The Great Reorganization

Currently there are millions of unemployed Americans who had a steady, dependable job this time last year. That’s not even taking into account the millions of others that are underemployed. These underemployed people could be someone with master’s degree working as a gas station attendant or at a local fast food restaurant. This economic storm is taking its toll on everyone in America and the pessimism has not let up in many places, and for good reason. With all this bad news, the good news is that the economy and the country is reorganizing itself.

Just like natural selection, economic downturns as large as the one that we’re currently in, the weaker, less suitable pieces of the economy will be cut out of the system and the organs that remain vital economically will remain in place and continue to grow. Understandably and unfairly, many people are currently paying a high price for this reorganization and many more will likely suffer in the next few years. The more pain we can stomach right now, the faster and smoother the transition to our new reformatted economy will be in the near future.

Many people who are in favor of letting the market reorganize itself are upset about the Obama administration helping people who have made poor financial decisions and choices. To people who are in favor of letting the market regulate itself, giving people who have been foreclosed upon a break is like interfering with the law of natural selection. These people tend to be more conservative or libertarian in their leanings, but their point has some merit to it, considering that the laws of nature are starting to appear, reflected in today’s economic storm as a sort of natural selection process.

Other people, who align themselves with a philosophy of greater social good or have more socialist leaning views believe that intervention by the government for those who have been hurt the most by the recession is the best thing that could happen. Instead of letting the markets shift and adapt, these people want government policies to shift and adapt to the specific choices that many people have made, with little to no consideration for why we got in this mess in the first place. I am certainly not blaming those who have been hit the hardest by the economic downturn for creating it, but both sides of the story need to be told.

Neither outlook is right or wrong, but this realignment of creditors and debtors may be the catalyst for economic and social restructuring that is seen every few hundred years in human history. Natural selection often seems brutal or cruel, as we watch the lions chase down and consume the weaker members of the herd, but in the end, this perceived brutality leads to a healthier, more productive herd and ultimately a healthier and more productive ecosystem. The big picture is that there are some real economic and social shifts happening currently, especially in the United States, and those who can adapt the fastest will have the greatest chance for success in the future post reorganization.