I know that a lot of people are concerned about our community and the recession. It's uncertain times that we live in for sure, but news about the times is what the Times-Union is about, right.
I'm one who believes in saying what I see, and what I see is a nation that is clearly in trouble. I read a report in the paper the other day that said the recession is bottoming out, and I can see a slow down of jobs being lost. But jobs "are" still being lost, and it seems like every time we scratch our way back to where we can stand up for a moment, the gas pumps or taxes or insurance will knock us back down again.
It reminds me of that verse in the Bible, in the book of Daniel that says, I beheld until the wings of the Eagle thereof was plucked. I don't know about you all, but I'm starting to feel pretty well plucked.
As far as our community goes, if we spend locally, our money will stay local. If it's not too late to try that strategy. At least we're not like Israel, where on every border is an enemy that would rather see us wiped out than to sign a simple peace treaty that gives us the right to exist in our own land. To them it's like the war that is listed in Isaiah 17 is almost on their door (that's the war with Syra where Israel destroys Damascus). We're not facing any hardships like that, so why can't we solve our own problems here?
It's quite sample. They call it the supply and demand factor. But should the necessities of life be subject to these factors? Our very survival depends on people being honest enough to give a fair price on the simple goods that we buy and sell ever day. Unless we have passed the moral point of being honest and be the very cause that plucks our own pockets. Remember, if you cheat someone else, the price has to be made up some where in order for that one that was ripped off to survive. If America can't become honest enough to do business in a rightly fashion, it is doomed to pluck itself dry.
