Think Global, Act Local

To borrow a phrase from our hippie friends, I believe "Think Global, Act Local" has a lot of merit. I'm not talking pollution, animal rights, or any other of their favorite topics. I'm talking jobs and economic recovery. Too often the people of this nation are looking east to Washington and the federal government to "fix" the economy, to "create" jobs. Our leaders aren't magicians, they don't have the power to "create" jobs. The best they can do is send an order off to the print shop for a few hundred million more dollar bills. Or call up our new friend President Hu and add to our ever growing debt to the Chinese. None of this creates jobs. Don't let the weekly reports that less people are filing unemployment claims give you a false sense of hope. This is a short lived respite, we're coming off of the census, the elections, and now the holiday season. Those short term employees will be back in the unemployment line before too long. Keep in mind the national unemployment rate is still above 9% after 20 months. The hard truth in all this is, Washington isn't gonna help us on this one.

I started this post early this week and Congressman Paul Ryan from Wisconsin has echoed my exact sentiment here in his response to Obama's State of the Union speech.

"Depending on bureaucracy to foster innovation, competitiveness, and wise consumer choices has never worked – and it won’t work now."

If that doesn't say it all, I don't know what does. We need to stop expecting that the politicians will accomplish anything. This is where the "Think Global, Act Local" part comes in. What can you as a person do to help our economy? Buy local, support American businesses and industry. When you go shopping look at where your produce comes from. Are the tomatoes from California's central valley, or are they grown and shipped in from Mexico? Is that new shirt made in an American factory, or is it slapped together in some far off country/ Did you just order that book from Amazon, or did you go to your neighborhood bookstore and find a copy? The only way to create jobs is to create a demand for jobs. Buy American products, keep those companies busy. The more those companies grow, the more people they need to meet the increasing demand.

Look at the fastest growing company in history, Groupon. They offer deals specific to the city, local vendors and attractions. Reportedly a coffee shop in Portland, OR had a deal on Groupon and over 1000 customers showed up on the first day. Or a new helicopter flight school in Bedford, MA that offered discount training on Groupon and 2,500 people signed up for lessons. Now that's a way to stimulate the economy.  The whole idea behind the site is to generate income for the site and the small business offering the deal.

So stop looking to Washington to solve the problem, they only know how to do one thing. SPEND MONEY.