Business commentary by Carol Perry: Did you need more Dramamine this month or in 2008?

Did you feel like you needed Dramamine to get through recent stock market sessions? It was quite the wild ride and there is no way to know if things will settle down any time soon. Keep in mind that a panic trade is usually a bad trade, try and keep a cool head.

The fundamentals behind the massive selloff in the stock markets around the world are not the same as back in 2008. U.S. banks and many of global banks are not on the verge of collapse. There are issues with some European banks, but for the most part, our current problems stem from a global economic growth slowdown along with sovereign debt problems in both Europe and the USA.

So are we in better or worse shape this time vs. 2008? Well, it depends on your perspective.

One thing that really bothers me right now is the blame game being played by both political parties here in the U.S. The Tea Party is to blame, the liberal spending Democrats are to blame. President Bush did it. The butler did it. Truth is, blaming does nothing to solve our problems and only makes things worse.

The problems are everyone's and when you get right down to it, we all did it. So what are we going to do to reverse it so that our way of life can be preserved? There is a lot that we as individuals can do, but we must work together to solve our common problems. Bickering about who caused them is a waste of time.

It is time to get honest about what the problems really are and tell our elected representatives to make the tough choices needed to turn our debt juggernaut around.

Look at the numbers. They are not representative of any party. Use reliable sources like the GAO and CBO or foundations like Heritage or Peterson, not Internet sources sponsored by any political party. Get honest about how bad things really are and what could happen if we continue to do nothing. We cannot spend our way out, tax our way out, inflate or deflate our way out or ignore our way out.

The root of our problems are really simple demographics. We could stop all aid to foreign nations, build a big fence around our country, tax every cent the rich and the corporations make and we would barely make a dent in our growing deficit. The problem is not with others, but with our own aging population and the sputtering end of a debt supercycle that has lasted more than 30 years.

The largest growing budget busters are entitlements - Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and soon Obamacare. Our graying population will put stress on all these programs, expanding the size of our debt to other nations. As debt grows so will our interest payments.

Wildcards like inflation, deflation and stagflation along with a national debt ballooning out of control will make frequent recessions more likely. This will keep unemployment high and put further strain on programs like Medicaid, food stamps, student loans and welfare. It kinda makes you long for the days when greedy Wall Street bankers were the problem.

So are we better off than in 2008? You decide.

• Carol Perry is a retired financial adviser and has been a Northern Nevada resident since 1983. You can reach her at Carol_Perry@att.net