I believe that voters have certainly been turned off about the proposed bill to help restimulate the economy. I am sure that many voters have called their congressional rep and said “Do not vote for the bill.” With an election cycle coming up, the customer rules and the congressional reps want to be reelected so they voted against the bill. The consumer has not been educated correctly about this bill and most people in Congress are clueless about basic economics.
Congress tries to listen to their constituency but they haven’t been communicating why the bill needed to be passed. Instead, mainstream media has been providing the images and words; calling it a “bailout”; showing reporters down on Wall Street and the NYSE floor; and focusing on a few big banks and investment house failures. The MSM is in NYC and the images are obvious but “lazy and misleading” and have provided the backdrop for this mess.
They also use a sound bite of “Main Street vs. Wall Street.” This is so naive and so typical of folks that have never worked in real industry; run a business; made a payroll; or started a company. More people work in small businesses in the US than Fortune 1000 companies. This mess is at the door of small businesses and consumers now. IT IS NOT about Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers or the NYSE. The connective tissue between Main Street and Wall Street and banks is real time. Banks and Wall Street provide the blood flow for the heart of small businesses and consumers who work and live and borrow money every day.
Instead the imagery and words should be thus:
“Vote for the consumer credit stimulus plan.” We need to pump liquidity back into the system so that consumers and small businesses have a level playing field to compete in today’s economy. If we pump money into the system, banks can make loans again to you and your small businesses.
The imagery should be:
- Of young married adults trying to get a mortgage for their first home and being rejected;
- Of a young adult trying to buy or lease a used car and not getting the deal done;
- Of an older couple seeing their retirement plan get crushed and halting their retirement and travel plans;
- Of a small business owner having his/her receivables financing loan pulled and then having to lay off workers as they can’t make payroll;
- Of a startup company trying to lease some trucks and a warehouse so they can grow and not being approved;
- Of a family trying to get a second mortgage to pay for college for their son or daughter and the money not being made available.
We lost more than ONE TRILLION dollars or net worth yesterday. It all came out of consumers’ pockets. It made getting a loan that much harder. We lost more than the stimulus package would have cost consumers and taxpayers yesterday.
One of my favorite expressions is “Don’t write checks your mouth can’t cash.” This is a prime example.
This isn’t about banks that closed or a few CEOs on Wall Street. This bill is about you and me and small businesses and consumers. I have started a bunch of businesses that try to hire folks and add to the economy. I feel this pain too. I don’t understand how we have bungled the messaging. We need liquidity back in the system and we need a mainstream media that stops trying to communicate BIG IMPORTANT issues with the same tired sound bites and imagery. It isn’t helping - it is hurting!
