Slowing Economy: A Curse or A Bliss

There is a lot of talk these days about a possible recession in the US economy.
Crashing housing market, weakening dollar, and unbelievably high oil prices are some of the main factors for believing that a recession is just around the corner.
Unemployment rate has risen since couple years ago, especially in sectors closely related to real estate. Consumer price index has gone up, retail sales are fluctuating as more people cling to their cash and don’t spend it on non-vital items. The feds are panicking, cutting interest rates faster than ever to stimulate the economy, which in return will cause inflation... All you hear is about a gloomy future that is about to arrive.

It is a scary image, but you can look at it in a different way.

Housing market crash can be a blessing for first time home buyers. For people like me that watched the housing prices shoot to the sky like a rocket before we had a chance to hop on it, it is a wonderful time. We can shop around with no pressure knowing that if we buy tomorrow rather than today, we may even get a better deal! Rate cuts also work to home buyers advantage: lower rates equals affording nicer homes.

As for the weakening dollar: OK! It is not fun traveling abroad with a weak dollar. But, it is bliss for people in the export business. It means US made goods are cheaper to foreign buyers now. more demand for US made goods equals more jobs and more money, or at least in this sector.
There is also another advantage to have a weak dollar and it is the cost of outsourcing. Outsourcing costs more to the US employers now than a few years ago. It may make more sense to them to subcontract projects to US firms.
Also, US labor will be cheaper to foreign employers; The foreign investment will start coming in and more people will be hired as a result! It is already happening, Air Bus is manufacturing in the US, and there are rumors that BMW and VW are also coming to establish factories here.

As for the high oil prices, I admit that this one is a big issue and affects everything from grocery prices to airline tickets. However, people are forced to minimize their unnecessary commute which has a good side effect in terms of pollution and green house gas emission. They are also forced to re-evaluate their choices when they want to buy that SUV.
In a broader picture and a farther future, high gas price is also helping the environment, as the industry is now trying harder to find a better fuel to replace gasoline. There is a lot of research going on on this subject, from electric energy that is already in production all the way to biofuels, which is made from converting carbohydrates to ethanol and biodiesel!

So all this means that the future may not be that gloomy.
But even if a new recession occurs like its many predecessors, the US government always finds a way to recover; be it the approval of projects like construction of Empire State building in 1930s recession era or preemption of yet another war in the Middle East!

Let's hope the economy recovers before the latter happens...