Lost In The
Economic Landscape
by Pamela J.
Forsythe
Remember being
a kid in the backseat of the family car when your
parents were arguing about directions? It feels
just like that now in the United States. We’re
all piled in back on our way to the Fiscal Cliff,
which we really don’t want to see. The
President and Congress take turns driving,
swerving left and right, pulling into the White
House driveway for press conferences, and
slamming on the brakes for directions from the
Treasury or Federal Reserve that sound more like
suicide hotline advice than a GPS.
Here in the
backseat, things are tense. We are terrified and
getting carsick. We hope they find their way soon,
but we’d settle for a rest stop.
Unfortunately, the backseat doesn’t have a
say.
So far this
trip has been unpredictable, except for the
ultimatums in the front seat. To review: Before
setting off for the Fiscal Cliff, we toured the
Mortgage Marsh and waded through the Swamp of
Home Equity. It wasn’t fun. The car got
stuck and everything came to a halt. Most of us
got out to push, and before we knew it, were up
to our armpits in the muck. Meanwhile the bankers
climbed out of the windows and sat on the roof.
They tossed suitcases full of bad debt into the
swamp, and never once looked where they were
throwing them. Several of us were blindsided by
flying debris and submerged. There was no solid
ground, and when we finally found the swamp’s
edge, the bankers jumped off, leaving the rest of
us there, muddy and dripping.
After that,
the itinerary became a blur. We remember the
Slippery Slope of Negative Savings, and almost
crashing into the Debt Ceiling, which was just
this side of Default Forest. Congress propped the
ceiling up with the Fiscal Cliff, and we’ve
been headed there ever since.
Avoiding the
Fiscal Cliff is the goal, because we don’t
want to careen over Recession Falls again. There
is supposed to be a scenic overlook somewhere
between Entitlement Beach and Taxation Terrace,
but the people in the front seat can’t agree
on the precise location. If they find it, we can
park and take a nice photo, ideally before
Christmas.
Those of us in
the backseat will be satisfied just to survive
this trip. To distract ourselves, we have been
saying where we want to go next year. So far, the
popular choice seems to be the Sea of Tranquility.
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