Here and Now

The euphoria of Black Friday has ebbed now. The business channel, CNBC, was aflutter with breathless comment on the resilience of the American Consumer. The widely reported incident of a crazed shopper, gone mad with the prospect of deals, deals, deals, pepper spraying her way to savings, is now part of Black Friday lore. Perhaps next year we can look forward to more ingenious and devious means to get through the door of a mega-retailer-of-choice sooner than others. Where does one buy a bazooka? And could shrapnel and flying debris possibly damage some objects of desire?

Of more local and immediate concern, we face this Christmas season with the possibility of buying more locally produced items than last year. This is a trend which seems to be building here and across the United States. While the sales figures for Black Friday were large and noteworthy; was the real economic impact felt more by American retail workers, or by the owners of Oriental sweatshops,(many with American nicknames, such as Zenith, Levi's, Apple or Dell), producing electronics, clothing, gadgets, and, in short, most of the goods formerly produced by our fellow citizens? To be sure, the sales of these foreign-made goods dwarfs the locally-produced items. And yet, it is significant that so many entrepreneurs are deciding to stand their ground here and now, and make something here and now, and make something of here and now.

New Albany's entrepreneurial class is more vital and exciting, and more inspiring of hope than in any time in my memory. Recently, an organization eponymously dedicated to promoting New Albany first, came before the City Council and asked for money to get aloft. Although the funding request was postponed, and the group's ascent slowed, I would hope this and other worthwhile efforts pushing localism and entrepreneurialism are not abandoned.

Those engaged in the building of local businesses, especially those selling locally produced goods, are leading a revolution in American business. Inch by inch they are about rebuilding the infrastructure of a vital, functional, and sustainable economy. And, I hope, replacing elements of a failed economy laid low by a philosophy of extraction. The U.S. is seen by global master merchants as a pool of insatiable buying power, to be exploited for its ability to soak up ever more foreign-made goods, cheap on the shelf, but rich in profit to low-wage foreign producers. Since 2011 wages in the U.S. have fallen to a level lower, in real terms, than those of 1974, the so-called American Consumer is forced to graze in the fields of cheap foreign-made products because that is all many of us can afford.

New Albany owes much to those who are actively engaged in reshaping our local economy through the local production of goods, and to those independently offering goods and services, such businesses build a strong foundation for our economy. We owe it to them to support their efforts and to help those who would promote their efforts. The Kia girl on TV talks of the "new economy". The new economy is local, and in that direction lies the new prosperity. It's not just about the money.