The Economy And The Part That We All Play

Herb Sargent was one of the early writers for the original "Saturday Night Live" and was more frequently known as "Father Guido Sarducci" a character he played on SNL as well as an alter ego that he maintained all of his life on TV and comedy clubs as well as recordings. I think of him with every mention of today's economy. He had a famous comedy routine called the "5 minute university". The premise of this university was to teach you, in 5 minutes, everything that you would remember from your college education 5 years after graduation. As example he taught what you would remember if you took Spanish...."como esta usted" (how are you?) , in business he taught the single principle that you buy an item and sell it for more money and the reason I think of him relative to the economy he taught that it all relates to supply and demand. Even though this routine has been around for over 30 years it still rings of the truth. Truly the primary principle of economics is that of supply and demand. If something is in short supply the seller can sell it for money and inversely if the market place is rife with inventory then it's a buyer's market and the price is driven down. No better example of this, today, is the housing market. With the current state of inventory of unsold homes, due to the foreclosure crisis in America today, it is truly a buyers market. The massive number of foreclosed homes has contributed to the largest drop in housing prices since the great depression. Add to this fact, even if your home isn't in foreclosure, with the largest unemployment rate in 30 years, people all over the U.S. are faced with having to sell their homes to avoid the inevitable foreclosure. These folks are finding it nearly impossible to sell their home at or near what they owe if they can sell it at all. It is truly a buyers market, a real example of supply and demand. The other abiding principle of America's economy that Father Sarducci didn't teach but is equally true and may be even more important is that two thirds of our economy is consumer driven and is the reason for the government's stimulus packages, reason for the constant bombardment we are under, of information trying to build up our confidence. You see if the American consumer has no confidence in the market place, no confidence that he or she is going to keep their jobs, no confidence that the government has it all under control then instead of spending money and driving the economy with the need for consumer goods the consumer saves their money. We have, today, the highest rate of savings since the Carter administration. Consumers are simply afraid to spend and their savings are paying little or nothing in the way of interest not even keeping up with the rate of inflation so the economy can't even grow from investment growth.
So what are we to do? In the simplest terms we need to regain our confidence in the system and begin to spend money. This doesn't mean careless spending but as banks begin to relax their lending restrictions we need to buy cars again, if we need one, we need to buy major consumer items such as appliances and electronics and we should take advantage of this buyers market and invest in housing. During the great depression the people who survived and built the fortunes of today were the people who bought stocks and invested in companies and houses when the market was depressed. Warren Buffet, probably known as America's most famous investor, has not retreated into a shell and hidden his cash under his mattress, he is out there buying up cheap stocks and investing in companies. He has confidence in the market and for us to pull out of this slide we must also have confidence.
If you are one of the American's who has found yourselves in a position of having to sell your home or you are worried about its value, now is the time to do something to differentiate your home from the one just like it down the street. You need to make your house easier to sell. You need to make it more desirable to the potential buyer thereby making it "advantage...seller" to reverse the buyers market trend. Even tough buyers are looking for a better deal and are out there looking for bargains, we are still a people that want something nicer, something that is right and doesn't need improvement and that buyer will buy your house at a better price if it is clean, modernized and is different from the rest of the houses on the street. With this thought in mind, now is the time to "kill 2 birds with one stone". Take a look around your home and see what small projects you can perform to better your home and in doing so you will spend money in the market place. This money will again begin to drive the market, create demand and new jobs. Is it going to solve the problems of today's economy overnight? NO, but it is a step in the right direction. That's where National Builder Supply comes in as well as you're local contractors and suppliers of other home based consumer goods. A way to improve you home without spending a fortune can be as simple as painting, new faucets and lighting. If you can go further you can consider new cabinetry, flooring and appliances. These investments can increase your home's marketability and help the economy by driving the need for consumer goods and creating new jobs. Its "supply and demand" at work.

Im a retired disabled accountant with vast knowledge in the DIY area having built several houses and worked on my own projects for 30+ years. I spend most of my days reading and responding to over 30 forums and discussion groups.
I currently author and manage a blog site for a friend's builder supply business. I include personally written articles on the subject of home and home repair along with featured specials on products offered by the company

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