Innovation, Not Despair, Will Rejuvenate the Economy

Thanks to the declaration of the U.S.’s National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee that the recession officially ended in June 2009, an outpouring of anger and despair has flooded the internet, including The New York Times. In a piece entitled “Is This What a Recovery Feels Like?” the paper explores the possibility that Americans should adjust to lower living standards.

Although one could argue that Americans need to become more sustainable in their living practices, sustainability is not the same as ‘lower living standards.’ This mass acceptance of defeat is infuriating, especially from a paper that supposedly embraces thoughtful research. The idea that a nation that once prided itself on innovation is now willing to collectively shrug and start living out of cardboard is simply unacceptable. If this is truly the case, the nation deserves it.

Infrastructure changes are always difficult, but they are not impossible to navigate. If anything, this is the time when innovation and new thinking can not only improve lives globally, but create new economic growth by re-investing in the concept of ‘communities.’ Part of the continued drag of the U.S. economy is that virtually no one (including banks) is investing in growth. Instead, well-respected publications like The New York Times are writing articles about accepting less, instead of creating something new. Money is not the problem—there are currently reserves of it earning marginal interest for extremely frightened potential investors. These investors need to see past their fear, and begin formulating a future where people learn how to interact with each other to build healthier, more energy efficient communities.

In an era when money is no longer based on any tangible standard like gold, but is instead a measure of one community’s worth to another—think of how the Yen is measured to the Dollar as measured to the Pound—we owe it to ourselves to stop bemoaning the loss of the old infrastructure and go about inventing the new.

Much like a decaying article of fruit, mass despair encourages rot, and the eventual growth of toxic elements. Many historians postulate that leaders such as Hitler would have never gained power had it not been for the exceptionally depressed economy of post World War I Germany. We have the benefit of history and advanced technology; let’s not fall into the same trap.