11/18/08

As my college class rehearsed our graduation ceremony in the spring of 1975, the adminstrator who was directing the ceremony said, "Now, as you go out into the recession-- I mean recessional..."  Everyone laughed knowingly.  Well, as a somewhat otherworldly art major, I was only faintly aware that something had been going on in the economy, and I was unphased as I searched aimlessly for a job. I did end up more or less on my feet, with a clerical job at the Library of Congress, which led to my reluctant, off-and-on career as a librarian. Librarianship proved to be pretty safe from economic downturns.   I did spend some 5-6 years working in restaurants, where the recession could have touched me more, but I managed to miss any recession years during that period of my life. The fact that nationwide economic matters could really affect me just did not enter my head.

Now, in the Great Recession of 2008, I am a small business person, and oh do I understand now what a recession means!  I am a case study in what happens when the economy slows down. My sales are down for the year.  Because I'm not selling as much, I'm cutting way back on spending for my business. Instead of staying overnight at a hotel when I'm at a show, I drive home, and the hotel loses my money. I bring a bag lunch to the show, and the food vendor loses my money. I don't buy the interesting new materials I'd like to try, or the books that might give me inspiration.  My business aside, because I don't have as much money to contribute to the family, we don't eat out anymore, or buy new clothes.  The businesses we might have supported have lost our money. They have less, so can spend less, so they don't buy things from me, and I can't buy from them. A vicious, vicious circle. 

Furthermore, to make me the total example of a person caught in the recession, we still have a house we're trying to sell. We chose exactly the wrong time to move to a new house (fall of '07) Luckily for us, we have tenants in the old house. But there's this tremendous logjam of houses for sale, prices on all of them steadily dropping  I keep thinking, if just one person would make that move and buy a house, maybe the whole thing could loosen up and start moving along. Okay, one person, where are you? (and please take a look at our old house-- it's very nice -- at www.homesvermont.com, MLS# 2811635)

To put the dreary realities of the ecomomy aside for a moment, let's think about something more cheery:  Michelle Obama's clothes! Did anyone besides me see 60 Minutes, and admire the purple dress she wore with the twisted rope of  pearls in variegated colors?  And Mr. Obama, with your beautiful smile...the government shall be upon your shoulders!  I don't envy you your task.