by Michael "Bug" Deakin
Petaluma Post, March 2010

Let’s fix this country the way it got built — not the way it got broken!

Here we be, deckhands on the good Ship USS Economy, flying the Chinese flag, docked at the Yangtze River, working for a couple of Yuan loading boats for ports un-owned, while China decides how we will work off our Gazillion Dollar Debt!

In the Golden Parachute Staterooms, those who took our bailout money to shore up their “too big to fail” Big Box Banks teach local businessmen the BONUS Concept!

As we romp down the road of economic dungeons and unemployment dragons, I think our own choices will govern what happens to our economy -- in fact, we hold the power to change the way it all works -- each one of us. Single handedly we can change this tomfoolery. We can choose where we shop, where we bank, how we eat and whom we support!

THE TARGETED ONES
How many of these shops will be here after Target is built? What will happen to their owners? Will they move to Lake County where it is cheaper and drive to Target once a month to do their shopping and visit friends? Or head to Wal-Mart because they can get their LOCAL groceries there too! In defense of Target, I am informed that they are a much more discerning neighbor than the aforementioned.

We need to take our money out of the Banks that abuse their privilege and place it locally. We need to shop locally whenever we can. That means buying something made here, or from a store owned by someone who lives here, or a restaurant owned locally, not chains! Of course -- if you need a can opener, good luck! I recently spent four hours at 6 different stores looking for a good can opener, and every one was -- “made in China."

CLOSE TO HOME
If we concentrated for a moment on shopping locally, supporting all of our local merchants, moving all our money to local banks and really becoming locavores, we would be amazed at the results.

Now the revenues from taxes and the limited construction jobs that will eventually come this way will in no way bring lasting quality of life to who we are, where we live and why we are here! The temporary relief of a big box store will soon be lost as more and more families fold their tents and move somewhere affordable.

You want tourists? There is a river that the town has turned her back on. Cities that embrace their waterways typically generate a lot more tourism. We are the gateway to wine country. Luther Burbank's garden of eating! This town has all the ingredients of a self-supporting cornucopia of one of the greenest counties in the country, and Green is the way to go!

BIG PICTURE
I think Congress should start figuring out the best things to do for this country instead of their own individual agendas! Isn’t their job to run our country for our benefit, for the good of all of us? I run a small company here in California, the most expensive state in the Union to do so. We are a dysfunctional family loaded with artists, and we are doing fine, helping each other and making good choices.

The Feds printing money and handing it out like a glad handing, swashbuckling, good ole Uncle Sam, is not the way to right this reeling ship! The Economic Stimulus Plan? Cash for Clunkers? The outside-the-box approach is the way I think we should be looking! Lets fill up all the empty spaces and stimulate our economy from within. Put our money in our local banks and have them put the money back out in our economy.

If you save money by buying something made in China from a Big Box Store with absentee ownership, 85 cents of that dollar is leaving town! I say we keep our money here! I love where I live! I am excited to be here now! We have a lot to do and a lot of things to fix. We have a planet to caretake, so at least the rest of the species that didn’t screw it up can stay here!