What is going to happen to our local economy?

You are probably asking yourselves, your friends, and your co-workers what they think about everything going on right now in our national economy, and more specifically, here in our community.  Make no mistake about what is going on right now; its confusing, its worrisome, and its not anything that has an end in sight any time soon.  But what you can be reassured about is that like previous challenges to our economy in the past, we will bounce back and we will enjoy good times but we don’t know how long it will take for this to happen.

There are different stories from different angles depending on what you watch, listen to, or read.  Even what you are reading from me is an angle that you will have to determine if you believe it or not and if you will change anything you are doing.  Our faith in our elected officials may be low, and may not come back up in the very near future.  Our faith in what lies ahead is probably pretty low, too.  But our faith should not be low in ourselves, or the faith in the American People as a whole and our resiliency to bounce back from this very tough, very challenging time we are in.  Consumer sentiment is something that drives the outlook of our economy, and if you are not spending, that causes our economy to slow down because money is not flowing through our nation.  It may sound crazy for me to say this, but don’t lose your willingness to spend because of this uncertainty.  Don’t lose your faith that our economy will not bounce back.  Don’t you’re your positive attitude in favor of having a fearful attitude.  It has been said that the two things that drive our economy are greed and fear.  Low and behold, it has come true.  But something else drives our economy, and that is you and I, and what we do with our money.

This year, take some time and think about how you can help your local economy.  Before the Holiday Season really gears up and Walmart puts out its holiday items, consider spending locally.  There is some truth in how it is a little slow on the trickle down from what happens in Washington DC and its affect on us here in our community.  But every day we spend time and money in our community and can have a greater impact locally.  This Holiday Season, ask yourself what you can do to help each other out by spending here in our area.  Ask yourself if you can purchase things that not only is what your loved ones would like, but that you can buy it here.  You see, spending locally puts money back in to your pocket too.  It puts money in to your child’s pocket, in to your friends pockets, and in to everyone’s pocket.  Its also good business!  In communities across America, we have a golden opportunity to help ourselves more quickly while legislators and other officials try to see what they can do to help us and when.  Right now, there is no end in sight, and how all of what they are talking about will take place and when.  But we can do more locally and we can start getting ready for it now. 

The consequences of not doing this are very real.  Of the over 300 members we have here at the Chamber, 80% of those are small businesses that have 20 employees or less.  Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, both here in Independence County and across our country.  At times, a small businesses prices may be a little higher.  At times, a small business may not have exactly what you want either in size, color, or any other particular specification.  But what you can be assured about is that business owner, who has their retail store here in our community, has made a conscious decision to be in a community like ours, and they are investing their time and effort in a place that they love, and enjoy, as well.  Unfortunatley, no matter what we attempt to do some small businesses will fail during these tough times.  But what we can do is support as many of them as we can in what monetary way that we can.  

Our economic situation to some degree is in our hands.  We can make decisions and choices that will impact us positively, locally, today.  So as you are getting ready for the Holiday Season, as the weather starts to cool off, and as you think about things that matter to you most like your friends and family, consider how you can spend what you can afford locally, and that it will most certainly be a gift that truly keeps on giving.