Surviving the 2008 Economic Crisis

Amanda Nolz October 2nd, 2008

As Americans switched on their televisions this week, it was impossible for them to flip through the channels and not be bombarded with two things: A) Election talk and celebrity-like gossip about our presidential candidates and B) Bush’s call for a bailout on Wall Street.

As I work on homework in my tiny cellar of a bedroom in my friendly, little house located blocks away from the South Dakota State University campus, I wonder how the economic crash will affect me, a poor college kid. Then I wonder how my parents’ and grandparents’ ranches will be affected. Will we pull out of this economic crisis with cowherds and land intact? Will consumers continue to pay high dollars for beef products in the face of our higher production costs to produce those beef products? And what about the future, will young people like me, with college debt and big dreams, stand a fighting chance in the real world? Is the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act the answer? Or will it cripple our nation’s economy even further? Well, not even Congress can agree on the solution.

So what should we do as beef industry professionals? For me, I’m going to focus on things I can control, such as reducing our operating input costs. Check out today’s headlines on BEEF Daily for some great, practical tips on decreasing your cost per cow. The most successful cattlemen will be the ones that find ways to operate efficiently in the face of these incredibly challenging times in our nation’s economy.

As for the media—I’m going to stay tuned to see how this Emergency Economic Stabilization Act all plays out. And no matter which celebrity wins the 2008 Presidential Election, he will certainly have his hands full in finding the solution for this economic crisis.

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6 Comments to “Surviving the 2008 Economic Crisis”

jasper Says:

October 2nd, 2008 at 5:23 pm

The press conference last night announcing the successful Senate vote left me steamed. I couldn’t believe how these clowns were patting themselves on the back for their late-night heroics. Just once I’d like to have one of these fools actually stand up and say they screwed it up for the American taxpayer, instead of passing the buck.

Majority Leader Harry “We don’t know what to do” Reid is bad enough, but there’s Chris Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, who received sweetheart low-interest loans from the entities he is charged with regulating. He also ranks among the top five receivers of donations from the nation’s now-troubled financial sector, according to an investigation by the Hartford Courant. In fact, Courant reporters claim that: “During the past 20 years, PACs and employees of finance-related firms have contributed more than $13 million to Dodd’s election efforts, including nearly $6 million in the past two years.”

That jokers like Dodd, not that he floats much below the rest of this all-star clown team, have the gall to stand before a camera and claim to be acting in the best interests of the American people makes me spitting mad.
Amanda Nolz Says:

October 2nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm

Thanks for your comments, Jasper. I agree that these politicians don’t seem to have the best interests of Americans at heart. I grew up learning to take responsibility for my own actions, and it looks like these boys aren’t going to take the heat for this colossal mistake. It will be interesting to see how things turn out in the wake of this Senate vote.
Burt Rutherford Says:

October 2nd, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Hey Jasper–

Here’s what has me steamed, if it be true. Got an e-mail today, one of those forwarded types, describing three of Obama’s economic advisors. I don’t usually forward those kinds of e-mails unless I can verify that what it says is true. DISCLAIMER–I have not verified this, so take it for that.

It says that Franklin Raines, a former CEO and Chairman of Fannie Mae; Tim Howard, former chief financial officer at Fannie Mae; and Jim Johnson, also a former CEO at Fannie Mae, are all Obama economic advisors and that Johnson chaired Obama’s vice presidential search committee. All three were investigated for their part in Fannie Mae’s rather signficant monetary irregularities and “cooking the books” at Fannie Mae. Those investigations forced the resignations of Raines and Howard in 2004.

So three people who were part of bringing Wall Street down and thus inflicting a rather significant blow to lots and lots of people, are now advising Obama on how to run the economy.

Now it’s possible, likely even, that McCain has his own stable of crooks. After all, the morally bereft seem to find a comfortable home in politics at all levels. But if this is true, I think it’s time to get really steamed.

Big B
Amanda Nolz Says:

October 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 am

Yes, there are certainly some snakes that reside in Washington D.C. After living there for a summer as a USDA intern, I definitely see politics in a new light. And if you haven’t checked out our ‘08 election section on the homepage, it’s time to do so now. We have all the ins and outs of which candidate will best serve our agriculture industry in the upcoming years. Be an educated voter and check it out!

By the way, did anybody watch the debate last night? Any thoughts on which candidate dominated?
jasper Says:

October 3rd, 2008 at 11:47 am

I listened in and was pretty impressed with Sarah Palin. I thought she understandably looked a little nervous at first but that woman has a lot of guts and poise. I can’t imagine the stress she must have been under to perform after a week or two of being torn up by the mainstream media. She does very well presenting herself.

She wasn’t really heavy on substance but I thought she communicated her philosophy on government and governance very well, as well as her experience and accomplishments on the state and local level.

Joe Biden also comes across very well and is likeable; he’s had a lot of experience before the camera. The thing that bothers me about him, as it does Obama, is that they had to run so far to the left in the Democratic primary that there are statements and positions they now have trouble “running from” in the general election.

For instance, I watched all the Democratic and Republican debates and I heard Obama say he would sit down unconditionally to talk with that Iranian nut job; he was called out on it by the other Democratic hopefuls. He also said he would unilaterally attack Pakistan. But when pushed on those and other issues, he chooses to lie about it.

Similarly Biden last night claimed his comments in a ropeline about coal plants were taken out of context, but they weren’t. That’s exactly what he said. All of a sudden, last night he’s a proponent of coal technology.

I think these guys think that the American electorate is so disingaged from the process that they can lie and it won’t matter.
jasper Says:

October 4th, 2008 at 11:09 pm

You’re right on, Big B.

To go along with my comments on Chris Dodd, here’s something from the House side of the jackass party. Barney Frank, the first openly gay member of Congress (not that there’s anything wrong with that. Well actually, there is something wrong with being a member of Congress!)

As I recall, a few years back Ol’ Barn somehow weathered a scandal where his live-in boyfriend at the time was running a “male escort service” out of Barn’s townhouse. Barn apparently didn’t learn from his mistakes; nor did the Democrats.

In this story — you can read it at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432501,00.html — it’s reported that Frank as a longtime member of the House Banking Committee had a pretty hefty conflict of interest in this current financial debacle, as his boyfriend Herb Moses, had a seven-year tenure with Fannie Mae during their relationship.

As the article points out:

“According to National Mortgage News, Moses ‘helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs.’

Critics say such programs led to the mortgage meltdown that prompted last month’s government takeover of Fannie Mae and its financial cousin, Freddie Mac. The giant firms are blamed for spreading bad mortgages throughout the private financial sector.

Although Frank now blames Republicans for the failure of Fannie and Freddie, he spent years blocking GOP lawmakers from imposing tougher regulations on the mortgage giants.”

Why Democratic leadership isn’t moving to remove these twin bozos of Dodd and Frank escapes me. As Chris Dodd likes to say: “Where is the outrage?”