system which takes into account the major changes created by online trading in the past ten years.

4. It will lead to an understanding among Americans (and others) that we all need to have savings, instead of trying to live on permanently increasing credit.

5. It will decrease consumption relative to economic growth.

6. It will decrease our dependency on foreign capital.

7. It has made it perfectly clear that we are experiencing a total vacuum of leadership at the top (as in Bush who?), leadership that anyone likes and has any confidence in.

This encourages us, as a nation to FIND PROPER LEADERSHIP! Many are reminded of the Great Depression and how FDR helped to pull us out of it with his fireside chats. (Volcker is working for Obama)

What is needed now is confidence in the stability of the world’s economies, which are very strong right now and a belief that the world financial system is fundamentally strong. These are the facts and we will get through this in good shape, according to Paul Volcker.

Paul said, “What we need is less financial engineers, and more electrical engineers” to create the new products which will maintain America’s leadership in technological innovation.

In my part of the country (Colorado) there are a number of new companies working quickly and diligently to perfect alternative technologies to solve energy problems worldwide. This is called working on solutions every day, instead of worrying ourselves to death about the problems.