By Si Dunn
None of us can stop the current worldwide economic disaster. But just by repeatedly spending a few dollars each, we can at least help keep our local businesses afloat, save a few jobs, and maybe keep a few friends and neighbors in their homes.
Go out this weekend and buy a meal at a family-owned restaurant. Or, get a haircut at a locally owned barbershop or hair salon. Or, hire a lawn service to trim the scraggly hedges that have been on your to-do list for weeks. Or, buy something from a neighborhood bookstore or thrift shop or plant nursery. Pick one or two things to do and make a deliberate effort to follow through with some focused spending.
Next week, take a pair of shoes to be fixed at a local shoe-repair shop. Or have a garage attendant change out your car's overdue air filter. Or, get a few donuts or a couple of ice-cream cones. Or get a suit cleaned and pressed.
Don't sit on all of your money. Protect most of it, yes. But part with a little bit of it, too, in a steady and controlled manner.
Encourage friends and neighbors and fellow church parishioners to do the same. Don't panic; just spend a few spare bucks each week in considered ways that benefit your own neighborhood and community.
We all have friends and acquaintences who manage or own small businesses that provide their family income. They need our help now.
So do churches, especially small ones, and the local agencies that help the poor and the afflicted in our communities.
A dollar here, ten dollars there. It won't break us, but it can all add up in this crisis, especially if a lot of us truly will remember to "Help thy neighbor."
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2 comments:
I find myself biting my tongue. Shall small business owners follow you advice, also? The economy can not function as a quickly stagnating and deteriorating zero-sum game.
I know this probably sounds anathema, but debt creates prosperity. And no, I am not defending the system.
The country's workers can't maintain this economy without creating MORE debt, but the credit markets have imploded. That's the long and the short of it.
Easy credit was certainly wheedled by greed and undoubtedly sped things up to this sorry point, but greed is not the primary reason. The reason was necessity--
Here it is: If the system doesn't continuously create more new money by extending loans to the workers of this country, the workers wouldn't have the money NECESSARY to put back in just to keep things going.
Beware of inflation.
What you say makes very good sense. But, how long is it going to take for debt again to create prosperity? I visited some of my friends' small businesses today, and they are all hurting for customers. Their incomes have dropped like a meteor in the past week. No, we can't lift all boats (or even many boats) by spending. But if I can help my friends keep their shops open and make enough money to eat, I'm gonna do what I can--with the little bit that I can spare. It's a bit like fighting a holding action in combat. No, you're not going to win, because you're massively outgunned, and your buddies are retreating behind you. But maybe you can stave off the enemy (in this case, the effects of the credit implosion) at least long enough to help save a few friends.
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