Seniors weigh-in on economy

As the United States economy reportedly continues to hang by a thread, several Lake Havasu City Senior Citizens have weighed in on where they think the country may be headed, what they believe may need to be done and how the economy is affecting Social Security.

The U.S. economy has naturally had an affect on Lake Havasu City’s economy, resident Jerry Bartlett said. As a former business owner in the city, Bartlett has seen the city’s economy fluctuate in the 41 years his gas station has been in existence; his family now runs the station. He says this is the worst he has ever seen the local economy.

Resident Bob Snyder concurs, and he believes projects like the city’s sewer upgrade are the reason for its current economic downfall.

“The sewer project is the dumbest project they have ever gotten into,” Snyder said. “They should have shut the sewer system down.”

Addressing the continuing rise in local electric costs, Snyder wondered how the Arizona Corporation Commission could ever have come up with all the agreements it has, such as the 19 percent rate increase on monthly residential electric bills.

As far as the local Real Estate market is concerned, Snyder says the cause is simple, Democrats forced banks to make loans to people who could not afford to pay them off.

This may go all the way back to when President Bill Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that allowed the coupling of investment banking and lending. Bartlett believes this was the beginning of the lend anyone philosophy for which the Bush Administration has been heavily criticized.

On Friday, the United States Stock Market finished its worst week ever, according to the Dow Jones.

But, the Stock Market has fallen before. In 1929, the Stock Market Crash rocketed the country into the Great Depression. In 1987, Black Monday marked the worst one-day stock market crash in history. The Dow lost $500 billion or 22.6 percent of its value.

When the Stock Market crashed in 1929, resident Jerry Bartlett was in grade school. He remembers what it was like growing up at the time.

“We we’re poor,” Bartlett said. “I didn’t know any different.”

World War II helped put an end to the Great Depression, but the Iraq war is just contributing to the country’s budget crisis. The government is spending about $12 billion a month in 2008 for the war and has spent over $600 billion, since the war began.

“Why we got into Iraq, I can’t understand,” Bartlett said.

To stop the bleeding, Bartlett says what the country needs to do is to get its oil and energy crisis under control first.

Snyder noted one key is the country needs to get back to manufacturing and producing and not rely on foreign oil or goods.

And, what of the $700 billion bailout known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008? Owen says how mortgage giants like Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac got into this is a crime. He also believes that money would never find its way into the hands of the average citizen.

“That money is not for people like you and me,” Owen said. “We won’t see a nickel. That is for the big boys.”

The bailout is ridiculous, Bartlett says. They have started with $700 million and will just keep adding to it, and the money won’t be trickling down, he said.

Resident Leonard Smith believes the government should stop trying to focus on bailing out the banks start focusing on bailing out its residents, and another $600 Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 isn’t going to cut it.

“Instead of giving money to companies like AIG, they should send that money out to everybody in the country,” Smith said.

The affect the economy is having on Social Security is one that could put future generations in jeopardy and place current Senior’s back to work.

Olson and Smith both said they have considered going back to work. For Olson, though, it simply is not possible. He said if he could work, he would, but unfortunately, like many Senior’s his health would not allow it.

He and Bartlett believe the government has cut back on Social Security so much that cutting back any further would place the program entirely in jeopardy, which is exactly what Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona State Senator John McCain said in the second Presidential Debate Oct. 7.

Bartlett said the government has been using Social Security dollars to pay off some of its over $10 trillion in debt.

Ultimately, the solution may be in what the people of the country do.

People should go about their normal spending, Owen said. The Stock Market will rebound. It may not happen immediately, but it will come back eventually.