Water Cooler Conversations

Written by Pat Perry
President, ERC 

Well, we all got what we were not wishing for – a down economy, layoffs, and a deep recession.  We can all give ourselves a collective “pat on the back” for once again repeating history right on schedule.  It is ironic that the fear of job, business and financial losses caused many reactionary decisions over the past year that resulted in job, business and financial losses.

A quote attributed to a local business person from last week’s newspaper summed it all up perfectly - “We do not plan on making any new investments until the economy gets better”. 

Hello…?

That is exactly the thinking that helps keep this mess going. When are we going to learn?

So many people are holding on to their money and making cautious decisions, waiting for someone else to get the economy rolling.  Seems like an awful lot of people ran for the hills this past year and they are nowhere to be found today. 

The fear-based behaviors exhibited over the past year remind me of some adults taking a dip at the local pool.  They wade cautiously until they become accustomed to the pool temperature.  They do this knowing full well that they would incur less “pain” by just jumping in – yet we go against our better judgment, and take a too long of a time to enjoy a good swim.

You see where fear got our economy – clearly in the dumpers.  Fear based decisions are not a good tactic and never have been in the history of our country.  Perhaps it is time to try a truly
America strategy – creative, innovative and courage based decisions regardless of economic conditions.

Many “experts” believe we have hit bottom and will recover slowly over the next several years.  They are probably right given human nature. 

We love prosperity but seem to be afraid of doing the things necessary to get and stay there.   Go figure.