Column: Is It Too Soon, Too Late? (4/5/2020)
It is too soon to make any pronouncements, too soon to call this economic decade lost, this generation halted, but it’s safe to say the roaring 2020s have become a trickle.
It’s too soon to talk about take-aways, lessons learned, and what we should do next time. Too soon to talk about the recovery of the stock market and the reopening of businesses and commerce nationwide.
And it may be too soon to debate the politics of it all.
But, for some, it may be too late.
Some have no life insurance and now are sick and can’t get it.
Some have no savings and now can’t catch up, burdened by the financial what-ifs.
Some have no job stability, fearing the worst, praying for new opportunities.
In this climate of instability, it may be that the frenzied run on toilet paper is the salve that the unprepared use to cope with being too late.
Maybe if we stock up on supplies, we can weather this storm.
Maybe if we have enough toilet paper, we can protect our 401(k)s.
This feeling is not new, nor is it unimportant.
The Great Depression was similar, but much worse, and with a different outcome. It changed the fabric of the American life. The Depression-era generation is renowned for being conservative, burying cash in the ground, skeptical of progress and change, haunted by the ghosts of fears past.
Sure, the Great Depression was far worse but we can learn a lot from it.
Then, the economy was unhealthy, and the stock market was down a total of 89.2% over the course of three years[1]. But the research shows that a very small percentage of the American public was actually invested in the stock market. Some numbers say it was just 16% that were invested.[2] So in large part, the stock market crash didn’t directly affect them.
And yet it did break them, introducing a hoard of ghosts into an entire generation.
This coronavirus epidemic will go down in our nation’s history as significant and tragic, but the ending of the story has yet to be written.
It is too soon to say how it will pan out, but our past has taught us that it is not too soon to take action, and act with conviction.
And we really only have two options.
We wait, in faith, with eager anticipation, or we turn cynical, give up our faith in the community and economy we have, and start isolating and insulating ourselves from the world and its unknowns.
Sure, the roaring has come to a trickle. But it’s too soon to say what will come next, and it’s too late to prepare.
But it’s not too late to plan our recovery, to fight away the ghosts and plan for a tidal wave of economic comeback.
So come on, let’s go down to the river and pray.
After all, ghosts can’t swim.
"As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the starry crown?
Good Lord show me the way!”
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[1] https://www.thebalance.com/stock-market-crash-of-1929-causes-effects-and-facts-3305891
[2] http://sites.austincc.edu/caddis/stock-market-crash-great-depression/