The news Monday wasn’t very good about sales in the automobile industry. Every manufacturer reported major sales decreases from 2007 to 2008 in December. Some of the decreases included Toyota down 37 percent, Honda down 35 percent, Ford down 32 percent, General Motors down 31 percent and Chrysler down a whopping 53 percent.

Those numbers are staggering, but the good news might be that we have now hit rock bottom. So, that could mean sales may be on the way up. Granted, sales might still be lower than they were a year ago, but it still may be an improvement from a few months ago.

People over the last few months have been very cautious in buying anything. Many feel their jobs aren’t very secure. Many companies have had large layoffs in the past few months to cut expenses, but the layoffs are almost over. Once the layoffs are over, potential buyers may have a little more security than they did a few months ago.

The reduction in gas prices has helped consumers tremendously, especially since our prices are average between $1.50 and $1.60 per gallon instead of $4 a month. People who might have spent $1,000 a month on fuel in September are now spending less than half of that now. That will eventually give them more money to spend.

The economy didn’t get in this situation overnight. Many believe the recession began in December 2007, but it took almost a year for the full effect of the recession to be felt by everyone. Likewise, we will not pull out of it overnight.

President-elect Barack Obama declared the national economy was “bad and getting worse” Monday. He expects his economic rescue plan to be passed within two weeks of being in office.

Whether or not this plan gets passed, the economy will eventually recover, but having a stimulus package would speed the economy’s recovery. The bottom line is to not panic right now. If the economic stimulus gets passed, then we should see our country begin to pull out of the recession.