Most Petalumans who responded to the March 19, 2009 online poll feel we are in a depression, not a recession, but half of them feel that the federal stimulus package will help the economy recover.
The economic downturn appears to have touched many local residents, as 95 percent of respondents say they know someone who has lost a job and 50 percent know someone who has lost a home or is facing foreclosure.
Here are some of the comments by those who responded to the survey:
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“Our economy is bad, yet every shopping mall parking lot is full of cars. We still have to drive to Rohnert Park or Novato to shop for the necessary items! Not everyone can afford to shop at the boutiques in downtown Petaluma every day!”
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“I don’t think the solution to a government deep in debt is to go deeper into debt.”
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“I keep reading that this is a worldwide collapse, but things around me seem to go on as before. It feels as though bombs are falling around me, and I have no idea when, or if, I’ll be hit.”
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“Eight years of spending trillions on a war we didn’t need has depleted not only our coffers, but has been accompanied by rampant neglect from Washington. Katrina is a case study in just one of the Bush failures. The banking mess is complicated and global and hard to understand, but failure to supervise our investment bankers, hedge funds and derivatives lie at the feet of Mr. Bush and any politician who failed to raise an alarm. Regardless of the outcome of the election, we’d be in deep trouble. Obama will see us through. I am worried, who wouldn’t be. At 65 and retired but still working in retirement, I remain hopeful and plan to invest, spend and perhaps buy a car in the next year. The ‘Morning in America’ commercial Reagan used was filmed on Kentucky street. The message still rings true. Our best days are yet to come.”
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“At some point I hope people wake up and see that Obama isn’t going to save us. It won’t be until we’re in a full depression that people figure it out. Too bad this paper won’t print my comments.”
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“I want the stimulus to help people in Petaluma who have lost their jobs. And I don’t mean fixing a couple of roads to help businesses like North Bay Construction. I mean helping ordinary people like myself.”
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“Those in Congress have been operating for the last several years with ‘Their eyes wide shut.’ Perhaps if they all weren’t in a power grab and one upping each other, they may have seen this coming. When you’ve dug a hole, you don’t keep digging it deeper. It doesn’t work for you or me, but it works for Congress and the president?”
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“I would have liked to have seen Petaluma receive more stimulus funds from the federal government for local infrastructure projects. Where was our local Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey when the money was being given out? Not enough in her back yard to help the Sonoma County economy. Should Petalumans be writing letters to Woolsey and Boxer? There were also too many requirements for the projects that got approved. Petaluma only received $1.1 million.”
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“Why are people getting bailed out when they lied on their loan applications? Why should you get a bailout if you bought a house you can’t afford? Why should responsible people pay for irresponsible behavior?”
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“As far as this stimulus package goes, it needs to stop being paid to the rich companies and the companies who just abuse the money they get. They will stay in debt because they are keeping the same people there that got them in debt and giving them bonuses. I know this is a plan that never would happen, but I always thought that money should be divided equally with one payout per each tax-paying household. Then you would see people out spending money and paying off debts and getting themselves stable again. It’s the people that need to be stimulated again and not corporations who can’t budget. If you keep giving them money they will go on as they always have, but if you were to give the people a good sum of money (not $300), you will give them their life and confidence and trust in our government’s decisions back.”
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“Petaluma could use the proposed shopping center at East Washington and 101. Just don’t let it be a strip mall. Something walkable, cute and with a variety of stores, like Corte Madera Town Center.”
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“Chinese calligraphy equates chaos with opportunity. We have lots of opportunity now! Come to ‘Reclaiming Our Local Economic Power’ April 17-18 at Lucchesi to explore solutions!”
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“Down with the two-party system. Both are responsible for all this. Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same bad coin.”
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“The stimulus package sure seems like soft Marxism to me. The best social program is a job. Not the best job is a social program. Buy local, buy American!”
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“No human being has ever counted to one billion. It would take 31 years if you were counting one number per second 24/7. We have lost sight of what a billion is.”