Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Economic Recessions

If there’s one thing that can be said to symbolize today’s society, it is the expectation of instant gratification. We want what we want, and we want it now. We have cars that drive over two hundred miles per hour, jets that break the sound barrier and rockets that go into outer space. We are constantly expanding our horizons, stretching our capabilities beyond the bounds of human comprehension, and pushing into unknown territory with each breath we take.

It’s never occurred to us that we’re not intended to do most of the things we do in the name of progress. If you had asked our ancestors two hundred years ago if we would ever go into space, they would have told you that if God had intended for us to fly he’d have given us wings. Yet here we are. We’ve accomplished the impossible, and rather than being satisfied with that we push ourselves harder to accomplish the impossible faster and more spectacularly than ever before.

Fast food, microwaves, mail order videos and payday loans have encouraged us to think as far ahead as the next forty eight hours when it comes to our goals and expectations. We’re lured, tempted and taunted by promises of overnight riches on the Internet with almost no work at all, and we’ve long since lost our appreciation for the toil and frustration of hard labor in favor of replaced those outdated methods of getting things done with updated technology that can accomplish the same thing in half the amount of time.

We live in a now society, which is why economic recessions are so difficult for us to accept. If we have a limited amount of capital coming and going, and a limited amount of growth happening in industries all across the world, we can’t accomplish our goals in a short amount of time. We might even have to set those goals aside in favor of meeting our short term needs, such as keeping food on the table, or the long term, like building our retirement savings. Without booming enterprise we can’t live the American dream and start our own business, because we need to provide our family with the security that the daily grind provides-and with millions of people across the country getting laid off every day, we’re just happy to have a job.

What many people fail to understand is that economic recession is simply a normal part of the regular cycle of the business world. Although some recessions are more dramatic than others, the bottom line is that economic recessions happen regularly. If we didn’t have economic recessions from time to time to the business world would be in trouble. Economic recessions:

Cull out businesses that aren’t going to survive the long haul. If you look at any guide to surviving an economic recession they’ll tell you that the most important thing to do is to either work for or run a company that’s going to continue to thrive even in the face of economic recession. Apple, IBM and Microsoft aren’t going anywhere, no matter how ugly the recession gets. Companies that provide basic needs like electric and food will always be in demand, because they have a product that is always going to have a need.
Wipe scams off the market. When economic recessions first begin they provide an atmosphere for get-rich-scams to thrive because people are desperate to break free of the sharp constrictions on their income that the recession and the accompanying consequences, as the recession drags on people are going to be too busy pumping their income into legitimate businesses trying to keep their heads above water to keep these frauds afloat. Sooner or later they’re going to have to get a real job.
Force the government to tighten the strings on its budget. It’s one thing to be able to spend exorbitantly when taxpayers can afford the inflation that goes along with it, but when taxpayers have to start counting their pennies the government has to tighten its belt right along with them and start funneling the funds that it has coming in into productive programs that are going to do more than suck resources.
Drive down prices. Without economic recessions there would be nothing driving down the price of goods and services, and our inflation would be even more ridiculous than it already is. When goods aren’t selling, companies have to drive their prices down to make them more appealing or they will completely lose their investment-and they hate doing that.

Throughout history there have been many, many instances of economic recession. Think about the Great Depression back in the ‘30s. For two years in the early ‘80s there was a recession, and July 1990-March 1991 and November 2001-November 2002 were classified as economic recessions as well. Some of these periods inspired a tighter pinch on the pocketbooks of American citizens than others, but they happened.

After each of these recessions came periods of economic growth that allowed companies to get back on their feet and the economy to start flowing again as families had more money to spend. Economic recessions are nothing new. It’s how we deal with them that determine the effect they’re going to have on our economy.

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