The Economy

I, like most middle class Americans, spend my weekends doing laundry, cleaning house and going grocery shopping. I don't mind, I turn on music and dance around like a crazy person when cleaning. And I know that Saturday afternoons at the grocery store or Wal-Mart is a trip.

The point is that while I was shopping and buying cat food, I noticed that the aisles were easy to walk through. I wasn't climbing on top of other customers to buy a loaf of bread. In the middle of the store I stopped and looked around.

It was Saturday afternoon, where were the soccer moms with their kids? Where were the old couples that walk so slowly down the aisle that you feel about their age by the time you reach the end of the aisle?

I knew what was going on, the economy. I stood gawking like an idiot, confused and a little heart broken. The middle class knows how to pinch pennies. I watched my parents cut costs and pay bills for years, always just barely getting by. I know it can be done, I know friends and coworkers that are all about coupons and rebates. I proudly proclaim that I have started cutting out coupons.

And as much as we hear about the economy and deficits on TV, it never hit home for me until Saturday afternoon. Now as I sit at my desk on Monday and watch the news, I am and starting to ask myself when it will stop. When will the economy rebound? When will the government actually do something instead of saying that they will do something? I keep wondering if I should go to the bank and pull out the little bit of money in my account, or just wait it out and have to potential of getting into trouble later? I wonder how many other people are thinking like this?

With the economy in limbo and gas prices soaring and not looking like they will come down any time soon, I have to wonder to myself … is there any escape?

The news is reporting that the government is working on a "bailout." But will it really work? Will this jump-start the economy? I can promise that I will be more cautious when spending my money just because I no longer feel safe and secure. I like to think that the problems of the world are sometimes just a dream. That eventually I will wake up and laugh at myself, except this isn't a dream. Who knows, maybe we will get lucky and it will become a happy ever after.