DOWNGRADE!!!

Well when you thought it could not get any worse it just did! S & P Rating Agency just downgraded the credit rating of the U.S. from its coveted AAA rating to AA+. Now a lot of you probably don’t really know what this means to you and your everyday lives and we will get you up to speed on that. What we ought to talk about is how we got here.
According to the S & P the main reason for the downgrade was the political brinksmanship played by both Democrats and Republicans in full view of the world over a procedural vote of raising the debt ceiling. What is so astonishing about this downgrade is that the S & P like the rest of us watched in horror as our so called political leaders behaved like children and still did not get the work done that was necessary to avoid the downgrade.
If I were to go further with this issue and it speaks to us as a people in this still great nation is that we are still not doing what we are supposed to do. How many of you when you go out and vote do so with the heart and not the mind? As a marketing professional I do understand the matters of the heart and what we call emotional appeals. Unfortunately this is where an emotional appeal and politics do not mix. The reason why our political leaders behave like children is because we behave like children when it comes to the political process. We absolutely must stop this behavior as it is going to destroy us all. If you don’t believe what I am talking about then you need to take a look at what is going on around you.
As I was watching the talking heads try to report this news and yes they were all looking for the silver lining. I could not help but to perk up to an analyst which said that it is time for our leaders to grow up into the positions that they now have. He also said that the political candidates running for president right now missed a golden opportunity to actually do something positive here and offer assistance to correct the problem. Instead we got more of the same where the candidates offered criticism rather than solutions. Speaker Boehner threw mud at the Democrats and Reid threw more mud at the Republicans which is self-fulfilling and justice for the S & P’s decision, don’t you think?
There is plenty of blame to go around here, American consumers have lived beyond their means and are still doing so, our politicians are reflections of the shortsightedness and arrogance of the American people, eight years of President Bush and his absolutely incoherent policies, and now President Obama where the shadow of his transformational leadership has fled. Yes, I too am to blame as I am just as responsible as everyone else because I have not done enough to educate, warn, educate, and speak about these issues that affect us all.
As a result of this it is time to come up with solutions and here is what I will offer up to the American people and perhaps our political leaders too if they even desire to listen. First of all folks try to get yourself out of debt. The reason why the federal government is in so much debt is because we are in so much debt. We spend way too much money and live beyond our means. We are so easy to take, take, take but never offer anything of value it is time for this to happen. Secondly, and I have been talking about this for years now, start your own business. It is so easy to start a business these days and with little to almost no capital. We have to remake ourselves here and entrepreneurship can get us there. My next point of advice is a true measure of success for the human race, sustainability! If you are going to start this business of yours think along the lines of an enterprise that is sustainable. Get onto the Internet and type in sustainability and business and play with the terms a bit I am sure something will come up that interests you. My last point, at least for this article is start to save and invest more in yourself in the form of education in the math and sciences, invest in your children and invest in America. Quit taking and start giving more and if you invest more you will undoubtedly get more back that should be used in a sustainable way.
Charles Darwin once said that it is not the strongest of species, nor is it the most intelligent that staves off extinction but the one that can adapt quicker to change. Let’s just hope that we can adapt to this rapidly changing environment and make it better for us all. Pray also if you want to we need all the help we can get but prayer without action is useless.