Main Street or Wall Street

As we fall deeper into our current recession, we hear on a daily basis various reports about Wall Street and how corporate earnings are failing to meet expectations. Amazing right? Are the stock owners and corporate accountants that far removed from the society you and I are living in? A simple fact finding expedition through a small American town would provide them more than enough data regarding the state of our economy. Sure, people are still spending money, but they are spending it at thrift stores, at off brand grocery stores, at lower tier one stop shops… not the upscale markets and stores everyone visited during the height of credit borrowing.

These days, Wal-Mart is the new mall of America… for even the so-called wealthy. Secondhand shops are selling more clothes than ever. Aldi’s, an off brand grocer, is packed on a daily basis… with a parking lot full of high end vehicles people cannot afford… or trade. People HAVE to spend money even during a deep recession or dare we say a modern day depression. We must survive. However, the choices we make as a country with limited financial resources affects the entire country and by simple economic mechanics, the entire world’s economy.

Wall Street is feeling the pains that mainstream America has been feeling for a very long time. Corporate earnings lagged behind as the families on your street were all succumbing to the pressure of financial hardship. Profits and yearend bonus money for the executives didn’t quite have that instant prick of pain that you and I felt each month as our gas bills ate away at our grocery budget. However, the last year has seemingly caught the markets unaware of just how bad things are. Where were they living? Were they living in gated communities oblivious to the real world? Are they so out of touch that they failed to recognize that the average citizen no longer has any discretionary cash to spend? They are paying the prices as we speak for their lack of attention and forethought… and it’s hurting us all.

With Wall Street collapsing under tremendous pressure, where is Main Street? Main Street in our town and surrounding area has been hit hard. We see going out of business signs more often, we see multi-generation owned businesses failing and shuttering stores, we see car lots having their inventory seized, and we see lots of friends and family forced out of jobs they believed to be their retirement job. Our bills haven’t gotten any smaller and we are all paying the price for our excessive spending through the last decade on top of all this. Wall Street loses millions, billions, and even trillions while the local economy loses thousands and sometimes millions. Which is worse?

Consider the fact that small business owners are one of the most critical economic segments shouldered with driving our country forward. These small business owners largely reside in small towns. With Main Street being hit hard before Wall Street ever had an inkling of how bad things were, we are farther down the path of this economic recession than the corporate profiteers realize. Money at the top will not clear this mess up. The mess must be won at the front lines and that front line is the local shop down the street from my house. It’s the local job reappearing that your friend used to work his 40 hours a week at. It’s the local 12 employee business in your town that needs to hire 3 more people. That’s where we must turn this financial breakdown around.

Pouring millions, or billions, of dollars into failed banking institutions preserves the large corporations from failing, but it does nothing to help mom and pop down the street. Trickle down economy you say? Sure, it happens, but not in the timeframe that allows Sally from next door keep her job at the town’s florist. Without money in the consumer’s pocket, the larger corporations will fail just as mom and pop, with our without bailout money.

Are people going to buy food to live or a new tv? Are people going to pay their credit card or their house payment? Are people going to buy a new pair of shoes or wear their old ones until the soles fall off? Are we going to start spending money after we have been scared straight this time? We cannot return to the excessive way of life before our current recession or the next one could be one of complete disaster. We must start spending money, but we must make wise choices and live within our means. But, when will the day come when we decide that we can afford something that is not deemed a necessity? It’s been over a year since we have officially entered this recession and there doesn’t appear to be a likely end in sight. All we can do is not spend money, which makes things worse in itself. But, when Main Street begins to add jobs, the end may be near and money may well begin to flow.