The Economy and the Stock Market

I was listening to the news today on my non-hd radio. All I heard was, "Economy, Stock Market, Banking, Oh my!" Here's my take on the whole thing. And this coming from someone who knows at least one thing about all that stuff: it sure doesn't help when politics gets involved in hyping up the problems inherent in the system. I know that most of these politicians know that the stock market , and indeed most of our economy is based on consumer confidence. If people "think" the economy is going to take a dip, it will. If people "think" the economy is doing just fine, then they have no problem spending money and keeping the whole thing rolling along smoothly. But when stupid politicians get involved in scaring the American public with garbage like "Oh no! This is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression!" you just have to stop and think to yourself, "Self, why are the politicians doing this? Are they in the game to really help me? Or are they in it to help themselves?" One can only conclude the latter. I mean give me a break! This is nothing like the Great Depression! Unemployment is at 6.something percent. Most people who know anything about economics will tell you that 6.something percent is great. Even necessary. It means that there are people available to hire, and that the economy, and businesses have some room to grow. If unemployment gets much lower, we will HAVE to let all the illegal immigrants stay, just so that there are more people to hire!
While I know that there are some people who are suffering as a result of the housing market and the recent drops in the stock market, the vast majority of Americans will not be adversely affected to any great degree, as long as consumer confidence remains solid. That is where the politicians can do their best work: reassuring the American public that things are going to be fine, that the economy will resolve it's issues as it has in the past, and that we don't need to be running around like chickens with our heads cut off, screaming,"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" Of course if we were chickens, we wouldn't be screaming anything, especially not in English, and most especially if our heads had been cut off.